The Bridge

The Bridge is one of golf’s more unusual clubs. It’s casually chic rather than traditionally stuffy thanks to its maverick owner Robert Rubin, a former commodities trader. The club occupies some 300 acres with fine views of Sag Harbor. The property was once home to the great, old Bridgehampton Motor Racing Circuit. The theme is very much in the spirit of the automobile.

An article in the New York Times headlined the Bridge as “The Untucked Country Club” and describes the clubhouse as “glassy and aggressively futuristic — looks more like a contemporary art museum in Berlin”. As for the Rees Jones designed course, it “gets the arty, post-modern treatment: ruins of the old racetrack, including guardrails and flag stations, pop up around the lush fairways. Discarded tyres line the cart paths”.

You can forget about blazers and the collar and tie at the Bridge where membership reputably costs $600,000. Here “backward ball caps, jeans and even tattoos or face piercings (typically on guests in the music business) attract no steely stares”.

David Patrick Columbia, the editor of Newyorksocialdiary.com, said the Bridge fills a need in the Hamptons as a sexier and slightly more conspicuous alternative to traditional clubs. “The thing about the Maidstone is that you can have all the money in the world, and it won’t help you,” Mr. Columbia said. “They care about your last name. The Bridge is different. Bob Rubin is an eccentric kind of guy. The Bridge is an eccentric golf course. The comparison I would make is, it’s the thinking man’s Ferrari.”

Co-designed by Bryce Swanson and the late Keith Evans (whose other notable work includes Huntsville and Cascata), The Bridge has some dramatic elevation changes coupled with an appealing variation of uphill, downhill and level holes. Rees Jones Inc. completed a bunker renovation in 2014 whereby all existing fairway bunkers and greenside bunkers were rebuilt. Fairways and tees were also adjusted to offer more strategic options.