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Not only is the Links at Unionvale in LaGrangeville, N.Y., a remarkable golf course, but also the story of how it came about is equally as compelling. About 500 golfers from the Irish Golf Association and 16 other golf-clubs-without-real-estate had had enough of the hard-to-get-on, crowded, slow playing local golf courses, so they decided to build their own.

Now, this real-life Field of Dreams, which opened in 2000, lies just an hour north of New York City, but the rugged, rolling hills, high grass, and windswept, wide open fairways are a stunning representation of the founders’ homeland. The course was originally farmland, so there weren’t lot of trees to begin with. But, there were plenty of naturally occurring ponds, streams, and, of course, gorse and fescue, which, when it grows to waist high, is certainly one of the most penal hazards on the course.

It only took the clever routing and the addition of some authentic-looking pot bunkers by architect Stephen Kay (who designed the famous Links of North Dakota) to complete this minimalist, soul-of-golf experience.