How to Play Golf on Weekends in NYC
If you live in New York City and love golf, you already know the question that keeps you up at night: how do I actually play on the weekends? There is no perfect answer. But after years of trial and error, here is my breakdown by price range.
$$$$$ — Premium
Bally's Golf Links at Ferry Point
The most accessible NYC course, and the commute alone is worth it. Take the ferry, grab a beer, enjoy the views. Thirty to forty-five minutes and you arrive relaxed. If it were up to me, every golf course would be ferry-accessible.
The problem is the price. You are looking at $200+ as an NYC resident, and the course itself does not quite justify it. The layout is a little flat and uninspiring as holes easily blend together, and it does not play like the links course the name implies. Four visits in, I have yet to hit off grass on the range.
Pros: Proximity, conditioning, tee time availability, decent chipping area
Cons: Uninspiring layout, mats-only range when I’ve been there (5 times), cost, cost, cost
Pound Ridge
A Pete Dye design, which means it is visually dramatic and will test every part of your game. You can get here via Metro North and a short Uber, roughly an hour to an hour and a half total. Budget $200+ for the round.
Fair warning: if you do not have your ball-striking together, this course will weed you out. It is a challenging layout with some genuinely frightening shots.
Pros: Conditioning, tee time availability
Cons: Mats on the range, underwhelming short game area, tight layout, cost, cost, cost
$$ to $$$ — Mid-Range
Rather than breaking down every NYC Parks municipal course individually, I will group them together. None of them are going to wow you. You will pay more than they feel worth, and the rounds will run five to seven hours. That said, they serve a purpose. Between the number of them, you can usually find a tee time somewhere, which in this market is not nothing.
If you just want to scratch the itch, the munis will get the job done. If you care more about the quality of the round, I would point you toward Connecticut or Westchester instead. Two that consistently punch above their weight in CT are Oak Hills Park and Sterling Farms. Plan on about an hour on Metro North from Grand Central and a short Uber from there.
$ — Best Value
Bethpage Black
Bethpage may be the best value at any public course in the country, not just New York. Black is a genuinely great golf course. My personal litmus test for course architecture is simple: can I recall each hole in detail after the round, and still picture them months later? Bethpage Black passes that test easily. You will be thinking about this round for a while. I haven’t played the other courses at Bethpage, however have heard that they provide varying degrees of difficulty and quality. Unfortunately, they can still be very challenging to secure a tee time.
Getting here is straightforward: LIRR to Farmingdale, short Uber to the course.
Pros: Conditioning, layout, atmosphere, value
Cons: Practice facilities leave something to be desired (renovations underway), and securing a tee time here might be the single most competitive booking in all of public golf