Winged Foot West Course

The verdict

Winged Foot is one of the most decorated clubs in golf, and its West Course is among the hardest tests the game offers. A.W. Tillinghast was asked to build something that would make a man put every shot under a microscope, and when the course opened in 1923 in Mamaroneck, just north of New York City, he had done exactly that. The West is a stately parkland routed through mature trees, but its true defense lies on and around the greens, small, crowned, fiercely contoured targets ringed by deep bunkers that turn a missed approach into a desperate scramble for par.

It plays as a par 72 of about 7,477 yards for the members and is set up as a par 70 for championships, where scoring famously suffers. The West has hosted six US Opens, from Bobby Jones in 1929 through the 1974 championship so brutal it was nicknamed the Massacre at Winged Foot, to Geoff Ogilvy in 2006 and Bryson DeChambeau in 2020, the only player to finish under par that week. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner restored Tillinghast's greens and bunkering in 2018, and the US Open returns in 2028. The club is private and the West is a hard ticket, reached through a member, but it sits at the very top of any list of American parkland courses.

The holes worth the trip

The West asks hard questions from the start and saves its most famous for last. The 10th, a long par 3 to a narrow, raised green that Ben Hogan once called a three iron into a clenched fist, may be Tillinghast's finest one shotter. The 18th, a dogleg par 4 that bends through the trees to a green perched above a nest of bunkers, has decided major championships and ranks among the great finishing holes in the world.

Length matters here, but precision matters more. The greens are the smallest and most severe of any major venue, pitched and surrounded by Tillinghast's deep, flashed bunkers, so an approach that finds the wrong tier or misses on the short side leaves almost no recovery. The fairways are generous off the tee by modern standards, but the closer you get to the hole, the more the course tightens its grip.

After the Hanse restoration the greens grew back to their original footprints and the bunkering regained its rugged edge, returning the West to the look and the menace Tillinghast intended. It is golf at its most exacting, a course that rewards control and punishes ambition, and a humbling, unforgettable day for any visitor lucky enough to play it.

Where to stay nearby

Westchester County and nearby New Rochelle and White Plains offer plenty of hotels within minutes of the club, while many traveling golfers base in Manhattan and make the short drive north. The area is well served by both LaGuardia and Westchester County airports.

Winged Foot pairs naturally with the other great courses of the New York region, from the Westchester privates to the championship public golf at Bethpage Black and the historic clubs of Long Island. We can help with the introductions where possible and arrange the lodging and transfers around your rounds.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts around Westchester.