5 stars, for a municipal golf course? Hear me out.
Saturday at 8pm, just got back from my first visit there. A lot to say.
-As a single, Bill at the pro shop was really helpful in squeezing me in on a busy Saturday when I called at 9am.
-Coming from Times Square, you MUST budget 90 minutes by public transportation to get to the course. Take the 2 train to its end, and then take a bus (15-20 minutes, depending on how long you have to wait for the bus, traffic, etc.). From the end of the 2 train, a livery taxi will cost $10 and perhaps save 10 minutes in arriving to the course. Fortunately, the Q35 bus stops right in front of the course (in both directions, FWIW).
-You get there, and they have a driving range, which is nice, many big city muni courses didn't. Artificial turf, but, meh, better than nothing. Full-sized putting green, a chipping area, and a 'trackman' area for lessons. Also, a full-sized clubhouse, with a well-stocked pro-shop, and a full-size bar-restaurant.
-The tee boxes, fairways, and greens are all in rather good condition. Not once did I find any that I felt the need to complain about. This course has come under new ownership in recent years, and they're really putting a lot of effort into making it a GREAT course.
-On a Saturday the walking rate for a resident is $39. That's a phenomenal price to play such a good course, let alone a course in New York City, where everything is more expensive. The resident rate with a golf cart is $59. I was feeling cheap, but glad that I walked. One of the easiest courses that I've ever walked.
-The $6 turkey sandwich was tasty and filing.
****
Let's do some criticisms of the course:
-Extremely time-consuming to get to by public transportation from Manhattan. They've "thought about" running a shuttle from Manhattan, but "thought about" didn't help me today. Having said that, maybe they're busy enough and don't need to feather the additional cost/effort of a shuttle.
-They charged me $5 for a can of Arnold Palmer that had a '99cent' mark on the can's graphics. Sweet bro.
-A lot of the sand in the bunkers didn't seem that 'fluffy'. A lot of the bunkers seemed pretty bare. Would be nice if they invested more money in better quality sand.
-I played with 3 randoms, who were all friends. My 3 partners were INSANELY slow (5.5 hour round), and there were no marshalls trying to do anything about it. I felt really bad for the foursome behind ours.
-Sprinkler heads with precise yardage markings would be nice. All they had were the 200, 150, 100.
-There should be plaques on all par-3 teeboxes showing 'distance to center of the green' from various spots. There weren't. Total weak sauce. Fortunately we had a range finder.
*****
Back to the course itself. Cool visuals of Manhattan skyline at times. It's quite wide open and quite flat, except for most of the greens, which were elevated (elevated greens are great, adds a nice level of challenge). The greens were huge, and as I said earlier, in really good condition, and quite fast. Given that you're near the Atlantic Ocean, this course can get VERY windy, 2-3 club wind at times. Was cool to see seagulls on the course.
I could definitely see a criticism of this course being: 'it's boring, it's all flat and wide-open'. That statement is true, but mainly of the finest links courses in the British Isles are flat and wide-open. Take it or leave it. I like variety. Not all courses need to bee tree lined. Also, the wide open nature makes this course absolutely more 'playable' for the average golfer. The overwhelming majority of golfers don't want to spend most of their round looking for balls. They still want a 'clear shot at the green' even after a less-than-stellar drive, etc. The green complexes are nearly uniformly challenging, as well as the wind. Personally, until I start putting up ridiculous scores here, I feel no need to call it 'easy'. There's fescue between many of the fairways, if you're too far off. It'd be cool if they put in pot bunkers in the fairways. They're currently constructing more mounds between fairways, a nice links touch.
Good hole rundown here - http://www.golfmarinepark.com/course/scorecard/
-8 is an AWESOME par3, BRILLIANT green. 100-ft putt easily possible. Such a tough front-left pin placement today (see my pic).
-Love the well-elevated green on 11.
-The blind-tee shot on 16 is brilliant hole design.
-18 is a par 5. Tough fescue/bunker on left off the tee, and OB right. Easy par5 if hit it straight.
If this were double the price, or in an area with tons of great courses, I wouldn't give it five stars. Price definitely affects my ratings, as does 'comparable options in the area'. There are so few golf courses in a city of 8 million people, so my ratings standards are more flexible. So, why 5 stars? Simply put, this is a very well-designed $39-on-a-summer-Saturday course located in NYC that the owners are actively improving. When I have the time, I'll definitely play here a read more