Welcome to Rochester, New York, arguably
one of the
greatest golf towns in
the country.
Home to famed
Oak Hill Country
Club,
Rochester has hosted the
PGA Championship (3 times), U.S. Open (3
Times), a
Ryder Cup, the U.S.
Senior Open, U.S. Amateur (2 times), and the
U.S.
Senior Open.
The region is also home to a major on the LPGA
Tour –
the Wegmans LPGA
Championship, which is switching venues to
Monroe Golf
Club after being at
nearby Locust Hill For years. Monroe has been
host to
the Monroe Invitational,
a prestigious amateur event since 1937.
Shadow
Lake |
Rochester is also the home of the Country Club
of
Rochester, which is where
Walter Hagen learned the game and resided as
a pro,
and Sam Urzetta (who
won the 1950 US Amateur) would also call CCR
home
before becoming the
club's longstanding pro.
Rochester is home to five Donald Ross-
designed golf
courses -- each very
unique in its own way – and home to the first
Robert
Trent Jones designed
course, Midvale Country Club.
Durand-
Eastman Park
|
All the courses mentioned above are some of
the
private gems that Rochester
has to offer, but there are also 64 public
courses in the
region. Chances are,
you are here for business and may find an
invitation to
one of these courses
very difficult. Or perhaps you are just looking
for some
fun around town and
switch up your normal course. Below you will
find my
guide to golf in
Rochester, New York:
Best Places to Play on a Budget:
Shadow Lake:
Located right
outside of Rochester, in
Penfield, is an awesome gem called Shadow
Lake. The
course is very fair and
playable with reachable par 5s and a downhill
par 3
located on the course's
signature pond. The 19th hole is arguably the
best in
Rochester.
Blue Heron Hills
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Durand Eastman: A
city-owned
park course located on
Lake Ontario, Durand has some fantastic
terrain
changes and offers great
views. The course has some of the best holes
in
Rochester and is one of the
older courses in Rochester with a very rich
history.
Courses offering the Most Value:
Blue Heron Hills: A
former private course, recently moved
to semi-private about 25 minutes from
downtown
Rochester, this course
meanders its way through marsh land offering
some
very challenging holes. A
former host course for exhibition skins games
which
featured Jeff Sluman, Joey
Sindelar, Davis Love III, and Greg Norman,
many
different types of holes will
test every club in your bag at Blue Heron Hills.
Mill Creek
Golf Club |
Mill Creek Golf Club: A newer
course
on the
scene in Rochester, but
you wouldn’t know it from playing it. The
clubhouse
sits on the tallest part of
the property, offering some fantastic views of
the farm
-rich area. Golden
fescue lines a lot of this course, giving some
great
links-style feels. Quite a
few risk reward holes make this a very fun
course,
which consistently has some
of the best greens of any course in Rochester.
Must Play Courses:
Bristol Harbour Golf Course:
Located in
the heart of Finger
Lakes Wine Country, Bristol Harbour is a 1972
Robert
Trent Jones
design.
Bristol
Harbour
|
It's about a
45
minute drive from Rochester, but well worth it
once you
get there. Sitting
right next to Canandaigua Lake, you will have
some of
the greatest views in
the area. The course is challenging, especially
the
back nine. Don’t forget to
stay for dinner on the back porch and enjoy
breathtaking views of Canandaigua
Lake.
Ravenwood: Host to two New York
State
Amateurs, Ravenwood is a
fantastic golf course located just south of
Rochester in
Victor. The course has
a links-type design to it, with some great
signature
holes. The 3rd hole will
make you feel like you are standing on 18 at
TPC
Sawgrass with a huge pond
hugging the entire left side of the hole.
Ravenwood
was on the list for 2003
Best New Courses by Golf Digest.
Ravenwood Golf
Club |