New York City/Long Island Destination Guide

FAQ

1. So rumor has it tee times are hard to find in New York City area courses. Is this true?

Many courses in the New York area give tee times based on a first-come, first-serve basis, meaning yes, you'll have to get to the course before sunrise to get on. Others offer tee times for local residents and set aside a certain allocation of open spots per hour for out-of-towners (Bethpage Black does this). And others of course others of course have tee times. Your best bet is to call ahead to find out each courses policy.

2. How about New York's State Park courses?

The most famous of New York's storied park courses is Bethpage Black, one of five courses built in the 1930s in Farmingdale. It hosted the 2002 U.S. Open won by Retief Goosen. All in all there are 27 state-owned courses and many of them were built by some of golf's top designers in the 30s as a result of the Great Depression's W.P.A. program. Many of the courses were designed or modified by famed architects like Robert Trent Jones, A.W. Tillinghast, Alfred Tull, Geoffrey Cornish and William Mitchell.

Yes. . .if you are a resident of New York. Rates are $39 weekday and $49 weekend. Otherwise, expect to pay $62 weekday and $76 weekends. The other courses at Bethpage aren't as steep for non-residents and can be played for under $30 even on weekends. The Black Course does NOT allow carts and is only recommended for low-handicappers, since it's one of the most difficult courses in the nation, and considered A.W. Tillinghast's finest.

That's Chelsea Piers, located in Manhattan, which has everything from indoor soccer and basketball to two hockey rinks. It was rated by Golf Magazine as one of the "Top 50 Coolest Places on Earth" and is said to be the most technologically advanced golf centers in the world. Chelsea Piers has a simulator with over 30 courses ready to play, a short game area, full-service golf shop and much more. An hour on the simulator costs $35 and a bucket of balls is $20. The club is open to the public but does offer memberships for frequent visitors. Of course, there's no space for natural golf on the island, but Chelsea Piers does a good job of faking it.

May through September have average highs over 70 degrees. April and October are usually the beginning and end of golf season for most, with highs in the mid 60s.

In the 1920s, a sportswriter for the Morning Telegraph named John Fitzgerald overheard stablehands in New Orleans refer to NYC's racetracks as "the Big Apple." He named his column "Around the Big Apple." A decade later, jazz musicians adopted the term to refer to New York City, and especially Harlem, as the jazz capital of the world. There are many apples on the trees of success, they were saying, but when you pick New York City, you pick the big apple.

Visit our transportation and maps section.

There are a few courses in each of the boroughs. The Bronx has four courses, all public. Brooklyn has two public courses, and Dyker Beach is considered one of the best conditioned and most played courses in all of New York City. Staten Island has four courses, including Richmond County Country Club, which was recognized by the USGA as one of the U.S.'s first 100 courses. As for Queens, there are no full-length courses. Just one executive course: Breezy Point.

That would be Long Island, home to over 100 courses on an island 120 miles long and 40 miles wide, including Bethpage and the private Shinnecock Hills. For more information about Long Island Golf, see Nick Nicholas' feature on Long Island.

You can do that in GolfNewYork's course guide section.