The golf course and neighboring wastewater treatment plant at Bergen Point have always been linked by name and by unique history, and now after more than 50 years, that connection in name has come to an end.
Bergen Point Golf Course is now formally known as Santapogue Creek County Golf Course. Suffolk County announced the new name earlier this month by press release. A scheduled ribbon-cutting that was set to take place at the golf course on May 19 was postponed.
The rebrand honors local Babylon history and separates the golf facility from the wastewater plant that occupies the waterfront between the course and Great South Bay. It also comes during a transitional period for the former Bergen Point golf course, which is currently between operators. Suffolk County has spent much of the winter and early spring upgrading irrigation, improving the driving range, fixing the clubhouse and making a number of other improvements on and around the course. A new Santapogue Creek golf website launched last week.
The course’s new title is a tribute to one of the earliest recorded names associated with the coastal area in West Babylon. According to the Suffolk County legislation that introduced the name change, the golf course sits alongside Santapogue Creek on land identified as Santapogue Neck and Point.
Course architect William Mitchell laid out Bergen Point next to Great South Bay during the late-1960s golf- and park-building boom. The course was ready for play in 1969, but with construction plans for the adjacent treatment plant suddenly up in the air, Suffolk County delayed the grand opening of the golf course until issues with the plant were resolved.
Initially, the treatment plant was to be built on landfill farther out over the bay, but cost overruns led to its relocation on land already occupied by the new golf course. So before it ever opened, Bergen Point lost three holes and had to modify others near the southern end of the layout. The course didn’t open until 1972.
For more on Bergen Point, check out the course flyover and the “Origins” post that details its unique history.