Sebonack Golf Club
Designed by Jack Nicklaus
History
The story of Sebonack begins not with a groundbreaking ceremony but with a real estate transaction of considerable consequence — a parcel of land along Peconic Bay in Southampton, sitting in the shadow of National Golf Links of America and Shinnecock Hills, two of the most storied addresses in American golf. When developer Michael Pascucci acquired the property in the early 2000s, he set out to build something that could stand alongside those neighbors rather than in their shadow. The result, opened in 2006, was Sebonack Golf Club, a private course built with the explicit ambition of joining the ranks of Long Island’s golfing elite rather than simply borrowing their view.
Pascucci brought in Jack Nicklaus to design the course, pairing him at times with Tom Doak in a collaboration that blended two very different design sensibilities — Nicklaus the champion-turned-architect known for his exacting, strategic approach, and Doak the naturalist known for letting land dictate design. On a site this rare, bordered by water and neighbored by golf royalty, Nicklaus approached the routing with a builder’s respect for the land’s existing character rather than imposing a signature style. The collaboration itself was unusual for Nicklaus, who rarely shared design credit, and it marked one of the more closely watched partnerships in modern American course design.
In the years since its opening, Sebonack has moved quickly into the upper tier of American championship venues. The club hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 2013, won by Inbee Park, bringing the course its first taste of major championship golf just seven years after opening. That event confirmed what Pascucci had wagered on from the start — that a new course, built with sufficient ambition and the right design partnership, could compete on the same stage as its century-old neighbors along the Southampton shoreline.
Playing Notes
Expect wind off Peconic Bay to be a factor on nearly every hole, and it changes direction often enough that club selection late in the round can feel like a fresh puzzle from the front nine. The land moves more than you'd guess from photos — subtle rolls in the fairways and greens complexions that make flat lies scarce, so bring a short game that can handle uneven stances. Bunkering is deep and frequent enough that you'll want to lay up short of trouble rather than gamble on carrying it, especially on approach shots where the greens are firm and can reject anything short. This is a walkable layout but caddies are strongly recommended, both for reading the terrain and for pace of play, since the greens have enough movement that local eyes on the line will save you strokes. Bring extra balls for the wind-exposed stretches, a rangefinder or GPS that accounts for elevation change, and patience — the course rewards players who accept a bogey rather than force a hero shot into a green that slopes away from the fairway.