In 1923, a group of residents gathered to discuss the need for a third course in Southampton, New York, that would cater to those who could not access the prestigious Shinnecock Hills and National Golf Links of America. Nearly 15 years after Seth Raynor’s first foray into golf design with C.B. Macdonald at NGLA, he was hired to design a course just a stone’s throw away from it. Although the original plans for the course were drawn up by Raynor in 1925, his death in 1926 would leave his engineer, Charles Baird, to complete work on the course that would open for play in 1927.
By the late 1960s, the club brought in architect William Mitchell to “modernize” the golf course by removing cross bunkers, planting rows of trees adjacent to the fairways, and raising the greenside bunkers. These tactics drastically changed the course from its original Raynor look, but luckily the green surfaces were largely untouched. As the 21st century rolled around and the concept of restoring golden age designs was in vogue, Brian Silva created a master plan for the club in 2004. Over the next several years, the greens were expanded from their shrunken-oval shapes, hundreds of trees were removed, and the bunkers were rebuilt in the Raynor style.
Today, the course is a terrific representation of a Raynor design with templates galore: Short, Maiden, Knoll, Raynor’s Prize, Redan, Double Plateau, Eden, Long, Biarritz, Punchbowl, and Road. The routing dances between open expanses (Nos. 4-7, 12-18) and a forest (Nos. 2, 3, 8-11), which creates an adventurous journey across the property.
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Take Note…
Raynor’s club. Southampton proudly takes the claim as the only golf club where Seth Raynor was a member. He was born in the neighboring town of Manorville and spent the majority of his life as a resident of Southampton, working as a civil engineer developing the town before he got into golf design. He is buried next to his mentor, C.B. Macdonald, in the Southampton Cemetery just a mile up the road from the club.
For the people. Southampton was founded on the premise of being a country club for the local people, and that’s still the case today. While the famous neighboring clubs are made up of national members and New York elites, it’s local firemen, lawyers, golf superintendents, and everyday people who represent the majority of the membership at Southampton.
Windmill. The club’s charming windmill logo may have guests looking around for the structure as they play the course, but it actually resides in the center of town. This windmill logo was housed in a quadrant in the club’s original crest logo, which was eventually simplified to just the windmill, maintaining its connection to the town of Southampton.
