Virginia Golfer Mar / Apr 2023 | Page 35

TOP TO BOTTOM : Patriot Hills Golf Club
COURTESY OF NEW YORK STATE PARKS , AND THE COURSES
there are four more courses worth exploring — the Red , Blue , Green and Yellow .
The park was developed from an estate owned by the Yoakum family and other properties . The Yoakum family leased the estate to Lenox Hills Corporation , which subsequently used the property to build Lenox Hills Country Club . In the early 1930s , the Bethpage Park Authority purchased the club and adjacent properties , tabbed A . W . Tillinghast to design and oversee construction of three new golf courses ( Black , Blue and Red ), as well as modify the existing Lenox Hills layout , which became the Green . Seeing even more demand for golf , Alfred Tull was
hired to design the Yellow Course , which opened in 1958 .
Nearly 300,000 rounds are played annually on the park ’ s 90 holes . Starting times begin as early at 5:45 a . m . in the summer and stretch to 5 p . m . The park has enough variety to keep any golfer engaged over multiple rounds .
Northwest of the city just off the Palisades Interstate Parkway is Patriot Hills Golf Club in Stony Point . It ’ s a favorite of golfers looking for a break from the city grind . With wild elevation changes and a back nine that winds through an abandoned insane asylum , Patriot Hills offers unique challenges and is one of the more
underlooked public options in the New York metro area .
Looking for golf closer to the city ? Check out Marine Park in southern Brooklyn . Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr . ( of Golden Horseshoe Gold fame ) and opened in 1964 , Marine Park boasts panoramic water views and country club quality greens and fairways at reasonable prices . At more than 7,000 yards from the tips , it ’ s the longest of NYC ’ s courses and unique in its links experience . Challenges don ’ t come from trees , but rather from the unmowed berms , fast greens and strong winds coming off Jamaica Bay .
M ARCH / A PRIL 2023 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 33