This 3000 meter golf course has 45 possible holes. Here’s how it works

Before he ever thought about building a golf course, David Gang was writing code.

A software engineer, he came to the game in his late 20s on a sleepy golf course near his home in western New York, where he snuck into holes at dawn and dusk. He loved the solitude and the challenge. But it wasn’t until his son, Matthew, who has Down syndrome, fell for golf that Gang’s interest turned elsewhere. A pivotal moment came during a pro-am at Sherwood Country Club in Southern California, when Matthew, then 8, got to run the course with Tiger Woods.

“Tiger was so warm and welcoming; he basically invited Matthew into his world,” David Gang recently told me. “It was a reminder of what a powerful wave of power can be.”

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Gang came away deciding to create a place that reflected the joy he and Matthew felt when they played: an accessible, flexible and engaging course, rooted in camaraderie and a sense of belonging.

That vision has taken shape at Storm King Golf Club in the Hudson Valley, on a modest lot in the shadow of a mountain of the same name. By revising an existing design by Chris Gray, Gang has brought to life a brand new course, one that breaks from 18-hole convention but remains true to the spirit of the game. The foundation is a walkable nine of about 3,000 yards, although the routing splinters and reconnects through an intricate network of tees and greens – five different nine-hole loops, more than 30 tee options and some 225,000 square feet of putting surface (more than double what’s found on a typical 18-hole course), including a double, triple and even a quadruple green. The result is a kind of golf kaleidoscope, with more than 45 possible holes depending on the path you choose.

Overlooking it all is a short 19-hole course that strings together par-3s across the entire site – a lighter, faster option for a quick loop or a spirited match with friends. Gang describes it as “wave, reimagined.”

He conceived Storm King around three guiding principles: playability, maintainability and durability. The lawn is cared for by robotic mowers. The footprint is small, the input minimal. You can get by in just over an hour or lose an afternoon trying new combinations. Post a score, or don’t – the real point is the company and the walk.

Gang is 69. Early in his career, he helped build AOL before founding his own software company, Brightspot. He’s done well for himself. Storm King is his way of doing good for others. While the business plan is still in flux, it promises to be something of a hybrid, with fractional ownership memberships allowing small groups to rent out the course for the day; select windows reserved for public access; and events with proceeds going to charitable organizations.

Last weekend marked the first of those events – the Storm King Match Play Invitational – with a field of 32 adaptive golfers and injured veterans, playing in support of Tunnel to Towers, a nonprofit organization that helps first responders and military veterans.

The course was buzzing. But, Gang says, “it still felt empty. We could have easily had 40 to 48 golfers playing at the same time without any hiccups.”

There will be time for that. Storm King welcomes limited invitational play through November 15 before the season is halted. It will open again on June 1 next year.

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