Your favorite courses in the tri-state area....NY, NJ, CT

[jimdandy]

Looking for some of your favorite public courses within 1 hour of NYC.

And your reasons why.....

Outside of nassau county, Im not abreast to all the nice, challenging courses in the area.

So my favorite is Bethpage. Its a beautiful facility, and the 5 courses are extremely well maintained.

And obviously they're very challenging courses, which i like.

[cilos2]

Harbor Links in Port Washington and Willow creek in Mount Sinai are great public courses.

[nevets88]

Bethpage is great but its one big #FAIL is slow rounds and another ding is its show up 1 hour before your reservation policy . I played a "fast" round recently, 5 hours. A 4 hour round without going off in the first groups is just impossible. And once in a while you get grief for chipping around in between holes.

I like the Links at Union Vale (http://www.thelinksatunionvale.com/). Great layout, lets you walk, reasonable green fees, pace not great either, but better than Bethpage.

[jimdandy]

Originally Posted by nevets88

Bethpage is great but its one big #FAIL is slow rounds and another ding is its show up 1 hour before your reservation policy. I played a "fast" round recently, 5 hours. A 4 hour round without going off in the first groups is just impossible. And once in a while you get grief for chipping around in between holes.

I like the Links at Union Vale (http://www.thelinksatunionvale.com/). Great layout, lets you walk, reasonable green fees, pace not great either, but better than Bethpage.

You're right about the long rounds. I usually go solo or with a friend late in the day. Much better experience then. Don't always finish the round...

[cooke119]

Bethpage, NY, I also go late in the day, during the week, and it is not that bad.

[cooke119]

I'll have to try them.

[sabram]

Here's a link to my favorite NY metro area courses:

http://golfcourses.weebly.com/new-york---metro-nyc-area.html

[newtogolf]

Eisenhower Blue and White weren't great courses imo.  Blue is the only course I've ever played where I didn't lose a single ball.  While I'd like to think it's due to my improved ball striking, I can't, the course is very forgiving and easy.  The layout is out and back, a few dog legs but for the most part the holes are straight with wide open fairways a few fairway bunkers that lead into elevated greens that are heavily protected by poorly maintained bunkers.

One nice feature of the Blue course was each Par 3 had 2 sets of tee boxes and 2 greens to alleviate the normal backups at Par 3 holes.  Play is slow, expect to be out there for 4.5 - 5 hours per round.

[inthehole]

7 great courses at Crystal Springs in Hamburg, NJ.    Ballyowen is the best, Crystal next .... Black Bear is my fave.

[newtogolf]

I like Wild Turkey and Crystal the best, then Black Bear.

Originally Posted by inthehole

7 great courses at Crystal Springs in Hamburg, NJ.    Ballyowen is the best, Crystal next .... Black Bear is my fave.