Hay Harbor Club
One of the most delightful places to play golf in America, Hay Harbor is truly a blast from the past with its simplistic design, presentation, and culture
Fishers Island is a wealthy enclave where time seems to stand still. The Hay Harbor Club, in fact, exemplifies this notion best with its old-school spirit. It’s as bare-bones as golf gets with no formal irrigation system, clover-filled fairways, and a modest ~$50,000 maintenance budget. There’s no doubt the membership could fork over the money for state-of-the-art upgrades, but Hay Harbor prefers to live in the past and keep things simple. It’s a place where children and adults learn the game and spend long summer days walking about the sublime oceanside property. The nine-hole routing takes full advantage of the large dune hill on the southeast corner of the course, with five holes interacting with it. These lay of the land holes are delightful in more ways than one. The simple yet interesting green complexes provide a challenge at their quick speeds. Most of all, the experience at Hay Harbor is enchanting and will not fail to leave you smiling from ear to ear.
Long before Seth Raynor’s hallowed Fishers Island Club opened in 1926, Royal Troon’s designer George Strath laid out a nine-hole design across the land where the course is today. By 1908, the U.S. government took a large chunk of real estate from the golf course, which led golf professional Charlie Brooks to redesign the course while still using some features from the Strath design. Most notably, Brooks’s original third tee box was up on the bluff behind the second hole, where the U.S. Navy built a small fortress for detecting enemy submarines during World War II. Although it was federal land, a gate allowed members to access the original tee, providing a spectacular 130-yard drop shot until recent findings alerted the government that three of the club's greens were actually on military land. The membership was able to buy back the land they thought they owned and save their golf course, but also lost the most dramatic tee box on the property. Luckily, the third remains a quality golf hole. Apart from the various alterations to the course in the early years, Hay Harbor has remained an old-school gem without too much polishing to distract from its sole purpose: a place to walk and play golf.
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Take Note...
Eat Your Vegetables. Superintendent Dave Denison cared for not only the golf course for over six decades (1976-2023) but also a myriad of garden plots across the 40-acre property. Most of these small gardens, which are still cultivated today, are full of all kinds of fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, melons, and more. Most are strategically located around tee boxes to catch water runoff. When it's time, the harvests are deposited in a basket up by the clubhouse for any member to enjoy.
Haunted Island. “Oh yeah, there’s a ghost that lives upstairs,” current golf professional Andrew Kegarise told me. He is 100% adamant that the Hay Harbor clubhouse, which is his home for the summer, is haunted by a “friendly” ghost. He says there are weekly occurrences of odd happenings, like an upstairs door that will slam shut and lock itself, rummaging in his closet in the middle of the night, and even a story of a rogue golf ball landing on the putting green when no one else was around.
What could have been. In 1917, Raynor laid out a course on the Hay Harbor site, but it was never implemented. It’s unclear whether it was a nine- or 18-hole design, but it’s fun to think about what could have been. Additionally, a 1897 newspaper article reported Thomas Bendelow visited the island to lay out a nine-hole design, but it’s unclear if his design was ever put in place. If so, it was likely altered by Strath and then Brooks shortly after.
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Favorite Hole
No. 2, Par 4, 358 yards
After inching closer to the ocean with every step on the first hole, you arrive at the wonderful second tee box just a few paces from the beach. Frankly, you’d be quite happy to just sit on the tee-side bench for the afternoon and watch the waves crash ashore, but the second is too exciting to just look at. This short par 4 climbs up the large southeast dune nearly 55 feet with a steep cliff drop off along the right side. A deep, exposed sand hollow fronts the green, wreaking havoc on any shots that end up short.
While the idyllic location is what makes this hole so memorable, the looming cliff edge on both the drive and approach inflicts fear in a player's head. If you manage to reach the green without losing your ball, you’ll likely be rewarded with a par or birdie and a spectacular view across the entire course and ocean beyond.
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Favorite Hole
No. 2, Par 4, 358 yards
After inching closer to the ocean with every step on the first hole, you arrive at the wonderful second tee box just a few paces from the beach. Frankly, you’d be quite happy to just sit on the tee-side bench for the afternoon and watch the waves crash ashore, but the second is too exciting to just look at. This short par 4 climbs up the large southeast dune nearly 55 feet with a steep cliff drop off along the right side. A deep, exposed sand hollow fronts the green, wreaking havoc on any shots that end up short.
While the idyllic location is what makes this hole so memorable, the looming cliff edge on both the drive and approach inflicts fear in a player's head. If you manage to reach the green without losing your ball, you’ll likely be rewarded with a par or birdie and a spectacular view across the entire course and ocean beyond.
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Overall Thoughts
The Hay Harbor Club might as well be a fantasy golf land. In other words, the Hay Harbor Club is likely the most delightful place to play golf in America. It’s truly a blast from the past with its simplistic design, presentation, and culture. It’s a stripped-down version of what golf in U.S. has become over the last 150 years with beverage carts, overly maintained turfgrass, and all the exorbitant extras that are completely unnecessary to the core of the game. Hay Harbor is all that it needs to be, a playground for the stick and ball game. Nothing more, nothing less.
Upon visiting the island with a primary focus on the Big Course (Fishers Island Club), I had little knowledge of Hay Harbor. The island that boasts a size of just under five square miles features two golf courses, so it felt necessary to see both of them given the multiple ferry rides and meticulous planning it took to get there. I walked into the large, white, barn-like clubhouse and met golf professional Andrew Kegarise, who already had a smile on his face. I get the sense that it’s impossible not to smile while on property at Hay Harbor. An infectious joy overcomes all who get to experience the course. It’s an incredibly laid-back place where people are just happy to smell the salty ocean air and be under the sun. Andrew kindly spoke with me for over an hour and shared the history and countless stories of Hay Harbor, which illuminated how unique and special this place is. For many members, the two courses on the island are the only golf they know. They grow up coming to the island all summer long and pick up the game at Hay Harbor to advance their skills and eventually graduate to the Big Course. Andrew tells me he often has to educate men and women on the definition of par and bogey and guide them through the basic etiquette of the game because they simply don’t know any better. Additionally, there are daily kids camps, women’s and senior clinics, and activities that create that homey, muni feel. The golf course itself is just a small piece of the overwhelming charm of Hay Harbor, along with the culture and the people who define it.
The Course
A shining example of what golf could (and should) be on a low budget. Scruffy tee boxes, natural fairways with any number of low ground cover plants and grasses, and most importantly, smooth, true greens. No irrigation means the course is at the mercy of the climate and typically runs very firm, fast, and raw. There’s a great variety of golf holes plotted along the awe-inspiring site, providing a splendid nine-hole journey. Right out of the gate and through the first six holes your attention is captured not only by the beautiful ocean views but the quality of the golf holes. Watch out for the gaggle of rocks poking up out of the fairway on the first hole, but do enjoy the downhill approach to the fall-away first green. Don’t get too distracted by the attractiveness of the second, and avoid losing your ball over the cliff edge. Make sure you’re precise with your shot into the postage stamp third surrounded by bunkers. Oh, how I dream of what it’s like to approach this green from its original tee box. Be alert for cars coming towards you down the road that lines the fourth. The angled tee shot leaves you basically hitting over it to a fairway that pitches away from the dog leg. Prepare your legs to hike up to the infinity edge of the fifth green, and don’t forget to stop for a moment of gratitude and soak in the view from the sixth tee. Manage your ball flight and utilize the downsloping ground to find the sixth green.
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I could go on and on about the feelings of delight you find around every corner of the property and the quality of golf shots throughout, but it will never do the place justice. There’s an intangible and irresistible allure to Hay Harbor. It may be exclusive and unattainable for many, but Hay Harbor reminds us why we play the game. To enjoy our natural environment and gleefully interact with other humans over an ancient game.
1 Egg
The mix of great land and soil, a quality routing, and a variety of fun, compelling golf holes gives Hay Harbor its Egg. I had to dismiss the majestic grandeur of the full experience to reach this conclusion, but if I were rating the experience and enjoyment of playing Hay Harbor, it would receive top honors. I’ll never forget the endless smiles and gratitude that overwhelmed me during my time on the property.
Course Tour
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