New England Golf Courses & Tee Times in Connecticut

Who runs public golf in New England

The City of Boston's Parks and Recreation Department runs two 18-hole, par-70 courses: William J. Devine at Franklin Park (6,013 yards) and George Wright in Hyde Park (6,440 yards). The state's Department of Conservation and Recreation runs two more: 36 Donald Ross holes at Ponkapoag in Canton and 18 at Leo J. Martin in Weston. Leo J. Martin is closed for all of 2026 for construction and reopens in 2027, though its range stays open. Towns and cities run their own. Brookline Golf Course is a town recreation facility with a resident rate, $35 on weekdays and $45 on weekends in 2026. Newton bought the old Chestnut Hill Country Club in the late 1970s and made it the public Newton Commonwealth.

Public courses worth knowing in New England

• William J. Devine Golf Course: Opened in 1896 in Olmsted's Franklin Park, called the second oldest public course in the U.S. Donald Ross expanded it to 18 holes in 1922. Par 70, 6,013 yards.
• George Wright Golf Course: Donald Ross design built with WPA money and opened in April 1938. The site was ledge and swamp, and crews used 60,000 pounds of dynamite. Named for baseball Hall of Famer George Wright.
• Ponkapoag Golf Course: State-run 36 holes in Canton, designed by Donald Ross. The state brought in Brian Silva to restore Course No. 1 in 2015.
• Newton Commonwealth Golf Course: Began as a nine-hole club in 1897 and was redesigned by Donald Ross, a Newton resident. Public since the city bought it in the late 1970s.
• Brookline Golf Course: Town-run municipal course in Brookline, the town where Ouimet won the 1913 U.S. Open. No membership needed.
• Pinehills Golf Club-Jones Course: Rees Jones design in Plymouth, public daily-fee, 5,388 to 7,175 yards across five sets of tees. The Nicklaus Design course next door runs to 7,243.

Booking tee times in New England: the local rules

Brookline gives residents 10 days to book and everyone else 7. Tee times are booked online and prepaid, with a full refund up to 3 hours out. Boston's city golf site splits tee times between permit holders and everyone else. An undated city membership page says members book Saturday times on Monday and Sunday times on Tuesday, a day ahead of the public.

Why tee times in New England are hard to get

The season in New England runs roughly from spring to late fall. The first warm weekends in spring and the cool, dry weekends of fall are the hardest to book.

Each course releases its tee times on its own schedule, commonly a week or two out, with residents of town and county courses often booking first. Leagues, outings and members claim chunks of the sheet in advance, and whatever prime weekend times are left tend to go on release day.

When tee time cancellations happen

A full tee sheet rarely stays full. Many courses let you cancel without a fee up to 24 or 48 hours before your time, so spots tend to reappear in the last couple of days. A bad forecast shakes more loose, and a foursome that drops to three opens a single. None of it is announced. The time just shows up again on the booking page, and whoever looks first gets it.

How to get a tee time in New England

Doing it by hand? Here's what works.

1. Know the booking window. Find out how many days ahead each course releases times, and whether residents get an earlier window. Be ready the morning it opens.
2. Look again 24 to 48 hours out. That's when most cancellation deadlines pass and spots come back.
3. Be flexible on group size. Singles and twosomes fit into gaps a foursome can't.
4. Try twilight and weekday afternoons. They're the last to fill and often cheaper.
5. Keep a quicker course in your back pocket. Nine-hole and executive courses are easier to get on and play faster. Around here that includes Vineyard Valley Golf Club.

Read the full guide to getting a tee time when everything's booked