New York City Golf Courses & Tee Times

Who runs public golf in New York City

NYC Parks owns the courses and concessionaires run them, with fees approved by Parks. Eleven courses share one rate card: Van Cortlandt and Pelham/Split Rock in the Bronx, Dyker Beach and Marine Park in Brooklyn, Clearview, Douglaston, Forest Park and Kissena in Queens, and LaTourette, Silver Lake and South Shore on Staten Island. Mosholu and Ferry Point price on their own. Under the rates effective April 1, 2026, 18 holes before 2pm costs $70 on weekends and $54 on weekdays, and every rate includes a $5 surcharge that goes back to Parks. City residents get the resident rate by showing a photo ID and proof of address such as a utility bill, and operators can issue resident, senior and junior ID cards.

Public courses worth knowing in New York City

• Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course (Bronx): Opened July 6, 1895, and called by NYC Parks the first municipal course in the U.S. Thomas Bendelow took it to 18 holes after 1899. The 1902 locker room still has its wooden lockers, which show up in the 1987 film Wall Street.
• Split Rock Golf Course (Bronx): Opened in 1936 with WPA money next to the Pelham course, which dates to 1901. Bobby Jones called it "worth the visit" that year, and stone walls from the 1776 Battle of Pell's Point still stand on the course.
• Marine Park Golf Course: The last course NYC Parks built, opened in 1963 on landfill. The course credits Robert Trent Jones Sr. and says it is the longest in the city, over 7,000 yards from the blues, with few trees and wind off Jamaica Bay.
• Clearview Park Golf Course (Bayside, Queens): Founded in 1925 as the Clearview Golf and Yacht Club, where Governor Al Smith was a member. The city bought it in 1931 for $940,000. Par 70, 6,328 yards, at the foot of the Throgs Neck Bridge.
• LaTourette Golf Course (Staten Island): The clubhouse is the LaTourette family's 1870 mansion, on the National Register since 1982. The operator says it hosts the New York City Amateur every May. Par 72, 6,708 yards.
• Silver Lake Golf Course (Staten Island): A late-1920s John Van Kleek course, par 69. NYC Parks says several thousand immigrants from the old Marine Cemetery may be buried under the 18th fairway.

Booking tee times in New York City: the local rules

NYC Parks rules, as posted on the Marine Park site, let you book up to seven days before the day you play. There's a $6 reservation fee. Cancel at least 24 hours out or you pay the full green fee for each missing player. At Marine Park, seniors 62 and up book senior-rate times by phone or in person only, and non-residents pay an $8 fee on top of the green fee.

Why tee times in New York City are hard to get

Golf in New York City follows the seasons: spring openers and fall weekends are the busiest stretches, and summer mornings fill before afternoons.

Most public courses open their tee sheet a set number of days ahead, often 7 to 14, and many municipal courses give residents or card holders an earlier window. The best weekend-morning times usually go the day they're released. Leagues and outings take blocks of the sheet before the public ever sees them.

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 York City

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 Kissena Park Golf Course and Mosholu Golf Course.

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