The best golf city in the US is....

[Ben Sims]

Boston??

Think about it.  Classic history with The Country Club.  Old school--and quite solid--design at Essex County, Eastward Ho!, and Myopia Hunt.  Throw in a couple other courses like Charles River, Salem, Brae Burn, Kittansett (RI). Then you add in the modern design of Old Sandwich, Black Rock, and Boston Golf Club--among others--and you've got quite a set of golf courses.

Does that grouping match the Monterrey Peninsula or Long Island?

[Jud_T]

I don't think anything can hold a candle to Long Island....

[Kevin Pallier]

Ben

I haven't been to Boston (yet) but isn't Long Island part of NYC per se and I would have thought be pretty tough to match it ?

 

[David_Tepper]

Long Island is not a city. My vote is for Philly and a 30-mile radius thereof, although I have never played any golf there!

[Carl Nichols]

You forgot the climate part

[Alex Miller]

Monterey, CA

[Ben Sims]

Kevin,

I consider Long Island to be one contiguous area, and yes, very hard to match.  But I really didn't think Boston was in this argument, with Philly, Monterrey, Chicago, and Long Island.  But upon further review, I think it is.

David,

Thanks for the geography lesson, but I still consider it a contiguous area for "golf geography".

[David_Tepper]

Ben S. -

Excuse me while I get pedantic, but, if you intended to ask about "contiguous" areas, you should have used that phrase rather than 'city."   There are towns & villages on the eastern end of Long Island, but not any "cities." Long Island is a rather large "contiguous area."

If you want to consider towns, villages and contiguous areas, Bandon, OR wins hands down.

DT

     

[Brad Fleischer]

As much as it pains me to say this I also believe Philly has to be in the conversation and from what I do know the privates are more attainable than say those on the island.

Ben

It already hurts to say Philly so you can forget about Boston !!

Turtle

[Ben Sims]

If you want to consider towns, villages and contiguous areas, Bandon, OR wins hands down.

DT

     

Nice work David.  Agreed.

Carl,

If climate is an issue, Long Island also suffers right?

All,

For those of you saying Philly, name some courses.

[mark chalfant]

Cleveland is pretty rich in quality,

Canterbury
Kirtland !!
The Country Club (Flynn)   !!
Beechmont (Thompson)  great routing
Mayfield
Shaker Heights (Ross)
Chagrin Valley


public

Sleepy Hollow  (Thompson)
Manikiiki
Fowlers Mill  (dye)

[Bill Rocco]

When I think of the philly area, Obviously the first course is Merion, but you also have, Philadelphia cc, Philadelphia cricket club, Tavistock, Aronimink GC, and even The Spinghaven Club that can hold it's own.  I was also always impressed with the public course Valleybrook as well.

[David_Tepper]

Ben -

For starters:

Pine Valley
Merion
Aronimink
Gulph Mills
Green Valley
Whitemarsh
Philadelphia Cricket
Philadelphia County Club

A complete list: http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/city.aspx?dest=philadelphia+pa

DT

[jeffwarne]

Boston??

Think about it.  Classic history with The Country Club.  Old school--and quite solid--design at Essex County, Eastward Ho!, and Myopia Hunt.  Throw in a couple other courses like Charles River, Salem, Brae Burn, Kittansett (RI). Then you add in the modern design of Old Sandwich, Black Rock, and Boston Golf Club--among others--and you've got quite a set of golf courses.

Does that grouping match the Monterrey Peninsula or Long Island?

Long island is 120 mile long, so if you count them, you'd need to count San Francisco with Monterey.
If we're counting Long Island with NYC then you'd include Westchester and new Jersey(which are way closer than eastern Long Island) and you'd have a "city" or region that couldn't be beat.

There  dozens of great courses on Long Island that never get mentioned,due to the depth of more famous,well traveled courses, and there's only so many you can see on a given trip (ex, Engineers) but again Long Island is a large region.

I'd say Boston is a great golf city as we're talking about a more  compact area, but I could easily find as many courses in one of many similar sized regions in Metro New York
Philly's a good choice too

[Alex Miller]

Everyone is saying that Long Island is the best golf city in the US, and I tend to agree that it has the best list of golf courses.

But ask me which place I'd want to spend 365 days golfing on local courses, I'd say Monterey hands down.

Have fun with that weather, I got a put on my shades. 

[Steve Salmen]

Based on the number of quality golf courses in the area divided by the number of local residents, Bandon is probably at the top.

[Ben Sims]

Jeff,

I tend to agree with your geographical assessment of San Fran needing to go with Monterrey.  I also see your point regarding Long Island being 120 miles long.  Upon further review, Essex County Club to Eastward Ho! is 116 miles.  So maybe my argument gets a bit bashed up when we start thinking geographically.

I want to say Philly is as good an area, and the Pine Valley-Merion combo sure pulls a lot of weight.  But I don't see any NEW designs on the order of Old Sandwich-Boston GC or any renovations on the order of Essex or Eastward Ho! in the Philly area.

I'm also impressed by the variety of terrain and style one can find in a 60 mile radius of Boston.  Windswept dunes, rolling hills, sandy/wooded sites; they got it all up there.

[JSlonis]

Any list for Philly must include:

Pine Valley, Merion, Aronimink, Rolling Green, Huntingdon Valley, Philly CC, Philly Cricket, Gulph Mills, Whitemarsh. There are others worthy of a mention as well.

Long Island...a city?  No.

If you wanted to expand the Philly region that large, we'd get to include Lancaster CC, Stonewall, Saucon Valley, Lehigh and then some great NJ shore courses, Galloway Nat'l & Hidden Creek. I forgot to include Wilmington CC(Del).  As for newer courses or major redesigns, you'd have to include Applebrook(new), White Manor & DuPont(redesign).

In reviewing my list above, it's amazing how many great courses were designed by or worked on by William Flynn. I know he is beloved by the Philly guys but his resume is truely remarkable.

[Steve Salmen]

I can't find the thread but some time ago, someone posted a nice, compelling argument for Columbus, Ohio and was getting beat up over it.  I don't remember his name but he listed several old and new clubs.  I'm not sure Columbus is the first place I'd run to for golf but I'd love to spend a week there.

[john_stiles]

Would agree with opinion above,  that Long Island isn't a city or metro area.

I think it is one of four metro areas

New York City metro
Philadelphia
Chicago
Boston

I think it will come down to Philly or Chicago.

Chicago has

Black Sheep
Beverly
Bob O'Link
Butler
Chicago GC
Exmoor
Flossmor (? sp)
Midlothian
Old Elm
Olympia Fields (S & N)
Ravisloe
Shoreacres

Certainly each of these areas were involved in early development of golf.

I'll let the   Philly guys weigh in against the  Chicago guys.  

Maybe you could use some sort of combination of Golfweek and Golf Digest  top courses.

All four metro areas are very deep in number and quality.

[Bob_Huntley]

I had a friend at MPCC , Ray Lugo, now deceased, who logged 339 rounds of golf on the old Shore and Dunes golf courses back in the seventies. Is there anywhere in the eastern USA that one could do that?

Bob

[Mike Cirba]

If Philadephia shows it has the chutzpah, fortitude, and collaborative brotherhood to actually restore Cobb's Creek as a tribute to its groundbreaking architectural, golfing, and sociological heritage, then it clearly wins in a landslide.

Otherwise, it's debateable, and it's likely we end up in second place...yet again.    

Speaking for myself, I'm frankly sick and tired of accepting second-best.

[Ben Sims]

John,

Thanks for the input.  But I'll ask--and hopefully you guys will oblige--not to use any rankings from magazines to justify which area or city is better.  There are much better ways to make and argument than throwing out a number. 

Long Island is the only dog in this fight that can match the variety offered by Boston courses old and new in my opinion.  I'm recently very impressed with the differing types of courses there. 

Bob,

You're correct in asserting that there is no place other than California and Florida that can be playable that much of the year.  But for God's sakes, please don't throw any areas in Florida into this dogfight.   

[Pete_Pittock]

Bandon on a per capita basis

[Bill Rocco]

Any list for Philly must include:

Pine Valley, Merion, Aronimink, Rolling Green, Huntingdon Valley, Philly CC, Philly Cricket, Gulph Mills, Whitemarsh. There are others worthy of a mention as well.

Long Island...a city?  No.

If you wanted to expand the Philly region that large, we'd get to include Lancaster CC, Stonewall, Saucon Valley, Lehigh and then some great NJ shore courses, Galloway Nat'l & Hidden Creek. I forgot to include Wilmington CC(Del).  As for newer courses or major redesigns, you'd have to include Applebrook(new), White Manor & DuPont(redesign).

In reviewing my list above, it's amazing how many great courses were designed by or worked on by William Flynn. I know he is beloved by the Philly guys but his resume is truely remarkable.

If we are going to add Galloway, and Hidden Creek, We mine as well add Metedeconk National, Riverton, and Laurel Creek