Shelter Island Country Club

Shelter Island Country Club occupies one of the more quietly singular addresses in American golf — a private layout on Shelter Island, the small, unhurried landmass tucked between the North and South Forks of Long Island's East End. Reaching the club requires a ferry crossing from either Greenport or North Haven, a short passage that functions as a natural decompression from the mainland. The island itself has no traffic lights, a year-round population of a few thousand, and a landscape shaped by glacial moraine, tidal creeks, and dense woodland.

At par 64, this is a course built around short-game precision rather than power. Layouts of this par typically lean heavily on par 3s and short par 4s, where placement off the tee and sharp iron play matter far more than distance. In the right hands, that format rewards shot-making and local knowledge in equal measure.

For members, the club is almost certainly as much about the island itself as the golf — a genuinely remote, seasonal retreat where the ferry ride home is half the appeal.