Top 10 Golf Courses in New York
New York State has produced more major championship moments than perhaps any other in America. The eastern tip of Long Island holds a concentration of historic private clubs — Shinnecock Hills, National Golf Links, Maidstone, Sebonack — that rivals any comparable stretch of ground on the planet, while the public Bethpage State Park has shown that government-owned land can host a U.S. Open with equal authority. Inland, the parkland clubs of Westchester and the Hudson Valley maintain golden-age courses of real quality, and the Adirondacks and Catskills add mountain character to the state's repertoire. The season runs from April through October; the Hamptons clubs operate under social calendars as well as golfing ones, and tee times at the private clubs are fiercely protected.
1. Bethpage State Park (Black Course), Farmingdale
Designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened in 1936, Bethpage Black is the most celebrated public course in America. The sign on the first tee warning that the course 'is recommended only for highly skilled golfers' has become a rite of passage. The layout stretches to over 7,400 yards from the tips with massive rough, deep bunkers, and a severity that brought touring professionals to their knees at the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens — the first held on a true public course. Tiger Woods won in 2002 and Lucas Glover in 2009. Bethpage Black will host the 2024 PGA Championship and has a Ryder Cup pencilled in. Tee times are bookable online; same-day walk-on queues on the overnight line remain a New York ritual.
2. Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southampton
Stanford White designed the original Shinnecock clubhouse in 1892, making it one of America's oldest clubs, and the course was substantially reworked by William Flynn in 1931 to create the layout that has hosted five U.S. Opens (1896, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2018). Set on the windswept barrens of Southampton, Shinnecock plays as genuine links-style golf by American standards — firm, fast, and entirely dependent on wind. The elevated clubhouse visible from the back nine is one of the most iconic images in American golf. Private; access requires member invitation.
3. National Golf Links of America, Southampton
Charles Blair Macdonald designed the National Golf Links in 1911, deliberately modelling each hole on a celebrated European original — the Road Hole, the Alps, the Redan, the Eden — while adapting the concepts to the Southampton terrain. The course is a foundational document in the history of American golf design, as influential today as it was when it opened. Macdonald's greens are complex and architecturally intentional in ways that reward study. It is one of the most private and selective clubs in America; access is extraordinarily restricted.
4. Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course), Mamaroneck
A.W. Tillinghast designed both the West and East courses at Winged Foot in 1923. The West Course is the tournament layout, having hosted five U.S. Opens (1929, 1959, 1974, 1984, 2020), a U.S. Amateur, and a PGA Championship. Tillinghast created approach shots that require precise second shots into small, severely sloped greens with bunkers that punish the offline. Dustin Johnson won the 2020 U.S. Open at a score well under par, breaking the course's reputation for resistance — but the greens remain genuinely difficult. Winged Foot is private; guest access through member invitation only.
5. Oak Hill Country Club (East Course), Pittsford
Donald Ross designed Oak Hill's East Course in 1926 on a site he called 'the finest piece of land I have ever seen for a golf course.' The parkland layout near Rochester has hosted four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, a Ryder Cup (1995), and is booked for further major championships. Ross's work here is among his most polished — routing the course through mature oaks with greens that sit naturally in the terrain without artificial plateau. Rory McIlroy won the 2023 PGA Championship here. The club is private.
6. Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Scarsdale
Designed by A.W. Tillinghast in 1916 and updated by Rees Jones, Quaker Ridge sits adjacent to Winged Foot in Westchester County and offers a similarly demanding parkland test. The club has hosted the Walker Cup and the U.S. Amateur Stroke Play; Golf Digest consistently ranks it in America's top 30. The elevated green complexes and the demanding par 4s are vintage Tillinghast. Access is by member invitation only.
7. Friar's Head, Baiting Hollow
Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and opened in 2002, Friar's Head sits on the north fork of Long Island with bluff holes above Long Island Sound on the back nine. The routing exploits dramatic terrain — sand cliffs, ocean views, and open fairways — to create a course with a genuine links feel despite its American geographic context. It was built as a private club with a small membership and remains one of the most sought-after access challenges in New York golf.
8. Maidstone Club, East Hampton
Founded in 1891 and redesigned by John Park in 1922, Maidstone plays along the Atlantic dunes of East Hampton with ocean views and exposed terrain that make it one of the most atmospheric courses in the country. The stretch of holes from the 14th through the 17th along the dune edge is among the finest sequences in American golf. Maidstone is intensely private and deeply embedded in Hamptons social life; access is through member invitation only.
9. Garden City Golf Club, Garden City
Designed by Devereux Emmet and Walter Travis in the early 1900s, Garden City Golf Club played a significant role in American golf development — Travis was the dominant amateur of his era and used the course as a laboratory. The layout is an early heathland-style design on Long Island with fine turf, strategic bunkering, and a compactness that rewards shot-making over power. The 2017 U.S. Amateur was held here. It is a private club.
10. Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Scarborough-on-Hudson
Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor designed Sleepy Hollow in 1911 on the cliffs above the Hudson River in Westchester County. The views from several elevated holes across the Hudson are extraordinary, and Raynor's template holes — Redan, Biarritz, Eden — are well-realised in the terrain. The course underwent a significant restoration project in recent years to recover its original design intent. Sleepy Hollow is private.
New York's golf is stratified between the extraordinary and the accessible. The Long Island private clubs represent some of the most historically significant and architecturally distinguished courses in the world, while Bethpage Black provides a genuine world-class test at public-course prices. The season is long enough — late April through October — to plan multiple trips in a single year. Open the map to plot a route through the island's golden-age clubs and the state's wider collection of notable layouts.