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

Our most recent trip around the sun saw an almost geologic transition for me: a wedding, followed by a sudden, unexpected but long-desired move from Brooklyn to the Catskill Mountains.

That move also exposed me to another golf bug.

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

This time the dust was removed before my wife and I finished assembling the moving mountains that built our new rental house (a job that is still not completely finished). The reason? Spread throughout the eastern Catskills, hidden in mountain valleys and hollows, is a lack of great golf courses.

While “great” has many meanings, greatness here is found in natural beauty, accessibility, open tee sheets and affordable prices. I quickly found several nine-hole courses within a 20-minute drive of my new home, many costing just $18 for nine holes.

In my first few sessions back on the machine, I focused on the Alapaha Golf Center in Kingston, NY Alapaha gave me a lot in my first round of rust cleaning. First, a quality driving range, that never gets crowded, where a bucket of balls only ran me $8.

It also has a short nine-hole course. Although most are made up of par-3s, they are full-length threes, all but one over 100 yards, and include three short par-4s where I can let the big dog fly (especially the cut). Although the course will not make the top 100 golf course list, it is maintained in good condition, with smooth, well-cut greens. And across the holes you can see Overlook Mountain, the eastern part of the Catskills, the same peak I see in my area.

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

After several rounds at Alapaha, I was hungry for a regulation nine-holer. Fortunately, when I checked out GOLF’s new Course Finder powered by Open Links — a free, searchable mapping tool that covers nearly every course in the US — a course popped up on the map that my previous search engine research had failed to turn up: Rip Van Winkle Country Club at -Palenville, NY The Course Finder page for “the Rip” – as it’s affectionately known – revealed another shocking fact: it was designed by architect Donald Ross in 1919. Through Course Finder I learned too. that despite the “CC” at the end of its name, the course was open to the public. The price of going nine holes? $18. The game is open.

At Rip Van Winkle, players experience the same feature that courses you find throughout the Catskills: mountain views. Now, these are not the great peaks of the Rockies that are found approaching on courses to the West. But, as with golf courses, the size of mountains can be measured in many ways.

Although the Rockies may be bigger and more spectacular, they are the children of the mountain crowd. The Appalachian Mountains, which run up the East Coast of the US, and include the Catskills, are ancient. It was really old, up to 480,000,000 years old.

The Rockies, on the other hand, a just 70 million years. The mighty Himalayas, home of Mount Everest and nine of the world’s 10 highest peaks? There are only 50 million, they are still so young and still growing. But geologists believe that back in their youth, the Appalachians expanded beyond what the Himalayas are now.

But back to golf. Rip is a scenic nine-holer that measures 2,968 yards. When I arrived on a recent Thursday evening in early September, there were a lot of people on the course, but not enough to stop me from paying a small fee and walking straight to the first hole to start within five minutes of dropping off my car. in the park.

I’m not an architectural expert, so I’m a poor source for conveying how much of Ross’s original vision of the Rip has survived 105 years later (most of the pine trees lining the fairway would be smaller than that). What I can tell you is that the young greens, well tended and often grown (kept at a higher standard than I’m used to), gave me the spirit of the Ross courses I’ve played in the past. So did the tees, most of which were purposely misaligned with the fairway, one of the most effective ways to turn my driving accuracy into the joy of disaster.

But the relaxed, collegiate atmosphere was a nice change from the more established clubs that featured some of Ross’ most notable subjects. While I was playing alone, there were twos, threesomes and foursomes of laughing locals, most of whom seemed more focused on enjoying time with friends and family in a beautiful setting than a club they could use for their next shot. One group even offered me a swig of moonshine (I politely declined).

Although my playing pace was slower than I was used to during my recent morning rounds, it was still a far cry from the New York City munis I’ve spent hours on, and I was more than happy to slow down. and soaked in the last rays of the sun as it begins to slip behind the mountains.

I sincerely hope that no matter where you live in this great, beautiful country, hidden public golf treasures await. I highly recommend you check out our new Course Finder tool to find it for yourself, along with driving range, True Spec services for custom club fitting and tee times booking links.

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

Kevin Cunningham

Golf.com Editor

As executive producer of GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com, and manages the brand’s e-newsletter, which reaches more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A two-time alumni, he also helps keep GOLF.com buzzing with breaking news and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the technology team to develop new products and new ways to deliver engagement. site to our audience.