Mattawang is a classical, traditional course design dating to 1960, when the course opened as Pike Brook Country Club. The during the 1980s, a group of developers bought the course to save it from housing development; at some point they discovered that indigenous Americans lived on the property, so they changed the name to Mattawang, which roughly translates to "travel a difficult path."

The course plays to 6805 yards from the back tees, so it has plenty of length. Although often appearing wide and open, the fairways are actually quite tight and golfers quickly discover that the trees which line many of the fairways have been thoughtfully placed to penalize errant shots. Even to this day, the course record is 66 -- shot by Jack Nicklaus early in the 1960s.