Skyway is great.
For those of you who haven’t been, links-style 9-hole course with great views and it’s really well maintained, at least by the public course standards I’m used to.
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Marine Park is a decent option when compared to the rest of the NYC courses. Its long from the tips, and tough when the wind blows. I can’t think of any standout holes, but I remember being impressed with it compared to the other NYC munis.
I’ve played Split Rock and Pelham a ton. Pelham is wide open, Split Rock is a little more narrow. If you play any of those courses early enough, they’re tolerable. If you wait to tee off, welcome 5+ hours.
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I just moved to fort lee over the summer mostly played francis Byrne in West Orange, and skyway. Was also looking for a spot to join. Heard Arcola in Paramus was reasonable and looking for younger members. Haven’t inquired yet tho.
I was hoping to play skyway often. Are the rounds crazy slow? Seems like it would always be packed, based on location. Looks fun and is so close.
I haven’t really played Skyway at peak times. I actually got out with my brother one day in November (50 degrees or so) and we played about 13 holes before we caught up to anyone (finished in about 3:15).
Peak time it’s crowded and slow like most of the public courses in this area. Just one of those things that can’t be avoided. Kind of the reason I’m looking for a club to join but it’s so expensive around here too.
Out in Long Island, Willie Creek is a hidden gem. Didn’t get there last season but in years past it’s super well maintained and I thought a very fun design.
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I caddied at Arcola all throughout high school. Really good track with some fantastic greens (at least back them), but I have a hard time believing that place is anything close to affordable judging by what the membership paid back when I was working there.
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BTW, a site worth looking at if you’re on LI:
It provides information on all the public courses and its updated regularly.
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I lived in Hoboken/Jersey City for 5 years but recently moved to Central Jersey. Most of my friends still live in up there or in NYC so still play a lot in metro NYC. Skyway is a really fun track. Always walk away impressed with what they got out of that piece of land.
Knoll West in Parsippany-Troy Hills is criminally underrated. It is a Charles Banks design and restored by George Bahto in 2008. It is a public course so if you haven’t played, I can’t recommend it enough.
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agreed. i guess its depends on your definition of reasonable but i know its a decent check.(arcola). great track though
I’ve never played (or heard of) Knoll West. Might add it to the list for this season though.
Btw, my office is in Wyckoff, NJ. (I work remotely from NY). Anything worth visiting in the area when I do go there?
Not always popular but if you live in Manhattan and don’t have a car, I’d recommend hopping on NJ Transit and heading to New Brunswick/Princeton. Takes a little over an hour on the train but you are less than a 10min Uber from some decent courses like Mercer Oaks, Muttawang and my personal favorite Royce Brook. Then also there are less well conditioned/quality courses but fun like Mountain View, Cranbury and Princeton.
All of which are sub 5hr rounds which is fairly impossible on any of the city courses.
Figured it was too good to be true
It can get very slow out there, and extremely backed up especially on weekends and afternoons in the summer. Trying to play 18 then can become a headache as you have to be shuffled back into the tee sheet for your second nine. In the shoulder seasons it becomes a lot more open. What they were able to get out of that piece of land is just fantastic great faux links design that can play completely different depending on the wind.
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Good suggestion - I’ll have to try that!
depends on when you go, if you’re going mid-day on a Saturday or Sunday it can be very slow, but when I’ve played in the morning it goes pretty quick. Fun course
Never had major issues with slow play at Skyway (played it about 7 times in 2017). It’s not particularly long or hazardous
This is a great recommendation, Mercer Oaks has two courses East and West and is about 5-10 mins from the Princeton Junction stop on NJ Transit. The county has 4 courses total including Mountain View and Princeton but those courses can get crowded on the weekend with the men’s leagues that take up all the times in the morning. In fact just avoid “Princeton CC” which is owned by the county. My club is in this area, and i make the trip either by car or train every weekend it is well worth it.