Montauk Downs ☆ Follow

Montauk Downs is an 18-hole championship golf course featuring 6,762 yards of play for a par of 72. Robert Trent Jones Sr. redesigned the present course in 1968 with assistance from his son, Rees. The course is located in Suffolk County near the eastern tip of Long Island's South Fork, about one mile east of the hamlet of Montauk. The course sits on high ground halfway between the Atlantic Ocean to the south and Block Island Sound to the north, leaving golfers to fight against strong, swirling winds as they battle the Robert Trent Jones layout.

Most of the holes have small greens that require precision approach shots over bunkers and there are five water hazards on the course. The 12th hole is considered one of Long Island's toughest holes, a 228 yard par 3 with an elevated tee and green, requiring players to carry a deep valley of fescue grass and is guarded by three sand traps. The course also challenges players with water-carry approaches on the par-5 seventh and par-4 16th.

Montauk Downs has been consistently rated as one of America's top public golf courses, ranked second overall in the Golf World list of Reader's Choice Awards for overall value in 2009 and ranked 38th overall in Golfweek's list of the Best Municipal Courses. The ever-changing wind currents off the ocean and bay can change the way the course plays each day.