Golf Courses: A look at the Most Exclusive in America
Cow Neck Preserve,
Southampton, New York
On the eastern tip of Long Island sits the wealthy enclave known as the Hamptons, where the rich and famous have vacationed for decades. Unsurprisingly it also includes some of, if not the greatest collection of golf courses in the world. Four of the courses are included in the latest edition of Golf Digest’s Top 100 ranking (Shinnecock (4), National (8), Sebonack (39) & Maidstone (67)).
However there is one course, so exclusive that up until recently I didn’t even know of its existence. As you stand on the 17th tee at National Golf Links of America (The Hole pictures on this slide) and look northeast along the Peconic Bay you’ll see a beautiful 540 acre piece of conservation land. But look a little closer (and with the help of aerial footage) and you’ll come across one of the most exclusive golf courses in the country.
In David Goddard’s 1999 Shinnecock history book—“The Story of Shinnecock Hills,” he writes that, “J.D. Corrigan and eighty others had the idea to start a golf club in the early 1920’s. They originally bought the property for a course on Cow Neck in North Sea just west of Scallop Pond… Colonel Rogers planned a semi-sanctuary for wild game and filed the lawsuit to prevent the property from being used as a golf club.”
The group ultimately hired Seth Raynor and settled on the site where Southampton Golf Club exists today.
Fast forward a few decades and in 1988 Louis Bacon purchased Cow Neck for $25 million outbidding President Donald Trump who interestingly wanted to build an 18 hole course. Bacon ultimately won the bid because of his sensitivity towards protecting the environment.
In 2000 Bacon donated Cow Neck Preserve through a conservation easement with the Peconic Land Trust. Conservation easements are used for a variety of reasons, but ultimately give special tax benefits to the owner in exchange for a loss of certain rights in order to protect the environment.
However, in Bacon’s case the easement allowed for an “equestrian, farm and game management” zone that is 113 acres. Within the zone Mr. Bacon is allowed to have a polo field, a stick and ball field, equestrian riding rings both indoors and outdoors, stables, sheds, barns and paddocks as well as, you guessed it up to nine golf holes.
Not much is known about the Cow Neck Preserve (when it was built, who built it, etc.), but being that it is Bacon’s personal golf course, we can assume that not many rounds are played and that it’s quite difficult to get on the tee sheet.