Commerce Bank Championship Information

The Commerce Bank Championship will be played June 25 - July 1 on the now prestigous Red Course at Eisenhower Park. This public facility was the home of the 1926 PGA Championship which was won by the legendary Walter Hagen. The course was then part of the Salisbury Country Club which later became one of three courses in Nassau County's Eisenhower Park. The Met Section of the PGA has played its annual Junior/Senior professional tournament at The Red for the past four years.

The Red Course was originally part of the five-course exclusive Salisbury Golf Club founded by wealthy Long Islanders such as Garden City founder A. T. Stewart. The course was designed by Devereux Emmet, a member of a well-to-do New York family and a resident of Garden City. While not as well-known as other architects of the era such as A. W. Tillinghast, who designed Bethpage Black, Devereux Emmet started his company in 1908 and for 20 years was the area's most prolific designer. His works include many prominent courses such as two that are listed in Golfweek's 2003 listing of the 100 top classic courses in the U.S.; Congressional in Bethesda, Md., and Garden City Golf Club here on Long Island. Other well-known Long Island clubs designed by Emmet are Nassau Country Club, Rockaway Hunting Club and Seawane Club in Hewlett Harbor.

Since most of Emmet's designs were built during the era of hickory-shafted clubs, they were originally rather short by today's standards (6,000-6,300 yards), so many of them, including The Red at Eisenhower, have been modified and lengthened.

Outside the ropes the course is very spectator- and golfer-friendly since it is relatively flat with short distances between greens and tees and will have many crosswalks for the golf fans to use to move around and see all of their favorite players.

Eisenhower Park with its 920 acres is very accessible from parkways and major highways and offers lots of space for tournament staging areas, hospitality tents and skyboxes overlooking the golf action.