The Creek

The “Father of Golf Architecture” and the “Engineer” designed The Creek, so it’s unsurprising that the formidable duo of Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor conspired to create a classic. The course opened in 1923 and The Creek was immediately dubbed “The Million Dollar Club” due to its exclusive membership, which included the likes of J. P. Morgan.

The property is set near Locust Valley on a high bluff that tumbles down to the Long Island Sound coastline. The vistas across the Sound to Greenwich and Stamford must be seen to be believed.

After a slow start, The Creek really comes alive from the moment you step onto the 6th tee box “Sound View” which sits on a high bluff. It's an all-world 480-yard par four that plunges downhill to a punchbowl green which slopes markedly from front left to back right.

From here on golfers are indulged in a stellar twelve-hole stretch that serves up a veritable cornucopia of template holes from a “Reverse Redan” at the 8th, a “Leven” at the 10th and an audacious “Biarritz” at the 11th, which can be even more intimidating depending on the tide. It’s not called “Island” for nothing, where the green must be accessed via a rickety wooden footbridge at high water.

With a lovely combination of links-like and park-like characteristics, The Creek is quite unique where the Long Island winds make for a tough test, even though the overall yardage these days is modest.

Gil Hanse (with input from C.B. Macdonald expert the late George Bahto) breathed new life into the old classic, completing a restoration in 2011. Hanse has since completed additional bunkering work and continues as club consultant.