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Photo by Brett C Vermilyea
Ann Northrop chips one down Seventh Avenue.
LIST OF CITY COURSES
BRONX
Van Cortland Park (718) 543-4595
Mosholu (718) 655-9194
Pelham and Split Rock (718) 885-1258
BROOKLYN
Dyker Beach (718) 836-9722
Marine Park (718) 338-7149
QUEENS
Forest Park (718) 296-0999
Clearview (718) 229-2570
Douglaston (718) 428-1617
Kissena (718) 939-4594
STATEN ISLAND
La Tourette (718) 351-1889
Silver Lake (718) 447-5686
South Shore (718) 984-0101
To reserve a tee time online, go to http://nyc.e-golf.net/
Central reservation number for American Golf Northeast is (718) 225-4653 Mon.-Fri. 8:30 AM-2:30 PM, operating Van Cortlandt, South Shore, Silver Lake, Pelham/Split Rock, Clearview, La Tourette, and Dyker Beach. Or call the club directly.
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FEATURE
Swinging City:
Golfing in N.Y.C.
By Andy Humm
“The Gates” are gone, their saffron sheets no longer flowing in the wind along the paths of our greatest public park. But thousands of New Yorkers can still enjoy colorful flags strategically placed around even more compelling layouts as they have been for more than a century—on the nine to 18 flagsticks on each of our city’s 13 public golf courses.
If you do not associate the game of golf with New York City, that is just fine with those of us who play the courses in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx, which are already crowded from dawn until dusk even on weekdays. (There is no golf course on Manhattan Island, but New York County does boast the nine-hole gem around the Revolutionary War fort on Governor’s Island that may or may not still exist when the old Coast Guard base acquires a new use.)
Here is a guide to what some of you might consider a colossal waste of precious pa
rk space, but that legions of urban golfers know is one of the lowest course-to-population ratios in the nation—approximately one track for every 615,000 New Yorkers. (I’m not counting the two Queens par-three courses in Flushing Meadow and Breezy Point, which are great fun, even for non-golfers.)
The ancient and honorable game of golf did not really gain much of a foothold in the United States until the late 19th century. At that point it was promoted by bluebloods returning from vacations in places like St. Andrews in Scotland, where it had been played since 1400.
It was some wealthy men from Riverdale in the Bronx that tried to get the city to carve out a private golf course for them in the new Van Cortland Park in 1888, according to “Golf Clubs of the Metropolitan Golf Association.” City Hall was not corrupt enough to yield public land for such a purpose, but was convinced to establish the first public links in America, starting with nine holes in 1895 and expanding to a standard 18 four years later.
Then as now, golfers could take the subway (Seventh Avenue IRT to the end of the line) to Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course, although only remnants of the original design remain. Old “Vannie” has been chopped up and recreated several times with the advent of the Major Deegan Expressway and Mosholu Parkway. The result is a relatively short (a mere 5,918 yards from the back tees) layout that is nevertheless the longest course in the city to walk because of long journeys between many of the holes. It has a crushingly long second hole of 608 yards, and four short final holes up and down steep hills that make for a challenging finish.
Which brings me to my list of rules for getting the most out of golf in New York City:
Andy’s Rule #1: WALK. There is a temptation to rent an electric cart, enabling you to drive much faster than you can on most crosstown trips. The trouble with golf carts is that they add expense, minimize the exercise you’ll get from an average five-mile walk, and destroy the sociability of the game. The least you can do is stride the fairways with your playing companions, instead of charging around in separate universes. In my opinion, carts should be prohibited for all except those who would otherwise be unable to get around. If you cannot carry your own bag, you can rent a pull cart for $4.50.
Andy’s Rule #2: PAY THE THREE DOLLARS. You can reserve a tee time for this fee by calling the course or a central reservation number or by booking online (see below). This means that you can show up 15 minutes before your tee time, and not have to wait around half the day to get out as you might on other public courses in the area. This charge is up from $2 a year ago. Greens fees have also shot up in the past couple of years to $29 on weekdays and $35 on weekends, with discounts for seniors (62 and over pay just $14.50 on weekdays) and juniors (16 and under pay $7.50 on weekdays). Since most politicians are hesitant to raise taxes, they raise fees on everything in sight. City golfers have been hit hard lately. That cart you shouldn’t take is another $29.
Andy’s Rule #3: PAY THE SIX DOLLARS. That’s for your City resident card (good for a year) that entitles you to a $6 discount every time you play. Every pro shop can make you a city photo ID card.
Andy’s Rule #4: PATIENCE. It is going to be a long day in the country. These courses are packed from dawn until dusk. Most rounds take five hours or more on layouts that could easily be traversed in less than four hours for a foursome. You will have a wait on most of your shots and sometimes more than one group will get backed up on a tee. There is no concerted campaign by the city to speed up play, so you can only go as fast as the slowest group ahead of you. Pack some reading material for the extra-long waits or practice your chipping around the tee.
Andy’s Rule #5: DON’T BE AFRAID TO SIGN UP WITHOUT A FOURSOME. In four years of mostly showing up with just one other person (my “Gay USA” cable TV show co-host Ann Northrop), we have never been paired with complete jerks or incompatible folks. We have encountered a diverse group of New Yorkers, from elderly Korean couples in Queens to cops and firemen on Staten Island. I often describe golf to my leftist friends as missionary work to Republicans, and my unscientific sampling says that the game does attract a disproportionate crowd from the GOP. But everyone out there seems to realize that when you are going to be playing with someone for a good part of the day, it pays to be respectful, polite, and tolerant. Yes, we can all get along.
Andy’s Rule #6: PACK A WATER BOTTLE, and maybe some lunch. There are concessions in every clubhouse, and sometimes roving carts that sell drinks and snacks. These can be expensive, and the time between water fountains can be long. In the bad old days, some golfers used to pack guns to avoid desperadoes who would jump out of the bushes to rob them. Today, the courses are safe and in better condition than they ever have been.
The real laws of golf are printed in the United States Golf Association’s Rules of Golf. We all play for fun (and some to gamble), but it doesn’t hurt to play by the rules. If we all learn the same rules, and follow them, we’ll all be playing the same game.
Here are some insights into the city courses:
TOUGHEST: Some would say La Tourette on Staten Island, where the New York City Amateur championship is played each year. But when I play Split Rock in the Bronx, I have to bring ten extra balls with me because on most of the holes, a ball hit into the woods cannot be found in the dense underbrush that has been allowed to grow there. On many other courses you can hook or slice the ball onto an adjacent fairway and still have a clean shot to the green. And most of the greens are not heavily bunkered — an effort, I suppose, to speed up play. Split Rock is a punishing track indeed, but even its reputation as mosquito heaven in summer does not keep golfers away.
LONGEST: Marine Park in Brooklyn, built over an old dump in 1962 by top-ranked architect Robert Trent Jones, is 6,866 yards from the back tees. But the real fun starts when the wind howls down by the water on this relatively treeless, par-72 links. As you fight the elements, just remember what the Scots say: “If it’s nae wind and nae rain, it’s nae gawf.”
MOST HISTORIC: Next to Van Cortlandt (the first) might be Dyker Beach in Brooklyn. The great champion Strafaci brothers, Tom and Frank, learned their games here in the 1930s. Dyker is also now credited as the place where Earl Woods, the father of Tiger Woods, first played golf when he was stationed at a nearby military base. Dyker is one of five New York City courses designed by John R.Van Kleek in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
MOST FUN: Douglaston in Queens used to be the old North Hills Country Club before it moved out to Nassau. The Spanish-style Douglaston Manor (old clubhouse for North Hills) catering facility looms over the first tee. It’s only a par-67, but it has rolling terrain, tricky blind holes, and the most beautiful old trees.
MOST ACCESSIBLE BY SUBWAY: Van Cortland is near the last stop of the #1 train in the Bronx. Dyker is a reasonable walk from the 86th Street stop of the R train in Brooklyn. And Mosholu, the fine nine-holer in the Bronx, is at the end of the #4 line at Woodlawn Road. All the others can be reached by subway and bus rides. A car is clearly an advantage in getting to many of these courses, but they can all be reached by public transportation.
MOST ANTICIPATED: Jack Nicklaus has designed the new Ferry Point course in the Bronx, slated to open this year. It promises to be the best public course in the City, although it has been dogged by controversy over the environmental impact of constructing it over toxic landfill. Others have criticized its walling off waterfront parkland to the surrounding Latino community. This Irish-style links near the Throg’s Neck Bridge, which the developers hope will host top professional tournaments, will also cost as much as $100 a round for city residents.
BEST VIEWS: All the courses in Queens—Kissena, Forest Park, Douglaston, and Clearview—have high ground with spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline or area bridges and bays. It is sobering to remember that off-duty firefighters playing these courses on the morning of September 11, 2001, spotted the fire at the World Trade Center and rushed there to tackle it, some to their deaths.
BEST CLUBHOUSE: Staten Island, the smallest borough, often feels it does not get enough respect. But at La Tourette they have the grandest clubhouse, a beautiful colonial building (restored after a fire) that towers over the course.
Every one of these courses gives us city folk the opportunity to slow down, smell the flowers, and forget that we live in a fast-paced metropolis. They throw people of diverse backgrounds together, united in our common obsession with a vexing and humbling game that occasionally rewards us with the illusion of competence, even if it is only in being able to drain a long putt or knock a chip stiff once in a while.
Our wealthier friends get to pay huge initiation fees and hefty dues to belong to some of the finest private country clubs in the world just outside the city, from Winged Foot in Westchester to Baltusrol in New Jersey to Shinnecock Hills in Southampton—all sites for major professional championships (as is the public Bethpage Black course on Long Island that requires enormous luck or all-night waits to get out on). But for less than the price of a half-price ticket to a Broadway show, we can challenge ourselves on the more-than-decent New York City courses, privileged to play a great game in spacious environments that have been preserved for the public, for generations.
Andy Humm is a widely published freelance writer.
