[This flyover was updated on June 26, 2025.]
A turn south from the Long Island Expressway at exit 69 is a short-lived escape from suburbia. Farms and vegetable stands, maybe a fresh pie. Cruise past open fields and, about a mile ahead, a laid-back golf course awaits. It's a big golf course with a small-town vibe.
Pine Hills is the longest of Manorville's three public courses (Rock Hill and Swan Lake are the others). In fact, at 7,132 yards from the tips, Pine Hills is lengthier than every public course on the Island except Bethpage Black and the Links at Cherry Creek. Tree-lined fairways, fescue-rimmed bunkers and spacious greens give the course a familiar look.
The course is a driver's delight ’97 not only because of its length, but also because its relatively roomy fairways allow you to keep the big stick active. Bordering trees do not choke the fairways like they do elsewhere. Fairway bunkers are present on every hole but are easily avoidable for accurate hitters, with only occasional exceptions. Water hazards are direct threats on five holes and very passive participants on several others.
LAYOUT:
The front nine plays straight out and back on the south side of the clubhouse, followed by a back nine that loops around the north side. The 400-/375-yard first makes for a soft opening to a round, with the only trouble coming around the nearest half of the green in the form of two traps and a false front. The par-5 second shakes things up a bit with a slight right bend and a pond guarding the green. Bad pulls off the tee could find water, as well. Two layups will take both hazards out of play, while a strong drive sets up a potential Tin Cup glory shot.
A sharp left turn ’97 with fairway bunkers on the inside and outside of the dogleg ’97 makes #4 one of the more challenging holes at Pine Hills. It takes a firm drive to reach the turn, and many shots into the rough will require a layup or punch-out thanks to the trees. The hole's final challenge is a green that slopes in two different directions.
Two short holes provide opportunities to play a little more creatively without reaching, by instinct, for the driver. The 335-/315-yard fifth uses water left of the green to impact your direction off the tee. Targeting the roomier left side keeps the water in play later. If you try to approach from a better angle on the right, a fairway trap enters the fray. Around 30 yards shorter, #13 is a gift for those who get tripped up at the start of the back nine. Birdie is just a hybrid and pitch away. Some might give it a go with the driver, but although there is plenty of open space around the hole, the front entrance to the green is well protected by sand.
Back on the front nine, #7 lends a hand with an opportunity to gain a stroke, though it's certainly no pushover. Attack the fairway from a slightly raised tee and settle into prime real estate just a short iron away from the flag. Use caution on the approach, since the green is also elevated and tilted toward a deep right bunker. Putts on this green will scoot very quickly from back left to the right edge. Only the treelines resist your efforts on the 539-/473-yard eighth, where big bombers can look to get home in two. A back-to-front green is a welcoming landing spot whether you play the hole for eagle or as a three-shotter. At 440 yards from the middle tees, #9 is a grueling par-4 assignment when directed into the wind.
A couple of left-bending doglegs test your draw on the back nine. Pine Hills' "signature hole," the 498-/475-yard 15th, turns hard to the left after passing by a small tree-topped pond that guards the corner. This hazard was once much more obtrusive, but much of it has been filled in over the years to make way for more fairway space. (See more below in Holes to Remember and in this Observations post.) Rewind a few holes to #11, which features another fairway angled nearly 90 degrees. The turn here is protected by a newly opened waste area. On the far side, a massive waste bunker runs nearly the entire length from the turn to the green.
After a blind tee shot on the hilly par-5 12th and an offensive charge on the short, roomy 13th, players lock horns with a par-3 for the first time since way back at the third. At 180 yards from the middle tees, #14 is the longest of the one-shot trio. Its bike-seat-shaped green is framed by three bunkers. Two traps monitor the surface at #3, an amicable 156-yarder. Ahead at #17, water to the left of the green and a pot bunker to the right test your nerves and late-round accuracy.
You'll want to get as far down the fairway as you can at the 396-/365-yard 16th and be in range to target the green with shorter clubs. Too little muscle on your second shot could send your ball to the bottom of a greenfront water hazard. At #18, it's not too late for Pine Hills' longest par-4, a 472-yarder with only a single fairway bunker and some low trees and shrubs between tee and green. The strongest defense here is the wind. But if you cursed the wind for slowing your progress on the lengthy and north-facing #8 and #9, at least par-favoring gusts will be an ally on the southbound 18th.
CONDITIONS:
Pine Hills is almost universally praised for its excellent conditions. Management has devoted plenty of resources in the past few seasons toward maintaining pristine fairways and greens and completing in-house renovation work that transformed parts of the course. From 2023 to 2025, the Pine Hills team removed trees around the course to open up dramatic internal views and make certain spots more playable. They've also added, remodeled or enhanced several bunkers around the course and tidied up water hazards. Once a densely tree-lined par-4, the fourth now features long grass outside the dogleg and a sweeping view behind the green. Elsewhere, the waste bunker on #11 is a 2025 addition, as is a stone bulkhead on the pond at #16.
The course is one of the few Long Island publics to feature a grass driving range.
HOLE(S) TO REMEMBER:
Once a standard tree-lined dogleg hole, the 11th has been elevated to main attraction at Pine Hills thanks to the above-mentioned renovation work. Played by the book, #11 calls for a 200-yard tee shot to get past the hard-left turn and a mid- to long iron to reach the green. The far rough has been completely replaced with a massive waste bunker, meaning a ripped tee shot risks overshooting the fairway and settling into the sand. (That area had been regular tree-topped rough, then more recently a cleared fescue area.)
Inside the hard left turn, what was for many years a weedy, wooded wasteland is now a partially open clearing that allows players to cut the corner with more reward potential. A perfectly executed shortcut can chop the approach shot in half, leaving just a wedge in to an inviting green. There are a few trees that remain inside the bend, so shots over the corner do need some height in addition to power.
AREA(S) TO AVOID:
Course veterans remember the par-5 15th as a fun if awkward risk/reward par-5 with a water hazard that cut almost entirely across the fairway around 200 yards from the tee. Two trees stood over the hazard too. Now, after a few renovations, that pond is more of a passive participant in the left rough. The one tree that remains, however, is a helpful aiming aid that directs players to the meat of the unseen fairway. Point your drive at that tree and watch it soar beyond the turn to a fairway that tumbles downhill toward the distant green. All good!
Or, point your drive at that tree and watch it come out low, flying on a path toward its draped branches. Then watch your ball careen into the tree and drop into the pond. Not good!
You can avoid all of that by riding the conservative route to the right of the tree.
NEARBY COURSES:
Rock Hill (4 miles)
Swan Lake (5 miles)
WHERE TO GRAB A BITE AND A BEER:
Before or after 18, count on JC's Restaurant to keep you feeling full and satisfied. JC's is a full-service restaurant and bar offering steaks, sandwiches and burgers along with TVs and terrace views of the golf course. It's the ideal spot after a round on a summer afternoon, and quite frankly, you don't have much of a choice beyond the secluded Pine Hills property.
CONTACT:
2 Country Club Drive, Manorville 11949
(631) 878-7103
www.pinehillsccgolf.com
SEE ALSO:
Long Island Dream Club: Pine Hills CC #5
Observations: Pine Hills Country Club, 9/16/2011
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