Brookville Country Club

In a neighborhood rich with exclusive Golden Age designs, Seth Raynor’s under-the-radar Brookville Country Club occupies a more subtle piece of land with the golf features that match. The course is squeezed onto a tight 120-acre site and packed full of prototypical template designs such as the Biarritz-like third, Eden seventh, Punchbowl ninth, Short 11th, Double Plateau 13th, Knoll 15th, Reverse Redan 16th, and Road 17th. Raynor was quite familiar with this area, having worked at the more famous Piping Rock next door, as well as The Creek and Nassau Country Club. While only nine holes were built in 1922, Raynor returned to complete the final nine in 1924. By the late 1990s, Brookville’s Raynor identity had withered away drastically, but a young, unknown architect named Gil Hanse would completely overhaul the bunker scheme, expand greens, and remove trees to breathe new life into the course and recapture the classic Raynor design style. Despite these sympathetic efforts by Hanse — which greatly improved the design — the course lacks the flair and overtly bold features typically found on most Raynor courses. Nonetheless, Brookville’s more modest MacRaynor templates provide plenty of intrigue with complex green contouring and standout holes. Nos. 4, 5, 9, 13, 14, 15, and 16 exhibit the most character, either with bunkers guiding the strategy or a splendid green. Brookville might be one of the smaller fish on Long Island, but there are plenty of interesting holes and fun greens to make this worth a stop for a game.