University Gardens is a beautiful idyllic residential neighborhood and it's no surprise that directly to the South East one will find not just one but four golf courses, mostly clumped around Lake Success for which the area is named. In the past the area has been home to much prominence and history such as being the temporary home of the United Nations from 1946 to 1951. It was also home to various government facilities and installations from 1939 to 1998 beginning with the Sperry Gyroscope Company and ending with the renowned aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

The American Indians who originally inhabited the area referred to it as Sacut which means 'outlet of a pond' but over time the name lost its meaning for the settlers who ended up slowly changing the way they said it until it became "success." In 1902 William K Vanderbilt II bought several farms around the lake to build his estate which he dubbed Deepdale, and in 1925 he decided it needed a golf course. Since than it has become the Lake Success Village golf course restricted to residents and their guests. The affluence of the area and the club are common knowledge, and people have been known to be on the waiting list to join the club for upwards of ten years.

Slightly North East the avid golfer will come across the Fresh Meadows golf course, a club that went through much more trying times. In 1921 the Golf Course Construction Company began pursuing the idea of building a golf course in the area, but investors were fickle, and it wasn't until 1923 that they finally managed to open. They opened on September 8th, and 9 days later the clubhouse burned to the ground. A resilient and determined membership, they rebuilt it with even more opulence and opened once more late in 1924. Since than the club has thrived and grown in renown.

If one continues East on the Long Island Expressway one will find the Deepdale Golf Club, the nominal descendant of the Vanderbilt estate which was severed from the original golf course with the construction of the Long Island Expressway. Further along one will find the North Hills Country Club which is the oldest of the four, having been founded in 1908. So if you're in the University Gardens area and are in the mood for golf you'll be pleased to find seventy two holes, each one more immersed in history and prestige than the last.