Spy Ring Golf Club

Favorite Hole

No. 8, par 4, 340 yards

The southernmost portion of Spy Ring’s property is undoubtedly the best land the golf course occupies. Large formations create dramatic topography, and the final three holes really shine through. The first half of the eighth hole drapes the fairway over the high dune ridge to the right and tumbles towards the boundary line. Long tee shots can carry this ridge but must negotiate with the exposed dunes left of the green and a fall off to the right. With a green that also slopes from right to left, chipping from right of the green is no bargain. It’s a wonderful short par 4.

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Overall Thoughts

The story of Spy Ring starts and ends with the living community around which the course is routed. It’s because of this community and its ownership group that the golf course exists in the first place. Another developer could have easily turned the previous golf course solely into housing, removing one of the few public golf options in the area. Instead, the Heatherwood team opted to leave golf as an option, not only for its new residents but for the public at large. On the one hand, this is undeniably a good thing for the Long Island public golf scene. Bringing a Tyler Rae original to an area starved for good public golf is a plus. However, by sticking the community in the middle of the property and leaving just the outer edges for Rae to work, there were limitations from the jump. Good architects can overcome such obstacles, and I’ll argue that Rae did exactly that, but there was a ceiling put on this design. 

After a quick look through Google Earth’s historical database, it’s clear the property that is now Spy Ring Golf Club should have never been an 18-hole golf course. Frankly, it’s remarkable they were able to squeeze the former routing into that plot of land. With roughly 75 acres to play with, the previous Heatherwood Golf Course was cramped and lacked ingenuity, all to fit the standard of 18 holes. That’s a shame, because Spy Ring proves the property is more than capable of providing an interesting golf setting. It’s built on a sand base and has decent movement throughout, especially on the southern end of the course. I’d have to think the original course would have been better suited for a well-designed nine-hole course, but that’s for another day.

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Left with the outer edge of the property and limited yardage to work with, Rae focused on creating interest with boundary lines and green complexes. The tee shots on Nos. 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9 all feature out of bounds to the left of the landing area. If you get really wild with a tee shot, you can find OB on Nos. 1 and 6, as well. But with the course maxing out at about 3,100 yards, there isn’t always a need to hit driver. And while OB lurks, there is ample space on nearly every hole so you don’t feel like you’re trying to thread the ball through a thimble. Rae uses a mix of external and internal slopes to create interest on the greens, even if some of the contours do feel a bit repetitive over the course of the round. Personally, my favorite greens are the two par 3s, Nos. 5 and 7. Both feature a variety of penalties for misses and great internal contours, which alllows for different pin positions to change how the holes play day-to-day. Or, if you play the course twice from different tee boxes, you can change the shot, even if you play to the same pin. 

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Still, despite the interest at the greens, one is largely left with an underwhelming feeling after the first few holes. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 are short par 4s with little interest off the tee, and while the par-5 third is a fun hole, it’s hard to ignore how its dramatic tee shot (a drop of about 30 feet) and the length of the hole bring you squarely into the living community. By placing the residences in the middle of the golf course, presumably the flattest section of land, the early holes along the boundary comprise the routing. This is obviously not the fault of Rae or anyone on the design team, but the limitation of the project as a whole.

Once the routing gets through this section and out to the back half of the property, the course feels less claustrophobic and repetitive. Turning west from the southeast corner, the par-3 fifth features a great green, and the par-4 sixth is an interesting drive-and-pitch hole. My guess is the team would have loved to combine these holes into one strong par 4, but had to break them up in order to produce nine holes. 

The property really comes to life with the final three holes. The par-3 seventh, par-4 eight, and par-5 ninth holes tackle the most interesting topography on the course and really finish the round on a high note. If you were thinking about stopping after nine holes because of the early portion of the round, this closing stretch of holes will send you right back to the first tee. 

0 Eggs

(How we rate courses)

While the majority of the holes at Spy Ring are interesting and more than worth your time, there are a few too many distractions and limitations on the golf course that prevent it from earning an egg. More freedom to route a golf course on that property and a little more variety in the greens would quickly get Spy Ring to 1 Egg status. That said, it is certainly worth visiting. If I lived on central Long Island without a golf membership, I would certainly be a regular at Spy Ring.

Course Tour

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