History of Eisenhower Park Courses

From the Nassau County Website (https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/1782/Eisenhower-Red-Course)

The Red Course, one of three 18-hole golf courses at Eisenhower Park, has a storied history. Originally, it was part of the exclusive Salisbury Golf Club, begun by wealthy Long Islanders such as A.T. Stewart, a 19th-century retailer and property magnate who created the planned Village of Garden City out of the prairie known as the Hempstead Plains.

During the heady 1920s, the Salisbury Club was a centerpiece in the social life of wealthy families along the North Shore. The golf facility sported five 18-hole courses and played host to the 1926 Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) Championship, won by the legendary Walter Hagen for a purse of $11,100. Hagen, who won five PGA championships during the 1920s, is credited with having elevated the profile and prestige of professional golfers during that era.

During the Depression, however, Nassau County took over the Salisbury Club when the owners were unable to pay the property taxes. In 1944, the county established its first major public park on that location, initially known as Nassau County Park at Salisbury and rededicated in 1969 as Eisenhower Park.

History of the Red Course

The Red Course was designed in 1914 by a prominent local golf course architect, Devereux Emmet, who was married to one of A.T. Stewart's nieces. Emmet was also a descendant of Thomas Addison Emmet, a founder of New York City's Tammany Hall political machine. Devereux Emmet was himself a skilled golfer who spent a great deal of time in the U.K. and made the quarter-finals of the 1904 British amateur tournament. Emmet also enjoyed a long career as a golf architect, building off his experience in Europe.

Most of Emmet's courses were designed during the era of hickory-shafted clubs and were short by current standards, at around 6,000 yards. (The U.S. Golf Association did not accept the use of steel shafts until 1924.) Today, the par-72 course measures 7,107 yards from the championship tees, 6,416 yards from the middle tees, and 5,470 yards from the forward tees.

Accolades

The Red Course's history with championship golf goes back to the PGA Championship in 1926, but in recent years the course has hosted the PGA's Champions Tour. Professional golfers on that circuit have lavished praise on the Red course. PGA golfer Lee Trevino has called Eisenhower Red "one of the better and one of the toughest courses we play." Mike Reid, 2005 Championship Tour winner, summed up his views of the Red for Newsday by calling it "a marvelous course in its simplicity, that's what impresses me about it. It doesn't put on any airs, it just requires good golf from the first tee to the 18th green." Loren Roberts, the 2008 winner, also praised the Red as a PGA favorite and told Newsday the course is "the deal of the century" when he learned about the fees.

During golf events, the Red Course is considered friendly both for golfers and spectators, with relatively flat and short distances between greens and tees. The course also has many crosswalks that allow fans to get around easily and see the players.