Hempstead Golf & Country Club Hires Architects For Restoration

Hempstead Golf & Country Club, the private Long Island club whose course was designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened in 1927, has hired architects Dave Zinkand and Joel Weiman to lead a multi-year restoration, with a master plan already in development.

What is the restoration timeline?

Large-scale bunker renovation is set for 2028 and 2029, with additional work continuing through 2033. Zinkand and Weiman said the goal is to recapture Tillinghast's strategic principles while modernizing the layout for current play.

What changes are planned on the course?

The architects plan to move Tillinghast's "great hazard," a large carry bunker the designer repeated on several of his courses, further downrange on No. 13 to challenge modern hitters. They also plan to rework Nos. 16-18 to create more risk-reward decisions coming into the finish.

The goal is to connect those two stories in a way that feels authentic to the club's history.

Zinkand said the project aims to recapture both the golf course and the landscape that originally shaped it. “Our goal is to connect those two stories in a way that feels authentic to the club's history,” he said in a media release announcing the project.

Who are the architects?

Zinkand and Weiman have not previously worked together on a project, though they roomed together while studying landscape architecture at Cornell University in New York. Weiman said the plan aims to strengthen the course's natural flow by playing up Hempstead's compact footprint, drawing golfers deeper into the property from the clubhouse and restoring classic Tillinghast features across the routing.