Prishtina’s public 9-hole in New York’s first capital topped my 2025

There are many benefits to having a cheap, easy public course near the house. Quick rounds at sunrise, or to beat the darkness before sunset. It rotates at spontaneous speed when an unexpected window opens. Familiarity. The community. There is no dress code.

With all this to offer, you don’t need to ask too much from the course itself. With relatively smooth greens and little fairway grass, you’re good to go.

But Golf course with acres of green in Kingston, NY, offers much more than that. For the price of a goat course, any golfer arriving at Green Acres will be treated to near-pristine conditions, a friendly and welcoming staff, a short but varied layout and, at least with autumn setting in this year, the fastest and softest greens I’ve ever putt on.

And that’s why it earns the admittedly minor honor of my favorite golf course of the year.

Green Acres Golf Course in Kingston, NY

Located a few miles from exit 19 on I-87, once you pass the green sign declaring your arrival in “Historic Kingston: New York’s First Capital” and at the end of a quiet suburban neighborhood, just off a busy business district, you’ll find a modest sign hanging on an open chain-link fence letting you know you’ve arrived.

After checking for cars coming off the gravel and dirt road, wide enough for just one vehicle, you descend what I think of as the unruly version of Kingston. Magnolia Lane.

But once you reach the end of the road, the scene changes dramatically. With your first look at the tricky-toned par-4 9th green, which ends right next to the gravel parking lot and motorhome fence, you might know you’re in for a treat.

If I were to make the 25 minute drive from my house anytime this year, I’d be guaranteed to hit the course right after stopping to pay $22 at the engine shed. Or if I arrived early to sneak in a round before work and the engine still hadn’t arrived, never mind. I just played away and paid when I was done.

While Green Acres isn’t tall, its design makes up for any length it lacks. The short par-4 2 features a sharp right leg, a pond protecting the right side and trees that partially block your view from the tee, forcing the wiser players to use an iron. The sub-300-yard par-4 6th features a tight fairway just short of the green, once again deterring all but the bravest from using the big club.

And while the par-5 holes 4 and 5 are more like long par-4s, they would be very long, very difficult par-4s. The devilish 4th green, which slopes heavily from the front left to the back right is almost impossible to hold. The smart move is to get to the back right collar as soon as possible and set up from there.

And while the 5th is dead straight, it’s small, lightning fast green will give you fits. And about those greens. My previous statement in the introduction to this story was not a case of exaggeration. These greens are QUICK.

While they’ve been quick every time I’ve played, as the season ended they went to another level. Ahead of a popular Ryder Cup-style event the course hosted this fall, the small team at Green Acres put the greens in shockingly good shape. And shockingly fast.

The fastest, I think, I’ve ever played. Again, no hyperbole. The only other time I’ve experienced greens anywhere that fast was a round a few years ago Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, CT, a private, 1929 Charles H. Banks design with idyllic stenciled holes and greens that play like an ice rink.

Even if you’re a true die-hard looking for a grueling challenge every time you tee it up, Green Acres’ par-3 7th hole will more than satisfy you. It does the opposite for most of us. That’s because the 7th is one of the hardest par-3s I’ve ever experienced.

Driving beyond 200 yards, the 7th tee is a bog that runs the length of the hole to the edge of the green. And the green, wrapped to the right completely behind the pond, is cloudy. The back of the green is elevated about five feet higher than the front, sending any and all balls heading toward the water.

So you want to save and avoid the water completely off the tee? good luck. The left side of the green is protected by deep, steep bunkers from which you have little hope of getting close. Go long and your return shot will most likely end up on the front of the green. Go right and you’re lost in a native marshland. Most of the balls end up in the water.

The best strategy may be to deliberately putt your ball in the pond, then go to the drop zone, where you will have a direct, dry, 100-yard path to the putting surface to save 4 or 5.

Beyond the smooth, clean greens, the fairways at Green Acres showed no signs of struggling from a summer of drought and the deluge of rain that followed this past fall. What the small crew is able to achieve on an admittedly small budget is nothing short of magic.

The owners have made a ton of improvements in recent years, and more changes are expected in 2026. In other words, the future is even brighter for Green Acres. It’s a pleasure to play, and I have little doubt that this time next year, it will again be my most played team of the year.