I’m a Union County resident and agree about Ash Brook. Especially with the new clubhouse and how much easier it is to get a tee time than Galloping.
I’ve wound up playing East Orange in Short Hills a lot. Short track but well maintained, easy to walk and very reasonably priced.
Agree on East Orange. It’s like 8 minutes from my house and when I am able to sneak out for a quick afternoon/twilight round that’s the place to go. Back-9 there is sneaky good.
Played Ash Brook back in April. Layout is nice but it was in rough shape with lots of flooding and torn up fairways. Have conditions improved?
Actually haven’t played there since April, either. There are a few holes where they struggle to get water drained, which leads to dead fairways once things do dry out. Last year most of the year the course was in about as good shape as I’ve seen in the past 5-6 years since I’ve been up here, so hoping that is a sign of things to come this summer.
Great info, thanks for sharing.
Have a spot open for tomorrow at 3:16pm at Bethpage Red
It’s me and my two regular golfing buddies… if anyone wants to join let me know
Would rather be paired with a fellow refugee than a rando!
Definitely worth the play - lots of elevation changes and a fun layout. Played on a friday morning and ended up spinning it back out for 36. Be conscious of the weather when you book your tee time. The “lower 9” back 9 of the champ course) floods and shuts down often, but it is a 27 hole facility.
If you’re in manhattan, take the PATH to Journal Square and take an uber/lyft from there.
PSA:
Red course is all fucked up still from the pga… 1st hole is not playable.
Luckily, we got on the black course instead. Course was in phenomenal shape, a ton of fun. Was pretty wet out there but rain stopped just as we crossed the road to 15 and honestly it was fucking magical.
Played Eisenhower Red today. The greens are much better than they were a month ago.
I noticed this last weekend as well! Much better, finally seeing improvement which is great.
Central Jersey here. Grew up playing the Monmouth County courses and still play those quite a bit. Dont belong to a club but may join Bella Vista CC in Marlboro on a casual membership next year.
Has anyone played Stonebridge in Smithtown? It says it’s Hanse routing.
I’ve played it a several times. There are some interesting holes, particularly some of the greens, and the course is always in nice shape. Definitely worth your time if your in the area
It seems like they tried to make several template style holes. If you look at the score card you can see the names of the holes (Road, alps, Biarritz etc). The name of the road the course is on is Raynor way and the houses are on Redan.
I’ve never played a course with template holes but it seems that the course doesn’t have enough land and the greens are a little to small to get the desired effect.
For example the 5th hole is a par 5 with a “road hole” style green. The hole is fairly straight and doesn’t reward an aggressive tee shot, or punish a bail out, just no room to do so. There is just a small pot-like bunker guarding the front of the green. Doesn’t really reflect a true road hole I guess.
Again, nice course some of the greens are pretty cool, just think if they had some more space to work with it would be a really fun course.
The first thing I noticed was the name of the roads and started doing some digging! I will definitely check it out before the end of the year. I figured it might have less crowds than the usual public spot on the island.
Stonebridge is a decent track, I didn’t know it was a Hanse design. As @daniel_lafferty said, it’s a little tight and has a Florida housing course feel to it.
If you’re willing to make the trek, I love Swan Lake in Manorville. Suffolk has a lot more to offer and much better pace of play.
Spring Lake, Mill Pond, and Middle Island are all within a mile of each other and all pretty good tracks in their own right.
The pace at Stonebridge is usually pretty good. However, the course is semi private and public tee times dont open up until 11-11:30 on weekends, I believe.
I second what @Junkman23 said. Swan Lake is a good course, I’d also reccommend that if you don’t mind going that far east.
If you do go out that far, Indian Island in Riverhead is a nice course. Several holes overlooking the Peconic. Cherry Creek Links is a fun course to play, just avoid the Wood course, might be the tightest most tree lined course I’ve ever played. Need to add some of those holes on the Worst Holes thread.
Cherry Creeks Woods course is wayyyy too tight!
I have been meaning to make it out Indian Island. Timber Point has some awesome waterside views too!
Defintley make the trip to Indian Island. I wish it was a little closer for me, great views, cool holes.
I love Timber. Sort of become my home course since moving to Suffolk. 5-7 on blue is a tough stretch to beat with those views.
Hey so my dad and little brother (15 handicap) are coming up to visit me later this month and I was thinking that red or blue would be a fun challenge for my little brother. My dad can’t play because he broke his wrist, but he would like to walk the course with us. Would Bethpage allow that for free and if so, do you think that some people we could possibly get paired up with would be upset with my dad just walking around the course and just putting.
Agree with both of you - I live in NYC but grew up on the South Fork and get out just about every weekend I can to golf. I also am a public course hound out here, always shopping tee times and openings.
Indian Island has become the home track, played it yesterday actually at 4pm and walked 18 with another single. Some of the holes are amazing, running along the water. Others are a little boring, but at the end of the day, amazing value and a great walking course. IIGC, along with the Cherry Creek courses, are in Riverhead (15/20 minutes east of Manorville). Woods is tightAF but fun to dial up every once in awhile. Maintained quite well (played 2 weeks ago). CC Links is rather boring, but a good spot to go out and let it rip.
Another course I enjoy is The Vineyards, which is on the same street as both Cherry Creek courses. “semi-private” and has a housing development, Rates are a bit high, but the course quality and conditions often match. Fake links course through an old farm field, scoreable, fun.
If you’re going to entertain Swan Lake, which I think is a fine track, you should look into Rock Hill or Pine Hills also. Great Rock gets shit on a lot, haven’t played it in years and times are always available there, not sure what that says.
