On a sunny April day, I added one more New York City golf adventure. Van Cortlandt Golf Course is located in the North Bronx near the Yonkers border. It is the oldest public golf course in the USA and opened in 1895. Known as “Vanny” by the locals. It was surprisingly easy to get to the course via public transportation. If you understand golf, you must appreciate this course’s history. It doesn’t have the pristine tee boxes and smooth sandtraps of modern resort courses. However, it is a great layout of a golf course, and as you walk the course, you imagine the thousands of golfers walking these same fairways.
The course is within Van Cortlandt Park and offers a refuge from the concrete and buildings of the city. The course is a par 70 with three tee lengths of 6000, 5500, and 4800. The course was modified from its original design and lost some holes to build parkways for automobiles, a real contrast to imagining the first golfers likely arrived at the course by horse and carriage. The sounds of busy parkways that rim the course are a reminder of the beautiful outdoors preserved within the big city. Remarkably, the city has maintained a quality golf course in an urban setting and It is refreshing to step away noise of vehicles and people. The first part of the course is relatively level, reserving dramatic changes in elevation for the last four holes. There is a diversity of holes of different lengths. There are always well-placed traps, mature trees, and water that provide obstacles to consider. Greens also vary with some large, some small, some flat, others sloped, and even a nice dome green to challenge your shot-making. The Lake House pro shop and restaurant are not fancy, but the classic construction and memorabilia are all part of the course’s historic charm. Be sure to chat with Head Pro Paul Silva. He has been there for over two decades and loves sharing information on the historic course.
