When you think of golf and New York State Parks, the first thing that probably comes to mind is Bethpage Black. It was well known on Long Island for decades but rose to prominence worldwide when the USGA brought its signature tournament, the U.S. Open, to “the people’s country club” 22 years ago.
A fellow you may have heard of, Tiger Woods, was victorious that year when he was at the peak of his powers – his eighth Major victory (he currently has 15). He and the U.S. Open came back to Bethpage seven years later for a soggy slugfest that ended on a muddy Monday. It was a journeyman named Lucas Glover who held off Woods and the rest of the elite field, winning his one and only Major title. A decade later, Bethpage Black hosted another Major tournament, the PGA Championship, won by Brooks Koepka. And next year, 2025, it will host an event unlike anything ever experienced there – the 2025 Ryder Cup.
But this post isn’t about that much-anticipated international competition, although they are already preparing (will Tiger be the U.S. Captain? Hmmm). This is about all the great golf opportunities State Parks has around New York.
Some of the best courses and golf values in New York can be found within state parks, including Green Lakes, James Baird and Montauk Downs – all designed by famous course architect Robert Trent Jones – plus the championship course at Saratoga Spa, the pitch and putt at Robert Moses State Park and Soaring Eagles at Mark Twain State Park in Horseheads which allows archery hunting, but not at the same time as golf – I hope Twain would appreciate that humor.
If you love golf and haven’t yet, “tee” up or “iron” out an itinerary, “drive” to a “fairway” this summer, “putt” around the state and take a “green” road trip to a few of our 19 properties. There you will find not only some unique holes, but “ace” some hidden gems, too.
Central New York
Battle Island in Fulton got its name from, yes, you guessed it, a battle on an island in the Oswego River in the mid-1700s. However, it didn’t become a state park until 1938. When you go, find golf course manager Mary Gregg. She began her career at Bethpage and was there for the first U.S. Open in 2002, and now runs a number of fundraisers at Battle Island. By the way, in the winter you can trade in your soft spikes for cross-country skis.
Have you heard of cousins Joan Villecco and Ruth McDonald? What do you mean, no?! They did something the odds of which are 17 million to one. On June 13, 2005, they hit back-to-back holes-in-one on #3 at Chenango Valley State Park Golf Course in Chenango Forks. True story. Can you imagine? There is a sign next to the tee box documenting the feat.
Engineer James Evans and Architect Laurie Cox designed the original nine and, with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Chenango Valley’s course opened in 1939 as “Riverside.” Decades later, they let golf course architect Hal Purdy take a crack at it, and in 1967, it expanded to 18 holes. Chenango Valley welcomed 17,203 rounds in 2022 and 18,438 last year.
If you play, look for a guy named Mickey (drafted by the New York Yankees) etched in a rock on the 15th hole. Oh, no, not Mantle. It was Mickey Scott. Drafted in 1965, he played for the Orioles, Expos and Angels and then came to work at Chenango Valley and owned a tavern in town. He hung out with former Yankees manager Billy Martin and was described as “beloved by the patrons and golfers…a very funny and caring soul.”
Fayetteville’s Green Lakes is one of the first courses designed by innovative architect Robert Trent Jones. The most unique feature is two glacial lakes boasting a beautiful emerald color. A trail circles both lakes, one of which is a National Natural Landmark. Visitors can also enjoy camping, swimming, fishing or rent a cabin.
Current head pro Jeff Carson offered up some golf tips we shared with you in the off season.
Western New York
Because we don’t encourage you to try and drive balls over Niagara Falls, we have set aside Beaver Island State Park Golf Course in Grand Island as the only golf course in the Niagara Region. It opened in 1965 inside the 950-acre state park on the Niagara River. This 18-hole championship course measures 6,600 yards and has generous, gently-sloped greens – not a steep drop over the falls.
Long Island
I could spend the rest of this entry on Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale and its five courses, tell you stories about players camping out in the parking lot, fighting for a tee time on the Black, arguing about signature holes – too many to mention. Okay, twist my arm: #4 Black, #5 Red, #18 Red, #6 Blue, #10-14 Yellow.
Approximately 300,000 rounds are played on the five courses annually. As you make your way around, please note some hidden gems: bench dedications (a couple dozen around the property), a honeybee sanctuary near Black #5 tee (it’s abuzz with activity, but please stay back), and the Nature Discovery Garden next to Green #7. It runs adjacent to Northside Elementary School in Farmingdale. Kids help care for it and take many field trips in their own backyard.
Wildflowers abound at Bethpage and if you ask nicely, I’m sure they’ll show you their greenhouse where you can literally watch grass grow. The Friends groups love flowers and fields more than golf.
The Green course was the original course developed from a private estate. In the early 1930s, the Bethpage Park Authority bought it and other adjacent properties. Green, a Devereaux Emmet design, is noted for little moguls around greens like 8, 10, 11, 12 and 16. About 15 years later, famed course architect A.W. Tillinghast was brought in to oversee construction of the Red, Blue and Black courses. He touched up some of the Green, too. But four courses weren’t enough.
Next up was Yellow, designed by Alfred H. Tull, an architect who preferred to utilize the natural lay of the land, bringing the existing terrain into his design. It opened in 1958. Tull also dipped his toes in some of the Blue.
Up the road in Kings Park, Tull got his hands in the dirt and sand on the north shore at Sunken Meadow. He crafted 27 holes between 1962 and 1964. The courses are regulation and set up as alternating 18- and 9-hole tracks each day to give a different challenge off Long Island Sound.
A couple of spots to take note of: on the 9th hole of the Green course, there is a free-standing staircase by the tee box to look out over one of the many rolling hill fairways to see if it’s clear to play away; the 3.5-acre irrigation pond that separates the Green #2 tee box and Green #5 fairway hosts a variety of wildlife with various species of birds, fish, and the occasional deer or red fox drinking from the water’s edge.
Last year, they hosted 96,146 rounds with three aces! Those are big numbers. Each year the course plays host the Junior PGA camp, a Drive-Chip-Putt junior tournament, a kids’ clinic, two women’s golf leagues and two men’s golf leagues.
Robert Moses State Park Pitch and Putt Course is a short course along the Atlantic Ocean – quite a challenge in Babylon. While you’re meandering along the south shore, you might see fishermen on a pier or in the surf and swimmers and surfers enjoying the day. Lots of sand play!
It’ll take you about 90 minutes to go from there east to Sag Harbor and the Sag Harbor State Golf Course. This 49-acre, 9-hole course is on a peninsula in the middle of a 341-acre parcel known as the Barcelona Neck Natural Resources Management Area – so don’t lose a ball in there!
And about 22 miles east sits Montauk Downs. It’s an easternmost trip but a jaw-dropping “drive” to Montauk. Originally developed in 1927, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and his son Rees redesigned it in 1968. State Parks has operated it since 1980, in charge of everything but the wind currents off the ocean. Teaching pro Kelley Brooke, who is frequently seen on the Golf Channel, runs the golf lessons and pro shop at both Montauk Downs and Bethpage along with her team.
Finger Lakes
Eleven long, narrow lakes located directly south of Lake Ontario. Our four golf courses have 63 amazing holes – many have lake views. We just hope your ball doesn’t wind up in them.
Bonavista State Park Golf Course: overlooks Seneca Lake in Ovid. The 9-hole course can be played twice from different tees.
Indian Hills State Golf Course: built in 1964 in Painted Post along the Tioga River. It was acquired by the State of New York in March 2007 and boasts panoramic views of the Southern Tier hill country.
Soaring Eagles Golf Course at Mark Twain State Park: In the 20 years Steve Volpicelli has been the PGA pro at this course in Horseheads, there have been 57 holes-in-one. He’s built a strong teaching program and offers free clinics, a junior league and a weeklong junior clinic in the summertime.
The land at Mark Twain State Park was created thousands of years ago by a retreating glacier which laid down hundreds of feet of sand, gravel and silt. Buried ice blocks slowly melted, leaving water-filled depressions or “kettle ponds” on the course.
They average 22,000 rounds a year and plenty of those are played by Richard Fluman, 92, who plays there almost every day and doesn’t shoot his age, he shoots in the 70s! We hope many eagles soar onto your scorecard at Soaring Eagles.
Springbrook Greens State Golf Course in Fair Haven: northern Cayuga County on Lake Ontario. The 18-hole course has been owned and operated by New York State since 2006, part of Fair Haven Beach State Park. So, bring your clubs and your bathing suit, but don’t get them mixed up!
Mid-Hudson Region
Those who love “The Gilded Age” will want to see Dinsmore Golf Course at Staatsburg. It’s one of the oldest courses in the country, with a panoramic view of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains from Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills Memorial State Park. First built as a private 9-hole course in the 1890s, it doubled to 18 holes in 1962.
Hal Purdy, who reshaped Chenango Valley, designed this course. He has designed 56 golf courses in the Northeast. Dinsmore does about 21,000 rounds each year and along every hole are vast naturalized/no-mow areas full of milkweed and other pollinator-friendly wildflowers. Behind the eighth green, keep an eye out for a giant red oak. It frames the green perfectly and is said to be at least 120 years old…oh, the stories it could tell.
If you’re looking for merch, Dinsmore has it with the New York maple leaf on it. If you’re looking for lessons, they point you to Tony DeStefano, the PGA pro just down the road at James Baird State Park Golf Course in Pleasant Valley.
Baird was a contractor and engineer whose firm constructed the Lincoln Memorial (honest). In 1939, he donated the 590 acres of farmland to New York State and work began a year later. Construction slowed during World War II so the golf course, under the tutelage of Robert Trent Jones, wasn’t officially opened until 1948.
The park is a sports paradise where visitors can enjoy basketball, softball, tennis and volleyball. There’s a playground and nature center, too. Outdoor enthusiasts will find seven miles of scenic wooded trails for hiking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
Just north of New York City in Valley Cottage, Rockland Lake State Park Golf Course has two 18-hole courses – a 6,864-yard championship course and an executive course if you are working on your short game or are a beginner. Bring the whole family because there’s an Olympic-size swimming pool, picnic areas and six tennis courts. Visitors can also fish, boat or hike.
Capital Region
For golf, it’s Saratoga! Saratoga Spa State Park also has two courses – over 7,000 yards from the blue tees on the 18-hole course and a par-29 challenging executive course. Both are framed with tall pine trees and highly manicured greens.
The park is home of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), the National Museum of Dance, the Saratoga Automobile Museum, and the Gideon Putnam Hotel. Mineral baths are available at the Roosevelt Baths. You can swim in the Olympic-sized Peerless Pool or the smaller Victoria Pool which is near the first tee of the championship course. Enjoy a bite to eat and a cold drink at 58 Roosevelt Bar and Grill at the start of the 18-hole course. Hardtop and clay tennis courts are available as well as accessible locker rooms.
North Country
The 9-hole course at St. Lawrence State Park Golf Course in Ogdensburg started more than 75 years ago as a private club owned by five area golfers. New York State bought the course in the mid-1960s. It incorporates the panoramic view of the St. Lawrence River shipping channel and the Canadian shore.
“Fine view” not only describes what you’ll see at Wellesley Island State Park Golf Course, it’s where it’s located: the town of Fineview in the Thousand Islands. This 80-year-old 9-hole course has valleys created by pink granite outcroppings. Play it twice from different tees for an 18-hole round. There is also a marina, guided hiking, freshwater fishing, a swimming beach, picnic area, cabins and campsites.
New York State Parks Golf Courses provide a range of affordable options and play for all skill levels. Often, golf courses get a bad rap for all the “greening” and mowing of their land. But our teams get there early, stays late and are environmentally conscious from tee to green, and the wooded and wild-flowered areas surrounding each hole. Tee it high, let if fly; tee it low, watch it go; thank a greenskeeper for making these spaces available – and bring your swing!
NYS GOLF COURSES BY THE NUMBERS
1: The score on a hole we’re always chasing!
2: Courses in each of our Taconic and Thousand Island Regions
3: Courses with “Island” in the title: Battle, Beaver and Wellesley
4: This hole at James Baird is the only par-5 on its front nine
5: Number of courses at Bethpage State Park: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green & Black
6: Combined number of courses in our Finger Lakes (4), Palisades (1) and Saratoga/Capital (1) Regions
7: Under par was the score when Lucas Glover began his final round en route to winning the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, finishing 4-under-par
8: Majors by Tiger Woods when he won the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in 2002
9: Number of holes at Bonavista State Park, Sag Harbor, St. Lawrence and Wellesley Island courses
10: Minimum age to play at Robert Moses Pitch and Putt
11: Hidden gem hole at Soaring Eagles
12: Signature hole at Montauk Downs
13: More wins by the U.S. over Europe in Ryder Cup (27-14) history
14: Weekly golf leagues hosted at Chenango Valley
15: A beautiful par-3 at Saratoga Spa
16: Day in May 2019 when PGA Championship began at Bethpage Black
17: + 40 = the number of aces at Soaring Eagles in the past 20 years
18: Hole at Chenango Valley (336-yard, par-4) redesigned in 2022
19: Golf properties run by State Parks
– Written by John Craig, Albany Public Affairs Bureau. Thanks to
Kevin Cassidy (OPRHP), Andrew Wilson and Alexandra Roldos (Bethpage), Ryan Molter (CVSP), Richard Stimson (Dinsmore), Mary Gregg (Battle Island), Geoffrey Gralow and Sean Cruickshank (Sunken Meadow), Ryan Percy (Saratoga Spa State Park), Steve Volpicelli (Soaring Eagles) and John Wenner (Buffalo Harbor).
New York State Parks and Historic Sites Blog 