In my late 20s, I used to walk the Black Course at Bethpage twice a day to prepare for what I think is the toughest unknown public golf course on Long Island: Montauk Downs.
Not that it helped. From 1974 to 1983, I joined the same three guys on the second weekend in May to compete in what we dubbed the East End Open. On Friday, we played two rounds at an easy course, like Pine Hills CC in Manorville, then four rounds at Montauk Downs - two on Saturday, two on Sunday. We drove carts. We never bet, but we were competitive and serious. The winner's name was engraved on a plaque.
I never won.
As I walked off the last hole each year, I needed a recovery room, not a locker room. I had circles under my eyes, sand glued to the suntan lotion on my arms, scourge marks on my pants from thorn bushes, prickly pears on my socks - souvenirs from hunting for balls and hitting out of deep rough. But despite that trauma, I have returned to Montauk for 29 years, like a boxer walking into sucker punches; I've played more rounds there than anywhere, more than 200 altogether, most in the spring and fall. I've played in windy rain and biting cold. I don't play in summer; I have a boat. I don't like crowds, but I don't mind a little breeze.
"This is supposedly the third-windiest spot in the country," 15th-year head pro Kevin Smith said, "because of Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean being within a mile . . . on each side. It certainly increases the difficulty. It makes the course play differently every day . . . sometimes within the same hole."
I rarely break 100. Last month, I had a best-ball 89 for four rounds and parred Nos. 2, 8, 10, 13, 17 and 18 during the week but never shot lower than 106. If one hole doesn't bite me, another does.
But I still feel Montauk is home. I love the rusty rough, the dark green rolling fairways, the soft sunlight in late afternoon, the deer that scamper across the 11th fairway.
"It's a naturally beautiful course," Smith said. "It's well-balanced. Two par-5s aren't reachable in two [Nos. 5, 10]. Then, there are two par-5s for gamblers [7, 13] - but there's risk involved. There are some great par-4s. There's not a 'gimme' hole out there."
Most of Montauk's greens are small and require high, soft approach shots. If you don't have a sand game, stay home; every green is bracketed by bunkers. These factors make Montauk a nightmare:
Five water hazards. On Nos. 5, 7, 13, 14 and 16. You could throw a ball to the other side of the hazard in front of the fifth tee. But it's a psyche-out. No. 7, a par-5, 488-yarder, is Death Hole. I christened it that in 1975, planting a poster of a skull on the bank of the hazard in front of the green. When I told Kevin Smith this, he said I'm probably "somebody who needs to walk from the sixth green to the eighth tee." You need a good drive and a layup to have a shot at par on the seventh. Then, a 7- or 8-iron gets you to the green. But who can swing easy hitting over a 130-yard hazard?
The 474-yard 13th has water down the right side, and it curls in front of the elevated green. The 185-yard 14th has a hazard to the right of the green. On the 362-yard 16th, the small green is tucked behind a pond. I play it side-ways.
Thickets near fairways and greens. Especially Nos. 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12. I once found 36 balls in the bushes to the right of the fourth green but lost a sand wedge there. On the fifth, it's lights out in the 170- to 210-yard range to the right off the tee. On No. 6, if you snap hook it short of the dogleg, just reload. On the 464-yard uphill 10th, the problem is the second shot with a thicket lining the left side. Ditto 11. At 12, if you push it, it's gone.
Wind in your face. Nos. 3, 9, 15, 18. The green at 374-yard third is kidney-shaped, double-tiered, shallow and slopes from right to left. The 435-yard ninth, 407-yard 15th and 417-yard 18th play like par-5s and usually are into the wind.
Undulating greens, some double-tiered. Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 17: The worst are the kidney-shaped seventh and 10th: double-tiered, sloping from back to front. The fourth is the toughest to hold.
Three tough par-3s. Nos. 8, 12, 14: The 154-yard eighth is fronted by two traps that seem 20 feet deep. The 179-yard 12th also is fronted by traps.
Despite these obstacles, I agree with Smith, who said, "I always thought it was one of the best layouts, public or private, in the country. You never get tired of playing it; if you do, you're not a golfer."
This story was originally published in Newsday on June 8, 2003.
