Five of the Best Public Golf Courses Northwest of (but close to) New York City

[sabram]

I’m a born and raised New Yorker, now retired and living most of the year in Florida.  I’m in North Jersey for the summer and finding it hard to book tee decent times. Over the years I’ve played more than 100 courses in the NYC metro area. Here are the five best I’ve played in North Jersey and Rockland County NY since I’ve been back.

All five:

(i)   Are located about 35-45 minutes from the GWB (unless you hit traffic);

(ii)  Are municipally owned, either by a State, County or Town;

(iii) Are Parkland style, in pretty tree lined settings but for the most part, generous off the tee;

(iv) Are “Old School” designs (more than 50 years old) with greens located close to the preceding green;

(v)  Have very few (or no) holes with water in play;

(vi) Allow walking (except Rivervale);

(vii) Have lots of significant elevation changes making for a fund round, but a tough walk for Seniors on a hot Summer day, especially uphill holes late in the round

(viii) Are in excellent condition at the present time.

 

In Alphabetical Order:

1.        Darlington -  Darlington is the cream of the crop of the six Bergen County operated courses, (although the hilly  9 hole Orchard Hills Course is also very good if you’re looking to play only 9 holes). Green Fees are$74 weekdays and $90 weekends to walk. Riding carts are $20 per player. (Note Bergen County allows non residents to register to get reduced green fees of $52 weekdays and $55 weekends. The cost to register is $45 per annum.) The issue here is that it’s almost impossible to book a tee time because registered  residents can access the tee sheet a week out and promptly grab all the tee times as soon as the tee sheet opens. In any event, Darlington is a solid, fun course to play if you can find a tee time.

 

2.        Rivervale Country Club -  Rivervale is probably my favorite course in North Jersey (or tied with the Knoll West and Rock Spring, both of which I haven’t played in a couple years). It’s  semi-private. I was a member here for several years before retiring. The greens are great and varied, with lots of movement. They’ve done extensive tree removal in recent years opening up vistas across the course, but leaving enough to retain its character. The course has a great mix of long and short holes, easy and difficult holes, uphill, downhill and sidehill lies.  Also, excellent bunkering with sand as good as a private club. The only negative about the course is the current green fee of $100 on weekdays and $125 on weekends (includes cart). You can find a few less expensive tee times at the last minute if the tee sheet is not full 24 hrs. before the day of play.

 

3.        Rockland Lake State Park- “Championship Course” -  Rockland Lake is operated by the State of New York, the same as  the courses Bethpage and Saratoga Spa State Parks, among others. For many years, Rockland Lake was not maintained as well as those other NYS courses, but thankfully, it is now in its best shape ever. It’s a real bargain at $38 to walk. Riding carts are $21 per player. The greens are not as interesting or as fast as Rivervale, but it’s a fun routing. There is also a really good par 3 executive course in the Park.

 

4.        Spook Rock -  Spook Rock was for a time listed among the top 100 public courses in America. Not making the lists now is not the result of any decline in the quality of the course, but rather the hundreds of great public courses that have been built in the last 50 years (Think Bandon, Sand Valley etc.). Spook Rock is not in that class, but like the other four courses I’m discussing here, is a really solid and fun muni. There’s water in play on a few holes here, much of it hidden from where you hit your shot, so it helps if your paired with someone who’s played here before. The only negatives here are that the bunkers are very hard and have some stones machining almost impossible to hit a “splash” shot. Use a wedge with little bounce. The greens  are almost all sloped back to front without much undulation, but were all very nicely conditioned, but slower than the greens at the other courses. It took awhile to adjust to be able to get the ball to the hole. $66 to walk weekdays, $76 weekends. Riding cart is $20 per person

 

5.        Sunset Valley -  This Morris County muni is a gem located in a gorgeous setting near Pompton Plains. It has big greens with lots of movement. The greens are excellent…  second only to Rivervale among this group. Green fee is $55 to walk (7 days/wk). Riding cart is $25 per person.  There are a few holes that could have some trees removed, so driving it straight is a priority on those holes, but that’s really just a nit. I really like this course and wish I had found it years ago.

 

Two of the best courses in the area are the Knoll West and Rock Spring. I haven’t played them in a couple years as it’s almost impossible for a non resident to get a tee time at the Knoll-West, and Rock Spring has gotten too expensive.

 

Click on a photo below to see photo tours of the courses

 

 

 

Darlington

 

Rivervale

 

Rockland Lake

 

Spook Rock

 

Sunset Valley

 

Rock Spring

 

Knoll West

 

Edited July 1 by sabram

[LPSISCO]

I was going to ask why you didn’t list Ballyowen, which is the best public course in the area by far, until I went back to note your criteria of “publicly owned”. 

 

I live in Morris County, before joining Mendham GTC I played the county courses a lot. Sunset is fine, but I don’t think it’s nearly as nice as Berkshire Valley. Have you played there?

[sabram]

2 hours ago, LPSISCO said:

I was going to ask why you didn’t list Ballyowen, which is the best public course in the area by far

Sunset is fine, but I don’t think it’s nearly as nice as Berkshire Valley. Have you played there?

I've only played Berkshire Valley once, many years ago. I'll have to give it another try.

 

As far as Ballyowen goes, I like it and play it once a year. However, I think it's a bit over rated, too expensive and too far from NYC. I'd just as soon play Wild Turkey up there, and certainly prefer to play the others I mentioned more often than Ballyowen based on a quality/value balance.

Edited July 3 by sabram

[LPSISCO]

I generally love your photos and reviews….but I’m 100% opposite you on this one! When COVID hit the Crystal Springs group had an introductory offer - all you can play at any of their courses for a month, for $500. I did it thinking I’d play mostly Ballyowen and a few times at Wild Turkey - I had only played WT once when it opened and enjoyed it, so I figured I’d go there too. 

 

I played WT once and in my mind it is nowhere near the quality of Ballyowen. I think I played Ballyowen 8 times that month and just that one time at WT. Granted, the rounds were costing me the same at either course, so maybe I’d alter the ratio a little if I factored in the cost differential. But not very much. Because I do agree with your reticence to drive all the way up there, if I’m going to make that time commitment I want to play Ballyowen. 

[sabram]

1 hour ago, LPSISCO said:

so maybe I’d alter the ratio a little if I factored in the cost differential.

I'm getting cheaper in my old age😎😁

[LPSISCO]

LOL. But I’d play Berkshire Valley instead of WT every time, and it’s probably a little cheaper. 

[th6252]

12 hours ago, LPSISCO said:

I was going to ask why you didn’t list Ballyowen, which is the best public course in the area by far, until I went back to note your criteria of “publicly owned”. 

 

I live in Morris County, before joining Mendham GTC I played the county courses a lot. Sunset is fine, but I don’t think it’s nearly as nice as Berkshire Valley. Have you played there?

I live near the GWB in eastern Bergen County and I’d need to haul a** to get to Berkshire Valley in under 50 minutes, so that kind nixes it as an option within his stated criteria…worth it though as I like it better than Darlington and a lot more than Sunset.

[TP693]

What about Francis Byrne or Hendricks ?

[sabram]

43 minutes ago, TP693 said:

What about Francis Byrne or Hendricks ?

Hendricks Field was renovated a couple years ago . It's much better than it used to be,and is a fun round,  but not as good as the five courses  listed in the OP. The land and greens are not nearly as good as those other courses. It's sort of a dumbed down version of a Charles Banks course where the Banks features are neutered imitations. If you've  ever played the Banks course at Forsgate you'll  have experienced the real thing. Having said that, I prefer it to Francis Byrne.

Hendricks Field photos

https://www.flickr.com/gp/golfcoursepix/54mCuG8UZ9

[Johnny Biarritz]

54 minutes ago, TP693 said:

What about Francis Byrne or Hendricks ?

Byrne was incredible when I played there in 2017 and I've seen where they did a renovation. The post-reno course looks incredible. It's far, far superior to anything on this list.

[sabram]

On 7/9/2025 at 5:44 PM, Johnny Biarritz said:

Byrne was incredible when I played there in 2017 and I've seen where they did a renovation. The post-reno course looks incredible. It's far, far superior to anything on this list.

I stand corrected about Francis Byrne. I hadn't played there in many years so went back the other day based on comments on this thread. It was really quite good. The last time I played there it was a mess with barely any grass and the bunkers were terrible. The recent reno/restore has brought the course back to life. I prefer it to Hendricks. The land has a lot of movement and elevation. The Raynor/Banks style features are better done here than they were at Hendricks as there is more challenge here compared to the more subtle versions at Hendricks (although still not in the same class as the private club Banks courses in the region (e.g. Forsgate, Tamarack etc, which are amazing. ) Byrne is a great bargain if you live in Essex County, but it was $66 green fee plus $22 cart for out of county players. Click on the photo below for a photo tour

 

 

Edited July 19 by sabram

[sabram]

On 7/3/2025 at 5:27 PM, LPSISCO said:

LOL. But I’d play Berkshire Valley instead of WT every time, and it’s probably a little cheaper. 

I went back to play Berkshire Valley Last week. Another one that I hadn't played in years. It is a little cheaper than Wild Turkey. It was designed by Roger Rulewich who was the RTJ Sr Associate who designed Ballyowen. What Berkshire has going for it is the setting and scenery. It is very pretty. But, it's on a difficult property... very steep with drainage issues a difficult walk and a few holes carved into the side of the mountain slope that I wasn't too fond of. The three Morris County residents I played with prefer Berkshire to Sunset because of the setting and they felt the greens at Berkshire were more manageable for them. I really enjoyed the round, but still prefer Sunset.

 

Click on the photo below for a photo tour of Berkshire Valley

 

 

[Bakes0]

Really helpful list! I'm in Hudson Valley/Poughkeepsie area and mostly stick around here or go more north, but I've played everything around here and am looking for new places to knock off the list within the hour/hour and a half radius. Spook Rock has been on my list to try.

 

The Rockland Lake recommendation is an awesome one, I had no idea there was another state park course that close. I play most of my golf at James Baird and Dinsmore, two state park courses that are amazing value, so would love to add another to the rotation. Darlington also looks really nice as well, I'll add that to the list.

[sabram]

On 7/21/2025 at 11:16 AM, Bakes0 said:

play most of my golf at James Baird and Dinsmore, two state park courses

My most recent round at Rockland Lake was with three guys from Poughkeepsie who mainly play at James Baird. They like Rockland Lake enough to drive down fairly often 

[Jonnielopes19]

On 7/3/2025 at 1:18 PM, LPSISCO said:

I generally love your photos and reviews….but I’m 100% opposite you on this one! When COVID hit the Crystal Springs group had an introductory offer - all you can play at any of their courses for a month, for $500. I did it thinking I’d play mostly Ballyowen and a few times at Wild Turkey - I had only played WT once when it opened and enjoyed it, so I figured I’d go there too. 

 

I played WT once and in my mind it is nowhere near the quality of Ballyowen. I think I played Ballyowen 8 times that month and just that one time at WT. Granted, the rounds were costing me the same at either course, so maybe I’d alter the ratio a little if I factored in the cost differential. But not very much. Because I do agree with your reticence to drive all the way up there, if I’m going to make that time commitment I want to play Ballyowen. 

Wild turkey and Bally are both great courses. We go every year for a few days and  IMO Wild Turkey is more difficult than Bally. Bally has larger greens and wide fairways. Turkey is more of a dramatic course with elevation changes to their holes and the greens tend to be a little more difficult. That being said Bally is 100% better golf experience, probably one of the best "links" style courses without going to a true links course. Wild Turkey sits at the resort too so it has that resort golf feel. 

But I agree if I'm making the trip- Bally all the way.