Montauk Downs - It's Better Than Bethpage

Last night I put my book down and went to bed at 2:30am. I hurried to turn my ringing alarm clock off at 4am so as to not wake my kids. Inhaling two eggs, I was out the door and on the road at 4:35am. I was heading to Montauk Downs - a gem of a golf course. I believe it's consistently ranked in the top fifty public courses in America.

Like Bethpage, it's owned and run by the state of New York. Tee times essentially don't exist. It's first come, first serve. Show up a little late and you could be waiting a few hours before you tee off.

I am on vacation in "nearby" Southampton. GoogleMaps indicates that even way out here, it's still a 30 mile, 54 minute drive.



Montauk is REMOTE. It's at the easternmost tip of Long Island - a full 119 miles from Manhattan. In fact, it's so far out, that it's actually much closer to Newport, RI (40 airborne miles) than it is to the Big Apple.

Almost halfway to the course I arrive in East Hampton. Thus far, I have seen more deer(5) than cars(4) at this wee hour of the morning.

I got to Montauk Downs at 5:20am - 5 minutes after the clubhouse opened. (How would you like to punch the clock at this course?) They slotted me in for the second tee time at 5:54am. After a 25 minute fog delay, we smacked our drivers down the first hole with only about 125 yards of visibility.

This course is pure beauty. Because it's so exposed to the ocean (on the north and the south), the winds, fog, and clouds roll in and out all day long. There's a British Open kind of feel that I have never experienced in my geographically-limited playing career. Also, last year, I must have seen twenty deer on the course during one round.

Ah,...last year. That's a round I'd like to forget. Played in the rain and shot ninety-something - a disaster for a self-estimated 8-handicap like myself.

Montauk Downs is one difficult golf track. It's 6614 yards and totes a slope of 139. (I am not sure if the slope accounts for the consistently changeable weather conditions either.) Forget the numbers, every time I have played this course it's summarily kicked my butt.

That is, until today.

I birdied the first hole in the fog and added three more later on. I can't remember the last time I had four birds in one round. Only once have I made five in a round - that was at Wyncote GC outside of Philadelphia. Today I carded a five-over 77 that, all things considered, was one of the best rounds I have ever played.

Here, I ripped a few pics off the website.

This first photo is of the 7th hole. It's a tantalizing par-5 with water in play on your tee shot, on any bold reach for green in two, and on all boring lay-up shots down the narrow right hand side.











This last pic is of the par-3 twelfth. The photo illustrates the abundant and cavernous greenside bunkering to be found throughout the course, but it does not convey the elevation change and in-your-face wind on this fierce par-3. Today it demanded a 2-iron, as did the par-3 14th which also had the added drama of water alongside the green.

What could possibly be better than paying $52 to play a top fifty course and shooting one of your best career rounds?

It almost makes you forget about all your bad rounds and all the frustration you've endured over the years.

To think that I once played Montauk so poorly that I seriously thought about quitting the game the whole torturesome ride home - which unlike the trip there, can't avoid the brutal summer vacation traffic.