This pristine public 9-holer in New York’s first capital was at the top of my list for 2025

There are many benefits to having a cheap, convenient public course close to home. Quick laps at dawn, or to beat the darkness before sunset. Spontaneous speed laps when an unexpected window opens. Familiarity. Community. No dress code.

With everything you have to offer, you don’t have to ask much from the course itself. With relatively smooth greens and some grass on the fairways, you are good to go.

But Green Acres Golf Course in Kingston, NY, offers so much more than that. For the price of a goat course, every golfer who arrives at Green Acres is treated to near-impeccable conditions, friendly and accommodating staff, a short but varied layout and, at least as autumn has unfolded this year, the fastest and smoothest greens I have ever laid.

And that’s why it deserves the admittedly small 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, just past the green sign marking your arrival in ‘Historic Kingston: First Capital of New York’, and at the end of a quiet suburban neighborhood just off a busy business district, you’ll find an unassuming sign hanging from an open gate letting you know you’ve arrived.

After checking for cars leaving the gravel and dirt road that is wide enough for just one vehicle, you descend what I consider Kingston’s own rickety version of Magnolia Lane.

But once you reach the end of the road, the scene changes dramatically. With your first glance at the slinky par-4 9th green, which ends right next to the gravel parking lot and starter shed, you can tell you’re in for a treat.

If I made the 25 minute drive from my house at any time this year, I would be guaranteed to walk onto the trail after stopping to pay $22 at the starter shed. Or if I arrived early to sneak in a pre-work lap and the starter hadn’t arrived yet, it didn’t matter. I just played away and paid when I was done.

Although Green Acres is not long, the design makes up for the missing length. The short par-4 2nd has a sharp dogleg right, a pond guarding the right side and trees partially blocking your view from the tee, forcing more sensible golfers to use an iron. The fairway of a par-4 6th of less than 300 yards has a tight bottleneck, well below the green, which again discourages all but the bold from using the big stick.

And while the par-5 4th and 5th holes look more like long par-4s, they would be very long, very hard par-4s. The devilish 4th green, which slopes violently from front left to back right, is almost impossible to hold. The wise move is to get to the right rear collar as quickly as possible and go uphill from there.

And while the 5th is linear, it’s a small, lightning-fast green that will give you fits. And about that green. My earlier statement in the intro to this story was not an exaggeration. These greens are quickly.

Although they were always fast when I played, as the season came to an end they went to another level. Ahead of a popular Ryder Cup-style event the course hosted this fall, Green Acres’ small team got the greens in shockingly good condition. And shocking quickly.

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

Even if you’re a real sicko and demand a grueling challenge every time you tee off, Green Acres’ par-3 7th hole will more than please. For most of us, the opposite is true. That’s because the 7th is one of the hardest par-3s I’ve ever experienced.

The first test of the 7th, which is over 200 yards, is a pond that runs the length of the hole to the edge of the green. And that greenery, hidden far right behind the pond, is a doozy. The back of the green is about five feet higher than the front, causing all balls to roll toward the water.

So you want to jump out and avoid the water off the tee altogether? Success. The left side of the green is protected by deep, sloping bunkers, from which you have little hope of getting close. Go long and your return will most likely end up at the front of the green. Leave it well and you are lost in a swampy native area. Most balls end up in the water.

The best strategy might be to deliberately dip your ball into the pond and then head to the drop area where you have a direct, dry, 100-yard route to the putting surface to save 4 or 5.

Aside from the smooth, clean greens, Green Acres’ fairways showed no sign of battling a summer of drought and the deluge of rain that followed last fall. What the small team achieves with a certain minuscule budget is nothing short of magic.

The owners have made many upgrades in recent years and more changes are expected in 2026. In other words, the future looks even brighter for Green Acres. It’s a joy to play, and I have no doubt that this time next year it will once again be my most played course of the year.