Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course — Attraction in New York

The positives: it is definitely a golf course in that it has grass, trees and holes. And It's historic I'm told. That's it. The negatives: Where do I begin? If it's your first time here, forget about being treated respectfully. Everyone was cranky and unhelpful, from the pro shop, to the cart man, to the starter, right on through to the club "professional", who I refer to as Professor Ponytail because he's rocking a pony tail like a washed up wrestler/hair metal guitarist, even though he's pushing 50. Guess he stopped maturing senior year of high school back in 1971. This never-quite-good-enough-to-make-The-Tour Katelyn Jenner look-a-like had the audacity to, in the middle of our tee shots on a par 3 ask how many balls we were planning to play off the tee, telling us "this is not a driving range". Mind you my friend and I hit a total of 4 balls, the first two of which ended up in the water hazard. As far as I know the rules of golf allow you to play another ball with a penalty if you lose yours; perhaps someone should explain the rules of golf to him, he seems a bit rusty. Too busy thinking about Wrestle Mania I suppose. Mind you, he was in a twosome on the adjacent green behind us that somehow had 5 balls on it. Talk about playing multiple balls. What a hypocrite. He also admonished us for not replacing divots, even tho I did in fact fixed my divots, but the Ric Flair wannabe would hear none of it. This incident had us fuming for a good 3 holes before we calmed down, so he essentially ruined part of our round. That's not to mention this course layout seems like it was designed by a 6 year old with a learning disability. You end up criss-crossing the course numerous times because one hole rarely leads to the next, and there are virtually no signs. The 9th hole doesn't even take you to the clubhouse, because that would make too much sense. And there's no beverage cart service, so forget about having a cold one in the middle of the round. Also the mysterious "twilight rate" that's posted online apparently doesn't apply if you take a cart since there's an almost $20 cart fee per person added to the $23 twilight fee. So you end up paying $40 no matter what time of day you come if you're taking a cart, which is a virtual necessity, because, again the course was designed by Zach Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus's failure of a half-brother. So if you enjoy ponytails on club pros, geriatric curmudgeons, and a general don't give a damn attitude, this is the course for you. If not, then...

I'm puzzled by the high ratings this course is receiving. I feel bad giving less than three starts, but it probably deserves less. Here's why:

-Rangers were moody. Considering lack of signage directing us to the first hole (quite a ways from the clubhouse), at least some form of greeting would have helped. Also found and delivered lost head cover (which someone was currently seeking, it turned out) to one ranger and not even a thank you. Strange.

-Tee boxes and bunkers are hideous. In the bunkers we were literally hitting off dirt. Most tee boxes were overgrown on also dirt.

-Several greens were rough. I'm not being picky--I know I'm on a public course. But for several puts it would have been sheer luck to sink the put, due to dead patches.

-I suspect this course is being mismanaged. We were rained out after 11 holes, and I asked for a partial rain check (it's links style course so you can't get 9 hole rain check). A kind lady in the shop got the manager, and when he came out I thought he was one of the maintenance workers--jeans and a t shirt, and he said "Hey what's up?" When I asked for a rain check he said no. I said that I'd paid 95$ to play 11 holes, and is a partial credit possible? Maybe even free cart for next round, anything? Total refusal. I understand this may be the policy and he is sticking to it, but he was curt and unprofessional, did not even try to find some positive. Not even, "I'm sorry but that's our policy." Just "No I can't do it." Okay...

-Didn't want to spend yet more money but we were hungry. Although it was 1:00, nothing was being made in the rather uncozy grill room area. There were workers there talking with regulars. We stood for a while to ask if burgers or dogs could be made, but after a wait we grabbed a croissant. Still nobody took the cue to come over so we could pay for an overpriced croissant after an overpriced 11 holes.

This has potential to be a great course. Not a bad layout, unique setting, great history. But they need someone who knows a little about course maintenance (one guy was out pulling a huge blower clearing leaves, but there were hardly any leaves--maybe work on renovating some of the bunkers and tee boxes?) and someone who knows how to create a good clubhouse setting and treat their customers with respect. There were a few nice people, for sure, but we left feeling undervalued.

If you're looking for a decent golf experience in the area, Pelham...

3-4 stars depending on the day. I just played here on a Saturday. The course is quite challenging with the woods, but also not exactly a hard course in general. Most of the holes are tree-lined shock would make almost impossible to find any balls that miss the fairways. The pace of play is slow (we teed off 15 minutes late and the total round was 5.5 hours). I would definitely go back, but there’s definitely room for improvement too.

The course itself is on par with a public/municipal. Some of the fairways are basically just rough and the greens are not well maintained, with crabgrass and lots of divots. Several of the par 4s are also cart path only, which seems to be overkill for what the quality of the fairways are like and the pace of play. It’s a difficult course to walk, and a cart costs an additional $20 per person. This put our total around $78-80 per person with a cart. As a Manhattan resident, this and Dyker Beach are the only two feasible options to play 18 without having a car/uber. The pricing is objectively better than Dyker Beach.

I’d recommend this for anyone in Manhattan. It’s a public course with NYC pricing, so that is exactly what you should expect. This course gets the job done and meets an average golfers expectations. It’s got a slow pace of play and plays like any public course in the woods.

My recommendation for the course would be to improve the pace of play. Marshall’s can only do so much later on in the day if it’s backed up from the morning rounds. An improvement to pace of play would make the course a 4-5...