Course Tours

Hole Description
The first hole on the East Course is appropriately named Reveille, the wake-up hole, by its creator A. W. Tillinghast. In contrast to first hole West, this is an inviting hole, perhaps drivable. A relatively open fairway is flanked by two bunkers, but only the right bunker will threaten the long-hitting golfer. An out of bounds on the right could entrap a sleepy, not-yet-alert player. At the green, a spine runs back to front, and a perpendicular ridge at the rear sets the stage for some testy hole locations. As the 1980 U.S. Senior Open program states, this is a fine hole to get things started.

Hole Description
The 1923 brochure announcing the opening of Winged Foot explained this hole’s name as referring to the golfer being obliged to hold a left — or, as horse racers would put it, a pole position — to keep out of trouble. This hole can be a two-shotter for many longer hitters. But the challenge (as is the case for most Winged Foot East holes) is found on the green, which slopes sharply from back to front. “A dollar bill,” said the 1923 brochure, “couldn’t lie level on either of the first two greens with their pitches and rolls.”

Hole Description
When East was renovated in 2013, the original false front of this hole’s green was restored. The change reduced the landing area and encouraged any short shots to spin back and circle down the hill, leaving the golfer within a tricky chip over the left bunker. Formerly, this hole was considered one of the course’s easiest — a source of routine pars and numerous birdies.

Hole Description
It has a name that recognizes the two ponds that menace the golfer and is one of the prettiest holes on the course. It is also a double dogleg and of such unusual character that the 1923 opening brochure imagined it becoming “nationally famous.” The tee shot crosses water and heads to an elevated fairway, from which the first dogleg unfolds. The second shot presents a challenge to reach the green over a second pond. This is a classic “Cape” hole, meaning that the golfer is challenged to attempt a high-risk, high-reward shot over a hazard, frequently water. The green, unusual in the fact that its borders are devoid of bunkers, is large and relatively flat, nevertheless sloping deceptively toward the water.

Hole Description
Shaped like a bootleg, this hole has been lengthened twice, most recently in 2013, by 30 yards. The golfer’s tee shot must be long and straight if he is to clear trees on the right and to avoid the left’s treacherous rough and awkward stances. The green is one of Tillinghast’s classic two-tiers, affording back hole location positions behind a pronounced perpendicular spine.

Hole Description
This is the second of four great par 3s… and a long one. Golfers will hit irons to a dramatically sloped small green, stalking an essential — an uphill putt — while knowing that a shot landing too short will roll back off the green’s false front. First putts above the hole may run off the green as well. Therein lies the Trouble.

Hole Description
The first six holes at Winged Foot East track inexorably the eastern perimeter of the property, following a short-long, short-long, short-long pattern, as they weave their way through a depressed hollow in the property. For the seventh hole, the golfer ascends to the plain-like topography that comprises the rest of Winged Foot. From this point on, the terrain resembles that of the West Course. The seventh hole, the first on this terrain, presents one of the most difficult par 4s at Winged Foot. The second shot, long to begin with, is made more difficult by an elongated, narrow green, tightly bunkered on both sides. A back-right hole location is inaccessible putting from the front of the green.

Hole Description
Played as a par 5 by the members and a par 4 in championship play, this hole emerges as pretty short, even for a par 4. The hole “hooks” left about 250 yards from the tee, a dogleg design that asks for a “lay-up” drive, unless the player decides to go for broke over the left trees, courting a short chip to the green. Even then, he faces a green that is one of the most difficult in the full 36. The green is domed and incorporates a series of hump-back rolls and other severe undulations.

Hole Description
A dogleg slightly to the left, this hole favors a drive to the right-hand side of the fairway, a shot that opens up a green tightly bunkered on both left and right. Another unique green layout, unlike any on both courses, was here created from the fertile imagination of Mr. Tillinghast. There is a deep perpendicular swale at the back of the green, affording beguiling hole positions, especially on the right tucked behind a knoll.

Hole Description
This is one of the most scenic holes on the course, with the view from the tee taking in the full beauty of the east side of Winged Foot’s Tudor clubhouse. In days past, the green was bowered by an enormous elm — the largest in Westchester County — whose hanging branches would deflect and redirect too-high second shots into the bunkers. Sadly, the tree fell victim to the Dutch elm disease a number of years ago. Historically, this hole encouraged a lay-up drive that respected the large bunker crossing the fairway near the green.

Hole Description
This medium-length dogleg demands an accurate drive to avoid the fairway bunker guarding the corner. The approach is to an extremely narrow green that is tightly bunkered. The green itself is steeply pitched from back to front, with a ridge defending any back-right hole locations. Hole locations on the lower part of the green will result in lightning-fast putts from above the hole and sharply breaking side-hill putts from the left and right.

Hole Description
A demanding par 5 befitting its name, the 12th hole is the longest on the East Course. In the 1950s, Winged Foot pro Claude Harmon, on his way to a record-setting score of 61 on East, reached this hole in two, using his persimmon driver for both shots. He then sank the putt for eagle.

The tee shot must be kept to the right of this right-to-left sloping fairway. A bunker protects the green in front from run-ons, and the green slopes sharply from back to front. Extreme back-hole location positions, where knolls protrude, will have golfers muttering to themselves.

Hole Description
If the West is a course of great par 4s, the 13th hole contributes mightily to the East’s reputation of great par 3s. The name Cameo likens this elevated green to the raised carving in a cameo brooch and suggests the jewel-like appearance of this green, mounted in a setting of bunkers and trees.

In the 1923 brochure announcing the course opening, the 13th is called “one of the most beautiful holes on the course.” The hole has been playfully dubbed “the shortest par 5 in America.” Shots missing the green result in a devilishly steep bunker shot or delicate pitches off hardpan. Shots falling short of the green will run the risk of spinning all the way back down the hill toward the tee. This is one of the fastest greens at Winged Foot.

Hole Description
The 14th hole is a classic dogleg par 4, finished off with a steeply sloped green tightly guarded by both left and right bunkers. The unfortunate player finding any of the near bunkers will be presented with an almost impossible up-and-down.

Hole Description
The 1980 Senior Open program described the 15th hole as a “short par four.” The tee shot takes the driver out of play for most golfers, however the approach into a hard-to- hold green is demanding for all. There is a pond in front, a bunker and woods to the left, and a bunker to the right that will intimidate all but the supremely confident veteran or the supremely daring.

Hole Description
A wide-open fairway and a straight uphill trudge to a very wide green would seem to buoy the late-round “hopes” of a player. Yet a high front-to-back spine on the green dauntingly cuts the green in half for those golfers striving for a birdie.

Hole Description
Lightning did strike on the 17th hole in 1972 as Susie Maxwell Berning hit her persimmon driver within 20 feet and sank the putt for birdie. That gained her two strokes on the competition and basically delivered her the U.S. Women’s Open title.

The 17th hole completes the foursome of great par 3s on Winged Foot East and is appropriately the longest. The green rises steeply from the surrounding terrain, and an enormous false front inexorably sends short shots back to the fairway. Beyond the false front, a menacing knoll on the left influences putts, even those starting on the flattish right. The most difficult hole location is back left, beyond the knoll. The most unusual feature of the hole, for Winged Foot: there are no bunkers around the green.

Hole Description
This short par 4 is a great finishing hole. The driving area is narrow, pitched and undulating. The hole offers one of the more readable greens at Winged Foot, but demands that the approach finds the right sector of the green.