The course plays to a yardage of 6922, par 73 rated 73.5/139 while the next set of tees are 6591 yards rated 71.8/135. We played the 6922 tees as the course plays shorter as there are five par 5’s on the golf course.

The routing is defined by only two consecutive holes heading in the same direction which are seven and eight. I do not consider five and six to be in the same direction even if they both get one closer to Rockaway Avenue. A second characteristic of the course is that many of the holes are open to the green, including the first if one is a long hitter. While Devereux Emmet is responsible for the routing, his greens were relatively flat and his bunkers were shallow. Enter Walter Travis, a member of Garden City, a runner-up in the 1902 U.S. Open held at Garden City, and a person interested in golf architecture leading to him founding The American Golfer magazine. Mr. Travis thought American courses to be too benign and without character. In 1906 Mr. Travis wrote an article on his club suggesting the bunkers needed depth and more contours within the interior of the greens. As a result, Mr. Travers was asked by the club to make changes resulting in additional length, 50 new bunkers, adding depth to existing bunkers, and re-shaping every green with many greens sloped front to back. Sadly, the course is now considered short for the longer hitters due to technology, although the green complexes remain a sturdy test. Similar to Merion East or National Golf Links, there remains sufficient challenges at the green sites.

There are many holes that I thought to be really good including two, four, six, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. I liked fifteen the most. But one of the charms of Garden City Men’s is that someone might say they favor the first or the eighteenth and you will find yourself agreeing with them that they are very good golf holes.

From every tee except seventeen the hole is right in front of you. There are forced carries off the tee on every hole but they should not come into play as they are not lengthy and add to the beauty of the golf course.

There are so many subtleties to this course in the small land forms near the greens and greenside bunkers, yet many of the fairways also have some interesting characteristics. The best parts of the course are the routing, the green complexes, and the interior shaping of the greens. But the rolling nature of some of the fairways and the placement of the fairway bunkers also deserve praise. These fairway bunkers differ in depth with the reason being how many feet it takes to get to the gravel underneath them.

The bunkering is superb and I would put it against any golf course for having the best placement, number, and shape from length, depth, raised faces, irregular or regular edging or any golf course in the USA.

The course begins with a short par 4 right next to the driving range. I think players either rave about the hole or think it to be average. If you shank the drive, you will go through the driving range. This is a really good risk-reward hole except it is the first shot of the day. Longer hitters who have a good bunker game will go right for the green although perhaps the better play is to land right of the green. Shorter hitters actually do not have much to fear if they hit it straight but if they pull it left there is a long bunker. The right side is a mystery of tall grass, uneven land and a hodgepodge of sand almost as if one is trying to walk a labyrinth. It is a difficult recovery from this area. The green is expertly surrounded front, left and back by five bunkers. If one finds the fairway and has confidence in their short wedges, you can go right at the flag with your approach as the green can be read. But if you are short you could end up in a bunker that is deep enough to have steps in and out of it. The green slightly slopes front to back.

I love the second, a par 3 of 137/133 to a long green that looks narrower than it is. It is nearly surrounded by deeper bunkers going to about six feet on a green that appears to be elevated, but really is not, it is that the bunkers are deep. A forward pin is easily the most difficult because it is hard to stop one’s ball near the front except on a wet day as the green runs towards the back left. One can be more aggressive with a back pin location. The visual look of this hole is more terrifying than it actually plays.

Three is a par 4 of 407/376 to a very wide fairway that tilts slightly to the left. There is out-of-bounds down the right and a collection of trees on the left side of the fairway. On the right opposite the trees is a long, thin bunker while after the trees the left side has a couple of smaller bunkers. One can hook their tee shot onto seventeen and still have a good look at the green. However, fronting the green is a very unique dual set of cross-bunkers with the first set being large and nearly closing off the fairway while the second set has three smaller bunkers. The green goes left to right and a running shot can easily find the back bunker on the right.

The first par 5 is next at 523/502 with out-of-bounds on the right. Average hitters will likely find their ball on an upslope while bigger hitters need to avoid the deeper bunkers on the left with steep faces. If they do avoid it, they will get a favorable bounce forward and be rewarded with perhaps as little as a mid-iron in their hands for their approach shot. I usually play my second into the valley before the first large cross bunker about 75 yards in front of the green as failure to carry it results in a very difficult third to an elevated green with a false front. Laying back, though, will likely mean the third shot is from a hanging lie. The three bunkers right of the green are very deep and difficult as is the single bunker on the left. Going long over the hole on this squared, undulated green results in a very quick chip as the green is steeply sloped back to front with a back left plateau. This is perhaps the most difficult green on the course.

The fifth is a short par 4 of 360/353 with a wide fairway with a bunker that should be out of play on the left and mounds off the right of the fairway. Farther up the fairway at the landing zone the fairway shrinks to less than half as two flanking bunkers squeeze the fairway. At the green there are three bunkers on the right, one left and a small one behind the green. This is a really fun hole that perhaps I should have listed as a favorite.

Six is the second longest par 4 on the course at 440/418 and rated the hardest on the front nine. It has a string of bunkers off the right fairway with another one about 70 yards short of the green on the left and then flanking bunkers short of the green with rough mounds at their beginning points farthest from the fairway. There are some nice rolling undulations to the fairway.

Seven is the longest par 5 at 550/537 teeing off under a tree with cross mounding at the beginning of the fairway creating a distraction. The approach is divided similar to the seventeenth hole with bunkers on the right prior to the separation. The green is slightly angled to the right with two long flanking bunkers on either side of this fairly flat green. I liked the little bend in the fairway prior to the entry to the green.

The eighth is a par 4 of 418/406 playing as a slight dogleg right. There are flanking bunkers on the fairway but the real beauty of the hole is the approach shot. The front of the green is lined with bunkers as is the back with a small bunker to either side. It has a green filled with subtle breaks and one of my favorites on the course.

The ninth is perhaps the one hole I do not like as much as some others. It is a par 4 of 323/306 that feels like it plays uphill. It does go gently to the right with flanking bunkers, a long waste area before the green with chocolate drop bunkers scattered across the interior. The green is surrounded by small bunkers with a spine in it. I don’t really care for the chocolate drops despite their uniqueness.

Ten seems to always play longer than the yardage for me. It is a par 4 of 414/399 with a fairway bunker on the left side of the fairway and then cross bunkers for the longer hitters. This is followed by sand on either side set back 25 yards from the green with smaller bunkers on the left, although one can enter the large bunker on the left side of the seventh green. These are difficult fairway bunkers due to their raised lips.

The eleventh is a longer par 4 of 426/416 and basically a straight hole but the fairway first goes right then back to the left. There are three bunkers down the right as well as an encroaching tree line with a large bunker later on the left that cuts the fairway by half. At the green there are bunkers about 10 yards short on either side and one left. This is my second favorite hole on the golf course.

The longest par 3 comes next at 2014/184 and is a very good hole with bunkers around the entire circular green and nice contouring at the edges of the green. This is the most diabolically sloped green on the golf course with two raised slopes of about three feet on the green. This is my favorite par 3, despite the visual attractiveness of the second hole.

The fourth par 5 plays at 538/520. This thirteenth hole features out-of-bounds down the right side after the trees. The hole is a gentle dogleg left off the tee but straight thereafter. There is a sizeable, long and deep cross bunker cutting into the fairway on the left side again cutting the fairway I half. For the shorter hitter there is no reason to try to carry it as it is a three-shot hole and the second shot can take you to within a seven iron or less. Another set of bunkers are on the left followed by cross bunkers fifteen yards short of the green with three small surrounding bunkers. The left bunker is very deep with a raised face resulting in a use of a ladder to enter it. This hole is my favorite par 5 on the golf course.

Fourteen is a short par 4 of 343/333 that bigger hitters will try for as the green is open but it is angled off to the right with nine small pot bunkers on either side of the green. These are challenging bunkers as they do not have a lot of space to take a balanced stance. For the shorter hitter there is a carry across a cross-bunker prior to the fairway and then a collection of bunkers on the right that is shared with the fifteenth hole. Farther up in the main landing zone there are flanking bunkers. This hole requires strategy and precision no matter how far one can hit a tee shot.

My favorite hole on the course is the fifteenth, a par 4 of 447/405 and the longest par 4 on the course. It is rated the hardest hole on the back nine despite the widest fairway on the course. For the long hitter, there is a ten feet deep cross bunker at 300 yards. For the average length player, there are three staggered deep bunkers on the left and a collection of small bunkers on the right: I lost count of how many but more than fifteen. I like this green the most on the course with a severe left to right slope. There is little chance of recovery if one misses the green to the left and the cup is either left or left center. While there are two bunkers short of the green on the right, there are no bunkers at the green making recovery even more doubtful.

A friend of mine who is scratch lists the sixteenth as his favorite hole, a par 4 dogleg left of 405/388 with out-of-bounds on the right. There is sand everywhere on this hole from two centerline bunkers and three bunkers down the left, with three bunkers about 30 yards short of the green on the left, a long bunker on the entire left side of the green and four bunkers on the right. One has to be very precise on this hole although there is the opportunity to run a ball onto the green.

I like the seventeen because it offers every type of score here from a triple bogey to an eagle. This par 5 of 495/471 seems like it should be easy but it is not. There is out-of-bounds down the entire right side. It has a blind tee shot that has to content with bunkers cutting off half of the fairway on the left. Although easily cleared by the average length player, there are the trees from the third hole that come into play on the left side with two bunkers beneath them. The fairway separates with two more bunkers on the left. The green has a large bunker on the right and two smaller ones on the left. Behind the green are trees that appear much closer to the green than they are. Near the green are fall-off areas on an undulating sloped green. To the left of the green are some creative small grass mounding. I like this hole from tee to green because of the strategic options it offers.

The eighteenth is a par 3 of 190/153 playing over a pond to a green with a false front and a steep back to front tilt. The hole is connected to the putting green much like the ninth at Oakmont and not far from the members and guests on the patio. There is a deep bunker left with another set of steps and a shallower bunker behind most of the green. A small bunker fronts the green along with a very tiny pot-like bunker. There is a bit of room to miss short of the green and bunkers with that miss representing the best chance of recovery. A good shot is met with a shout of approval but only if you make the putt for a two while a poor shot is met with a humorous shout. Although I do not mention it as one of the better holes on the course, it is a good golf hole and likely the best par 3 on many courses.

You will likely not find a more natural course in the USA. Tom Doak has said he tries to build golf holes based on what the land presents. At Garden City, it begins with a short par 4 and a short par 3 and ends with a par 5 and a par 3 because this is what the land called for. I cannot think of a top course in the USA that “sits” on the land more than Garden City Men’s. Mr. Doak worked on the renovation of Garden City and one wonders how strong the connection was in his mind about the minimalism approach after spending a year abroad and then working at Garden City. It is one of the most pleasant walks in golf with the flat land and the tees so close to the green. Despite many short holes in terms of yardage, there is so much strategy to every hole due to the placement and type of bunkers resulting in the holes have a challenge level well above their yardage. The greens are very good. Actually, everything is good here.