Eisenhower Park Golf Course

The Red Course is the historic heart of Eisenhower Park, built in 1914 by Devereux Emmet as part of the sprawling private Salisbury Golf Club, a multi-course complex favored by wealthy Long Islanders. Emmet, an accomplished amateur who reached the quarterfinals of the 1904 British Amateur, drew on his European playing days to shape a classic, walkable parkland test. In 1926 the Salisbury links hosted the PGA Championship, then contested at match play, and Walter Hagen defeated Leo Diegel 5 and 3 to claim one of his five PGA titles. When the Depression left the owners unable to pay taxes, Nassau County took over the land, opening its first major public park in 1944 and rededicating it in 1969 as Eisenhower Park. Remarkably little has changed, and the Red Course still reflects Emmet's original 1914 design.