The Worst Golf City in The USA

[Nick Campanelli]

Hartford, CT.....not to be confused with Wethersfield or West Hartford.

Keney Park is the only golf course in the City, and shootings seems to be more regular than birdies, and probably pars...

[Lester George]

Just got back from New Orleans and it is pretty bad.

Lester

[Tim Leahy]

I've heard that Nashville it the pits.

I lived in Sacramento for a few years, and within 40 miles of town the public and private golf isn't so great. 

I live in Sacto now and believe me it is far better than Los Angeles when it comes to public golf. The conditioning in Sacto is ten times better than the LA courses and it takes far less time to play on a weekend or holiday than in LA. I would give Ancil Hoffman or Mather a higher rating than anything with forty miles of LA.
(It's 47 miles from LA to Rustic so that doesn't count.)

[Alex Miller]

And I live in LA and spent time in Nashville and can say confidently that L.A. has the worst options when it comes to public golf. The conditioning is not very good for some reason and it has so few courses that no matter where you go you will get 5.5+ hour rounds and green fees which are 50% higher than what they should be. The best courses for value I can think of in L.A. are Rancho and Los Verdes (which is not really in L.A.), unfortunately those are 2 of the 3 most played courses in the country (the other is Alawai).

If you want to golf in L.A., you better know some people with memberships

[Kalen Braley]

I agree with the earlier sentiments about San Diego....and its a darn shame cause I would really really love to move there, but affordable quality public golf is very very slim.

You can throw LA sort of it in that same boat too with the aforementioned 6 hr rounds not exactly adding to the experience.

[PCCraig]

St. Louis has a handful of really good privates, but few decent publics...and that's in an area with a decent climate and a good amount of golfers. Maybe an honorable mention?

However New Orleans is probably worse.

[Sam Morrow]

The thread about best golf cities in America got me thinking, what is the worst golf city in America? I think my hometown of Houston has a chance to be in the running.

Mark,
I always liked playing Glennwood Park when I lived down in Houston.  It has a great old style feel to it and it had a number of very difficult holes with tricky greens as well! 

Mark

You mean Glenbrook? Super short course.

[Sam Morrow]

Savannah, GA?  Look at the quality of golf in the nearby coastal cities and then look at Savannah.  It's too bad Krewe Island is not a real course.

The amount of earth moved at Krewe Island was impressive for that time period.

[JNC Lyon]

Savannah, GA?  Look at the quality of golf in the nearby coastal cities and then look at Savannah.  It's too bad Krewe Island is not a real course.

The amount of earth moved at Krewe Island was impressive for that time period.

I think that's why they ran out of money and had to play that match as a fundraiser.

[Sam Morrow]

Savannah, GA?  Look at the quality of golf in the nearby coastal cities and then look at Savannah.  It's too bad Krewe Island is not a real course.

The amount of earth moved at Krewe Island was impressive for that time period.

I think that's why they ran out of money and had to play that match as a fundraiser.

That makes perfect sense, it did a lot for Depression era Savannah.

[Steve Lang]

  Sam, why so much love for Houston?  One can go 0-40 miles any direction and find many decent golf experiences.. just because not much in the classic sense was built in the mosquito swamps and rice colonies 30-40 years before air conditioning, isn't reason to trash H town

[mike_beene]

The invention of full chord grips changed Houston golf forever.

[Sam Morrow]

Sam, why so much love for Houston?  One can go 0-40 miles any direction and find many decent golf experiences.. just because not much in the classic sense was built in the mosquito swamps and rice colonies 30-40 years before air conditioning, isn't reason to trash H town

  The problem is that 88.7% of Houston golf courses look the exact same. Houses on both sides, a bayou running through the property, and flat, unimaginative holes where the only feature is a poorly placed pond.

[Dan Herrmann]

Hate to say it, being raised there, but Buffalo isn't all that great.  When I lived there, the best public golf was to be found on the west side of the Niagara River in Southern Ontario up toward Toronto.   Other than Country Club of Buffalo, Park, and Niagara Falls CC (home of the Porter Cup), I'm not sure if the private scene is all that great either.   

Buffalo golf is certainly is a poor 2nd place when compared to the smaller Rochester, only 70 miles to the east.

[Casey Wade]

In reading Sam's question.  This is not just solely about public golf.  When you include privates, Houston has a plethora of average to below average golf courses.  With that said, there are many great clubs because it is what you make of it.

[Sam Morrow]

In reading Sam's question.  This is not just solely about public golf.  When you include privates, Houston has a plethora of average to below average golf courses.  With that said, there are many great clubs because it is what you make of it.

Are you talking about Hearthstone? Which by the way has houses lining the fairways, a bayou running through it, and flat unimaginative holes where the only features are poorly placed ponds and that abortion of a bunker Ray put on #1 Horsepen.

[JNC Lyon]

Hate to say it, being raised there, but Buffalo isn't all that great.  When I lived there, the best public golf was to be found on the west side of the Niagara River in Southern Ontario up toward Toronto.   Other than Country Club of Buffalo, Park, and Niagara Falls CC (home of the Porter Cup), I'm not sure if the private scene is all that great either.   

Buffalo golf is certainly is a poor 2nd place when compared to the smaller Rochester, only 70 miles to the east.

CRAG BURN! CRAG BURN!

Sorry, but you cannot discuss Buffalo golf without discussing this RTJ gem.  I agree, though, Buffalo golf is nothing compared to Rochester-area golf on both the public and private side.  Is the quality of golf in a city indicative of the sustainable wealth that exists in and around the city?

[Carl Nichols]

Hartford, CT.....not to be confused with Wethersfield or West Hartford.

Keney Park is the only golf course in the City, and shootings seems to be more regular than birdies, and probably pars...

You could say something similar about a lot of cities, if you're limiting yourself to the city limits.  But if you think about courses within a 30-minute drive of downtown Hartford, I think it's quite solid -- *lots* of very decent public golf and a bunch of solid private courses.  The one thing it definitely doesn't have, however, is a truly top-tier course. 

[Nick Asbrock]

Not sure if you would consider it the worst but San Diego was a let down, great city, perfect climate, but the golf falls short

1 hour north of San Diego (temecula area) has a good collection of public courses.

[Dan Herrmann]

JNC - you're absolutely right about Crag Burn...  Ok - that's 4 good privates, not a lot for a metro area of Buffalo's size.

[Joshua Pettit]

Not sure if you would consider it the worst but San Diego was a let down, great city, perfect climate, but the golf falls short

If you just consider major metropolitan areas, San Diego certainly has to be last on the list.  This seems wrong to me, especially considering its potential based on its climatic and geographic properties, so I began to contemplate why this is the case...  

Golf aside, San Diego also has to be one of the most architecturally lacking major cities.  I attribute this to the scope and rate of development over the past 30 years.  I don't think any other metropolitan area in The United States has expanded at such a rapid pace.  Hence the abundance of poor to mediocre golf courses.

[Alex Miller]

Can we agree that as a region coastal Southern California sucks for public golf?

Why the hell do I live here? 

[Tim Leahy]

Can we agree that as a region coastal Southern California sucks for public golf?

Why the hell do I live here? 

The great year round golf weather and the chicks!

[Mike Benham]

 I would give Ancil Hoffman or Mather a higher rating than anything with forty miles of LA.

Ancil Hoffman is not in Sacramento, it's in Carmichael ... and it once took me 6 hours to play a weekend round there ...

[Jeff_Brauer]

Hate to say it, being raised there, but Buffalo isn't all that great. 

Worst golf city is one contest where I want Buffalo to finally beat Dallas at something....