This Donald Ross gem hidden in the Catskill Mountains is $18

Our most recent trip around the sun has seen almost geological changes for me: marriage, followed by a sudden, unexpected but long-desired move from Brooklyn to the Catskill Mountains.

This move also exposed me to a vicious bite from the golf bug.

Every few years, I tend to go through a phase of golf obsession, playing every chance I get for months on end, until I inevitably burn out and let my irons gather dust. And repeat.

This time the dust cleared before my wife and I had finished hauling up the mountains of moving boxes that had formed at our new rental cottage (a task that, as of this writing, has not been fully completed). The reason? Scattered throughout the eastern Catskills, hidden in mountain valleys and hollows, are a dearth of great golf courses.

Although “big” has many definitions, the greatness here is found in natural beauty, accessibility, open spaces and affordable prices. I quickly discovered a handful of nine-hole courses within a 20-minute drive of my new home, most of which cost only $18 to play nine holes.

For my first few sessions at the beginning, I focused on Alapaha Golf Center in Kingston, NY Alapaha gave me a lot in my initial phase of rust removal. First, a quality range that is never full, where a bucket of balls only cost me $8.

It also has a short nine-hole course. While it consists mostly of par-3s, they are three full-length putters, all but one over 100 yards, and also feature three short par-4s where I could let the big dog fly (mostly cutting far right). While the course will not do Top 100 GOLF Courses Listit is in very good condition, with soft and well-cut greens. And from every hole you can see Overlook Mountain, the eastern edge of the Catskills, the same peak I can see from my neighborhood.

But the best part might be that it’s only a 15-minute drive from my house, and on a weekday morning I can run across the empty course and be back at my desk to start the work day just 90 minutes later.

After a few rounds at Alapaha, I was hungry for a regulation nine hole. Fortunately, during testing The new GOLF course finder powered by Open Links — a free, searchable mapping tool that includes nearly every course in the US — a course appeared on the nearby map that my previous search engine search failed to uncover: Rip Van Winkle Country Club in Palenville, NY The Course Finder page for “The Rip” — as it’s affectionately known — revealed another shocking truth: It was designed by the course’s architectural legend Donald Ross all the way back to 1919. Through Course Finder I also learned that despite the “CC” at the end of its name, the course was open to the public. The price to walk nine holes? 18 dollars. The game is on.

At Rip Van Winkle, players experience a feature similar to courses you find throughout the Catskills: mountain views. Now, these aren’t the giant rock pinnacles found on western roads. But, as with golf courses, the greatness of a mountain range can be measured in many ways.

While the Rockies may be much larger and more scenic, they are minor in the mountain crowd. The Appalachian Mountains, which run up the US East Coast and include the Catskills, are ancient. Really ancient, to the extent of 480,000,000 years.

The Rockies, on the other hand, are one SIMPLE 70 million years old. The mighty Himalayas, home of Mount Everest and nine of the 10 highest peaks on Earth? Only 50 million, so young that they are still growing. But geologists believe that in their youth, the Appalachians rose even higher than the Himalayas now.

But back to golf. Rip is a picturesque nine holes that stretches to 2,968 yards. When I arrived on a recent Thursday evening in early September, there were plenty of people out on the course, but not enough to prevent me from paying the small fee and walking straight to the first hole to tee off within five minutes. after putting my car in park.

I’m no expert on architecture, so I’m a poor source for relaying how much of Ross’ original vision for Rip survives 105 years later (many of the pines that line the fairways may be more new than that). What I can tell you is that the small greens, well kept and often elevated (maintained to a higher standard than I’m used to), gave me a taste of the Ross courses I’ve played in the past. So did the machines, most of which were deliberately wrong with the freeway, one of the most effective ways to turn my poor steering accuracy into a disaster wrap.

But the relaxed, collegial atmosphere was a nice change from some of the stuffy clubs that house some of Ross’s most popular courses. While I played alone, there were plenty of laughing locals in twos, threes and fours, most seemingly more focused on enjoying time with friends and family in a beautiful location than what club to use on their next shot. One group even generously offered me some moonshine (I politely declined).

While my pace of play was much slower than I was used to during my last few early morning rounds, it was still a far cry from the New York City munis where I have spent many hours and I was more than happy to slow down. and bask in the last rays of the Sun as it began to slip behind the mountains.

I am convinced that wherever you live in this great, beautiful country, the hidden gems of public golf await you. I highly recommend checking out ours new course finder to discover them yourself, along with driving distances, True Spec custom objects for clubs and links to book appointments.

And if you take the next step and download the Open Links appyou’ll get a constantly updated news feed about community events, promotions, offers, course updates, tournaments and more at golf courses in your area or where you’re going on vacation.

Kevin Cunningham

Editor of Golf.com

As managing producer for GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com and manages the brand’s e-newsletters, which reach more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A two-time former intern, he also helps make GOLF.com sound outside of the stories and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the technology team on developing new products and innovative ways to deliver engaging engagement. site for our audience.