Timber Point Golf Course

About Timber Point Golf Course

Timber Point sits where the Connetquot River runs into Great South Bay, and the bay decides a lot of your round. The course says it plainly: the shore breeze keeps shifting, so it never plays the same way twice. It's three nines, Red, White and Blue, and the Red/Blue 18 plays to a 72.5 rating and 127 slope from the back tees.

The Blue is the nine people drive for. Its 2nd, the Harbor Hole, is a 146-yard par 3 from an elevated tee across a pond, with the river and bay laid out beyond it. The 5th, Gibraltar, is a 207-yard par 3 that climbs to a green on a bluff above the water, usually into the prevailing southwesterly wind. Both go back to the original course.

That original was an exclusive private club, designed by Colt and Alison and opened in the late 1920s on a former estate. Local legend says members tried to buy the neighboring estate, now Heckscher State Park, just to keep outsiders away. The club struggled through the Depression and the war and went through several names before Suffolk County took it over in the early 1970s and had William Mitchell add the White nine between the inland and bayside holes. Six of the original inland holes survive as Red 2 through 7. Daniel Wexler wrote in his 2000 book Missing Links that the original might rank among America's top 25, and in December 2021 The Fried Egg put it on its list of 16 courses it would love to see restored.

It's one of 46 courses Yoink watches in the Long Island area, and the closest alternative is West Sayville Golf Course, about 2 miles away — handy when your first choice is booked solid.

What it's like to play Timber Point Golf Course

A creek or river runs through the property and comes into play on 2 holes.

Course character from OpenStreetMap contributors' survey data (ODbL).

Booking a tee time at Timber Point Golf Course

Book through the Suffolk County Parks reservation system. With a Suffolk Green Key card you can book 7 days out; without one it's 5 days, and non-residents pay the non-resident rate. Times can be booked up to 2 hours before the tee time, and the whole group has to check in at least an hour early or it counts as a no-show. If you only want nine holes, the White Course is the county's nine-hole option. Call the pro shop at (631) 581-2401. Bring water: none is supplied on the course.

How to get a tee time at Timber Point Golf Course