What Men Should Wear to Play Golf at Montauk Downs
The dress code is the easy part of Montauk Downs. New York State publishes exactly one rule about what you wear or carry onto this golf course, soft spikes only, and publishes nothing whatsoever about shirts, collars, denim, shorts or hats, which means a collared polo with golf trousers or tailored golf shorts and a soft spiked shoe satisfies every written requirement the operator has, and denim is permitted in print by omission while still being the one item worth leaving in the car. The wind is the hard part.
Montauk Downs sits at 50 South Fairview Avenue in Montauk, at the eastern tip of Long Island, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side of the point and Block Island Sound on the other. The state park system's own course page names the variable before you think to ask it: "The ever-changing wind currents off the ocean and bay can change the way the course plays each day." Weather Spark's Montauk October page puts the average hourly wind speed at Montauk at 11.0 mph on October 1 and 13.1 mph on October 31, and the page itself calls that climb rapidly increasing. That is the number your clothing has to answer here.
A collared polo, golf trousers or tailored golf shorts, and a soft spiked golf shoe clear every rule New York State publishes for Montauk Downs, and a wind layer you can open and close is what the round itself asks for.
A collared polo. No collar rule is published anywhere, so the collar is your judgment, and a firm one is the one that holds its shape in open air.
Golf trousers, or tailored golf shorts. Nothing is published about either, and nothing is published about denim, which still belongs in the car.
Soft spikes. The state publishes this verbatim: "The golf course is soft spikes only." Bring a soft spiked shoe and you are compliant.
A quarter zip, with a vest under it when the water is working. Montauk's October wind average runs 11.0 to 13.1 mph (Weather Spark).
The course, and what it actually asks of you
To Satisfy the State, the Standard Golf Kit Clears It
Wear a collared polo, golf trousers or golf shorts and a shoe with soft spikes, and you are correctly dressed for this course by every standard the operator has written down. Montauk Downs is a New York State park course in Suffolk County, inside the Long Island Region of the state park system, and it is neither a resort nor a private club, which is why the published policy reads like a maintenance note rather than a code. The state's listing describes the property as the "Robert Trent Jones-designed, championship-length, 18-hole Montauk Downs State Park Golf Course," records that "Montauk Downs was originally developed in 1927," and credits the layout you play now to one job: "Robert Trent Jones Sr. redesigned the present course in 1968 with assistance from his son, Rees."
GolfPass lists the course at par 72 and 6,976 yards from the Championship tee, with a course rating of 73.3 and a slope of 135 over 18 holes, and credits Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1968, Rees Jones in 1968 and 2008, and Bryce Swanson in 2008. Those are championship numbers attached to a state park fee card, and the booking is its own small procedure. The state requires registration in its online reservation system before you can book, charges a $5 reservation fee and charges $15 if you do not show. The pro shop is 631-668-1100, general information is 631-668-5000 and the golf reservation line is 347-921-9324.
The same park system runs the Black Course at Bethpage, and our guide to that round deals with an entirely different problem. Montauk is not a stamina course or a rough course. It is an exposure course, and that is a clothing problem rather than a golf one. PILLAR has no affiliation with Montauk Downs, the New York State park system or GolfPass. Every policy quoted here comes from the operator's own published pages, linked so you can read them yourself.
To Hold Its Shape in Open Air, the Collar Has to Be Firm
Buy the collar first. No collar rule exists on either state page, so nobody is going to turn you away over a crew neck, which makes the collar a question about how you want to look for four hours rather than a compliance item. That is exactly why it is worth getting right. In 13 mph of moving air a soft collar lies down flat against the back of your neck and stays there for the rest of the round. A firm one does not.
The DAVID POLO is the only PILLAR shirt with a published firm collar, which is what makes it the shirt for an exposed course. It runs 84 percent nylon and 16 percent spandex with four way stretch, sweat wicking, a classic athletic fit, a U cut hem and a pre shrunk finish, at $76. Navy is the color that holds its weight against grey Atlantic light and a bleached links palette. If you are stuck between shades, which polo color to buy first settles it, and the full polo range is one click away. On a course the state keeps open every month of the year, a printed shirt like the Steven Polo in Brew, a pale blue micro print, is the warm weather version of the same decision.
The firm collar is the only collar spec PILLAR publishes, and it is the reason this shirt still looks like a shirt on the 16th tee with the wind across your shoulder. Navy reads deep and clean under grey coastal light.
84 percent nylon, 16 percent spandex. Four way stretch, sweat wicking, classic athletic fit, U cut hem, pre shrunk.
The west wind, and the layer that answers it
To Work a Shifting West Wind, the Quarter Zip Earns Its Place
Take the layer you can operate without stopping. The Montauk climate averages at Weather Spark give west as the predominant October wind direction, with the peak proportion reaching 37 percent on October 29, and put the month's average hourly wind on that 11.0 to 13.1 mph climb. A west wind running down a narrow point does not arrive the same way twice, which is precisely what the operator is warning you about with its line on wind currents off the ocean and bay changing how the course plays each day. The state is not being poetic there. It is telling you that today's round and tomorrow's round are different rounds.
The ALEC QUARTER ZIP in blue, at $98, is the piece built for that. A quarter zip opens at the collar when you warm up walking a fairway and closes to the chin when you step onto an exposed tee, and that single adjustment is the whole reason it beats a pullover out here: a pullover gives you one setting for a day that has four. Three sizes are live today, Small, Medium and Large. The rest of the pullovers and quarter zips sit together, and the ALEC CREW in black is the unisex crewneck if you want similar coverage with no zip at all.
That October climb at Montauk is steeper than the wind figure on any course this blog has written up, including the open ground in our Erin Hills round. The wind spine on this post is not a mood. It is arithmetic, and it is published.
Open at the collar walking up a fairway, closed to the chin on an exposed tee. One garment, four settings, which is the whole argument against a pullover on a course where the wind shifts by the hour.
Three sizes are live today.
A number like 13 mph reads like nothing on a forecast. Stand on an exposed tee at the end of Long Island and it reads like weather.
PILLAR, on the published October average at Montauk Downs
To Treat Wind as the Problem, the Vest Answers It
Reach for the vest when the thermometer is not what is bothering you. Weather Spark has the Montauk daily high falling from 67 F on October 1 to 58 F on October 31, and the daily low falling from 57 F to 48 F across the same month. By itself 58 F is a pleasant round in a shirt. 58 F with 13 mph coming off the water is a completely different afternoon, and the mistake men make is answering it with insulation when the actual problem is air moving across the chest.
That is the job the KEVIN VEST in black, at $78, is built for. A vest stops the wind at your core, which is where losing heat costs you, and leaves your arms and shoulders carrying nothing at all, so the swing you grooved on the range is the swing you still have on the 14th. A jacket solves the identical wind problem and takes something out of your turn doing it. This is the piece this blog has carded before without ever having the conditions to properly defend it. Montauk is the first course that earns the argument, because here wind beats temperature on the majority of days the course is open, and a vest is what you wear when wind beats temperature.
The HAYDEN HOODIE in beige, at $98, has a narrower job: the range before the round, at $10 for a bucket of 60 balls, and the long drive out to the point and back again. Be honest about what is published, because neither state page says one word about the practice areas or the driving range, so anybody who tells you a hoodie is banned on the range at Montauk Downs is guessing at it. At most courses a hoodie is a car and range garment by convention and comes off before the first tee, and if you want certainty rather than convention, the pro shop on 631-668-1100 can give it to you in a single call. XXL is sold out.
Wind off the core, arms and shoulders free. The right answer at 58 F with the water working, where the problem is moving air rather than cold.
For the bucket of 60 balls before you tee off and the drive out to the point. Nothing is published either way about the range here, so treat it as a car garment and ask the shop if you want a ruling.
The round, hour by hour
To Plan the Hours, the Light Sets the Window
Start from the light rather than the temperature. Weather Spark has sunrise at Montauk moving from 6:44 AM on October 1 to 7:17 AM on October 31, and sunset moving from 6:29 PM to 5:44 PM across the same month, so a tee time that was comfortable daylight at the start of October is a race against dark by the end of it. The state is blunt about the other variable and worth taking literally: "Please call for operating hours as this may change due to weather conditions." Call before you drive the length of the island.
Average hourly wind rises from 11.0 mph on October 1 to 13.1 mph on October 31 at Montauk, described on the page as rapidly increasing (Weather Spark). West is predominant, peaking at 37 percent on October 29.
The daily high falls from 67 F to 58 F across October and the daily low from 57 F to 48 F (Weather Spark). That gap is the gap a vest covers without a jacket.
Sunrise moves from 6:44 AM to 7:17 AM and sunset from 6:29 PM to 5:44 PM over the month (Weather Spark). The state prices twilight carts, which tells you how tight the back end gets.
Walking is allowed and pull carts are listed (GolfPass). A push cart is $12 for 18 holes and a locker is $5 daily or $75 annual on the published course details and fee listing.
Here is the round as the published numbers set it up. Nothing is published hour by hour for either wind or temperature at this course, so the band stays the band all day and the last two columns are PILLAR's reading of it rather than anybody's policy.
| Time | Likely temperature | Likely wind | What is on | What is in the bag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrival and range | Nearest the October daily low, 57 F early in the month down to 48 F late | No hourly figure is published, so plan on the monthly band of 11.0 to 13.1 mph | Hoodie over the polo | Vest and quarter zip |
| First tee, after a 6:44 AM to 7:17 AM sunrise | Still sitting close to the daily low | Same band, west predominant at up to 37 percent of hours | Polo, vest, quarter zip closed to the chin | Hoodie back in the car |
| The turn | Climbing toward the daily high of 67 F to 58 F | Unchanged in the monthly average, variable in practice by the operator's own warning | Polo and vest, quarter zip open | Quarter zip on the push cart |
| Back nine | At or just under the published daily high | The operator warns that currents off the ocean and bay shift day to day | Polo and vest | Quarter zip within reach |
| Twilight, before a 6:29 PM to 5:44 PM sunset | Falling back toward the daily low | Band unchanged in the published monthly average | Quarter zip over the vest | Nothing left in the bag |
To Walk the Property, the Push Cart Is the Storage
Walk it, and take a push cart with you. The GolfPass course record lists walking as allowed and lists pull carts, and the state's own fee listing prices a push cart at $12 for 18 holes against $22 for a single electric cart and $44 for a double, $18 and $36 at twilight, and $14 for the back nine alone. That $12 is not really a saving. It is a wardrobe decision, because the vest you take off at the turn and the hoodie you wore on the range need somewhere to live that is not tied around your waist.
Club rentals are $70 for 18 holes and a locker is $5 for the day or $75 for the year, which matters if you are coming out from the city with a change of clothes in the back. The state does not force you onto a cart here and it does not force you off one either, whatever anybody tells you. Both options are priced and published, and either one leaves you with the same wind to dress for.
To Play It in the Cold Months, the Layer Count Climbs
Plan a round here in February and the operator will not stop you, because the state's Montauk Downs page says the course is "Open daily year-round, weather permitting," and that sentence is doing more work than it looks like it is doing. Most of the course guides on this blog describe a season. This one describes a calendar.
Weather Spark puts the windiest day of the year at Montauk on January 13, at a daily average wind speed of 15.0 mph, which runs faster than anything October produces out here. So the layering argument at Montauk Downs is not a seasonal nicety. It is the thing that decides whether you finish the back nine or walk in. Polo, vest, quarter zip over the top, push cart underneath to hold whatever comes off. That stack covers the whole October band, it covers a January morning on the point, and it does all of it without a single line of state policy telling you to.
Questions men type the night before
What is the dress code at Montauk Downs?+
New York State publishes one clothing or equipment rule for the course: the golf course is soft spikes only. Nothing else is published about shirts, collars, denim, shorts or hats, so a collared polo with golf trousers or tailored golf shorts and a soft spiked shoe meets everything the operator asks for.
Can you wear jeans at Montauk Downs?+
No denim rule is published on either state page, so there is nothing in writing that stops you. The safe play is golf trousers, because denim is the item a starter is most likely to question at any course. If you want a ruling rather than a reading, call the pro shop on 631-668-1100.
Are shorts allowed at Montauk Downs?+
The state publishes no shorts rule at all, which means nothing in print prohibits them. Tailored golf shorts are the safe version of yes. Given the published October wind band of 11.0 to 13.1 mph at Montauk from Weather Spark, trousers are often the better call late in the month regardless.
Do you need a collared shirt at Montauk Downs?+
No collar requirement is published anywhere on the course pages. A collared polo is still the right answer, and a firm collar is the one that holds its shape in moving air rather than lying flat on your neck. The pro shop on 631-668-1100 is the only place that can give you a yes or a no the published pages do not.
Can you walk Montauk Downs?+
Yes. GolfPass lists walking as allowed and lists pull carts, and the state prices a push cart at $12 for 18 holes against $22 for a single electric cart. The push cart is also where your vest and your hoodie live once they come off.
Can you play Montauk Downs in winter?+
The state's page says the course is open daily year-round, weather permitting, and asks you to call for operating hours as this may change due to weather conditions. Weather Spark puts the windiest day of the year on January 13 at a 15.0 mph daily average, so dress for wind before you dress for cold.
How windy does it get at Montauk Downs?+
Weather Spark has the average hourly wind speed at Montauk rising from 11.0 mph on October 1 to 13.1 mph on October 31, and describes that as rapidly increasing. West is the predominant October direction, peaking at 37 percent on October 29. The operator's own page warns that ever-changing wind currents off the ocean and bay can change the way the course plays each day.
Dressed for open ground
Into a West Wind at the End of Long Island
A firm collar, a quarter zip you can open and close, and a vest that kills the wind on your core without touching your swing.
