Given the economic climate and membership fees for private clubs running into tens of thousands of dollars, Rondout and its public kin ”“ where rounds cost in the tens of dollars ”“ could be in the right place at the right time.
The 40-year-old course in Accord (it went to 18 holes in 1990) saw 18,000 rounds last year, 7,000 fewer than the club pro would like to see.
“We”™re about 20 minutes from everything, which is a good thing because we have a scenic course without houses on it and 360-degrees of mountains around the Shawangunk Valley, but we”™re a little off the beaten path for people to get here,” said 19-year Rondout pro John DeForest. “With no big population center near us, we tend to draw from Middletown, Kingston, Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, which means 20 minutes to an hour to reach us. We like to say it”™s worth the trip.”
He said the course”™s most-played years were 1999 and 2000 when rounds peaked at about 24,000. “We have a lot of room and we”™re very affordable,” DeForest said. “The course is very good ”“ a very well-conditioned public course with readily available tee times.” (The Web site is rondoutgolfclub.com.)
Rondout is one of 20 golf venues in and near Ulster County, including what DeForest referred to as “the big ones in the area” ”“ Town of Wallkill Golf Club (in Middletown, Orange County) and Highland”™s Apple Greens Golf Club (complete with a monster 610-yard par 5 and an island-green par 3) ”“ that had “mega-opening weekends” last month. Rondout is slower to open ”“ “just getting going now” ”“ but DeForest said the annual pass program for regular rounds “is going pretty well so far.”
Besides the Wallkill Golf Club, Orange”™s public courses include Scenic Farms, Green Ridge, Stony Ford, Hickory Hill and Winding Hills golf clubs.
Putnam County has three public courses: Garrison Golf Club, Putnam National Golf Club and the semipublic (Monday-Friday) Highlands Golf Club.
Dutchess County offers 16 public golf facilities, including a pair designed by noted golf architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. and an Irish links-style course, The Links at Union Vale at 153 N. Parliman Road. The Harlem Valley Golf Course in Wingdale is semipublic and looks to remain open through whatever permutations the planned remake of the closed state mental hospital across Route 22 might take.
Rockland”™s courses include two at the Blue Hill Golf Club in Pearl River; the Phillip J. Rotella Municipal Course in Thiells; another two at Rockland Lake State Park Golf Club in Congers (the Executive and Championship courses); and Spook Rock Golf Club in Suffern. Another two courses ”“ Broadacres Golf Club in Orangeburg and New York Country Club in New Hempstead ”“ are semipublic.
Westchester County bills itself as the home to golf in America, dating to the so-called Apple Tree Gang who gathered in Yonkers in 1888, inaugurating what would become the oldest golf club in the nation (and which is private), St. Andrew”™s in Hastings-on-Hudson.
Those same Yonkers hills remain very popular with golfers. The Sprain Lake Golf Course south of Jackson Avenue witnessed 51,000 rounds last year and is already bustling this year.
“We had 200 golfers opening day, March 18,” said starter Mario Iannelli, who has been at Sprain Lake since 1989. That number reached 226 Sunday, March 22.
“We treat our customers like it”™s their own golf club,” said Sprain Lake PGA pro Tom Avezzano. “On a business level, the golfers are always customers. We offer a lot of customer service and our customers love coming here.”
Besides Sprain Lake, Westchester”™s public courses are Saxon Woods in Scarsdale, Mohansic in Yorktown Heights, Maple Moor in White Plains, Hudson Hills in Ossining and Dunwoodie in Yonkers. Tee times and reservations for all the courses are available at (914) 995-GOLF or at westchestergov.com/parks/golf.