{"id":83,"date":"2020-04-17T12:54:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T16:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/2007\/11\/11\/golf-in-your-backyard\/"},"modified":"2021-10-18T08:31:04","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T12:31:04","slug":"van-cortlandt-park-golf-course-bronx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/83\/van-cortlandt-park-golf-course-bronx\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf in Your Backyard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As all of us hope that things will slowly get better with COVID-19, we need to start planning where we&#8217;ll go. Love golf? Pebble Beach, Augusta, even some of Jack Nicklaus\u2019 gems can\u2019t compare to the glory of playing at <strong>Van Cortlandt Golf Course<\/strong>, the oldest public links in the United States&#8230; and it\u2019s in The Bronx.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Each of New York City\u2019s five boroughs has some offering of golf; most are now managed by private companies. Not surprisingly, only Manhattan is without a real golf course (you can go to Chelsea Piers or Randall\u2019s Island to find a driving range, but the outer boroughs have the real deal \u2013 fifteen courses in all). If you have a few hours to experience a marvelous round of golf, then don\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Take the #1 train to its northern terminus, walk east across Van Cortlandt Park, and you\u2019ll arrive at the newly-renovated clubhouse perched on the shores of Van Cortlandt Lake (the largest fresh-water lake in the Bronx). In the summer months, geese, ducks, and an occasional swan will be drifting in the calm waters. In the winter, ice skating is a common pastime. Year round it is a beautiful setting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prefer to listen to this post instead of reading through? Click the video below:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sQjDotxQqug\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The 18-hole course was opened in 1895 when The Bronx was wilderness, Grover Cleveland was our president, and few people in this country knew anything about golf. It has survived these 110+ years because of its beauty and challenging nature. In recent years, some of the shorter holes have become easy prey for anyone using high-powered <a href=\"https:\/\/theleftrough.com\/golf-club-reviews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">golf clubs<\/a>, but there are two 600-yard holes, lots of well-placed water and trees, and an unusual final four holes that are so hilly, you\u2019ll think you\u2019re playing in Switzerland. Did I mention forests of mature oaks, beech and maples lining the fairways? Greens fees are typical for public courses (around $30, higher on weekends, only $16 for seniors 62 and older). Lessons are available. And the course is open year round, weather permitting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to get there:<\/strong> <em>Take the 1 train to 242nd Street Station, and proceed north along the east side of Broadway, until you reach 246th Street and turn right onto a wide path. You\u2019ll see the park\u2019s House Museum built in 1748 where George Washington once slept \u2013 open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Head east continuing along a service road, which should soon lead you to the historic clubhouse on the lake where you can check in, buy golf balls, and get a bite to eat in the caf\u00e9.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(Van Cortlandt Park South and Bailey Ave., Bronx, 718.543.4595 http:\/\/golfnyc.com\/vancortlandt, Reserve your tee time online now!)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- flickrset: 72157603088295711 --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As all of us hope that things will slowly get better with COVID-19, we need to start planning where we&#8217;ll go. Love golf? Pebble Beach, Augusta, even some of Jack Nicklaus\u2019 gems can\u2019t compare to the glory of playing at Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the oldest public links in the United States&#8230; and it\u2019s in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":56138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[327,315,1049,748],"tags":[103,48,65,105,9,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-83","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bronx-outer-boroughs-destination","8":"category-day-trips","9":"category-golf-activity-2","10":"category-train-2","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-historical-site","13":"tag-park","14":"tag-recreation","15":"tag-reviews","16":"tag-van-cortlandt-park"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":56138,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/gal10-1254x749-e1487958510448-350x196.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}