Two of Long Island's top public golf courses known for being hard on scorecards recently earned some praise from Golf Magazine for going easy on golfers' wallets.
Bethpage State Park's Red Course and Montauk Downs both made the cut in Golf Mag's 2024 list of America's best golf courses for $100 or less, "where memorability meets affordability," as determined by Golf's course raters and editors. The list features 101 golf courses in four different regions of the country where peak-season weekend walking rates do not exceed $100. The selected courses "represent exceptional bang for the buck."
In addition to the green-fee requirement, selected courses must be open to the public and offer "the kind of golf experience you’d recommend to a friend."
Of the 19 golf courses representing the Northeast region, five are from New York State. Bethpage Red and Montauk Downs are joined by En-Joie in Endicott, Saratoga Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs and Seven Oaks in Hamilton. The Northeast has the lowest regional representation, mostly due to high costs around metropolitan areas, according to Golf editors. Approximately 40 percent of the featured courses are municipally owned. List editors praised "those public officials who understand the value and importance of funding exceptional public golf."
Bethpage Red and Montauk, of course, are fixtures on another annual list, the "Best Courses You Can Play" ranking published by Golfweek. That list highlights the best publicly accessible golf courses in all 50 states. In the 2024 Golfweek ranking, the Red Course landed at #6 with Montauk Downs one spot behind at #7.
[PICTURED: The signature par-3 12th at Montauk Downs.]
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