Silver Lake Golf Course

relatively short course with narrow fairways. Generally kept in decent shape depending on the year. Parking can be difficult when there is a charity outing.
Warning: a round can easily go over 5 hours here

I was very impressed by Silver Lake Golf Course
I have not played here in about 5 years
They have made several improvements to the course.
The greens, fairways and tee boxes are in excellent shape.
The course is tight and long on several holes.
If your driver is not behaving it could turn out to be a long day. Many holes are tree lined and if you are off the fairway there is a good chance you will be under the trees.
The cart girl was visible thru the round.
2 drawbacks, no practice range and many holes are right beside each other, there are many moments where balls are coming over your head.
There is a bar, outdoor café and restaurant.
Overall good experience

If you like 6 hour rounds with balls flying at you from all directions, 20 min waits on each hole, and no rangers to speed up play, then this is the course for you! Easily one of the worst golf experiences I’ve ever encountered.
A complete ‘Hacker’s Paradise.’ I’m no pro. I shoot around 88 – 90. But, after a 3 hour front nine, we couldn’t take any more and bailed. Even though I shot a 40 on the front, the brutal waits and horrendous course management made us vow never to return.
A complete waste of time.

I had a similar experience to the reviews below so I’ve been meaning to write my own experience
The course was fine for a «working man’s» country club. I remember calling them to book and inquired about different time slots from 8am to 9am and all were available. I ended up taking the 8am slot thinking it should be a relaxing day as the other time slots before and after me weren’t taken yet. Keep in mind I booked this near the end of the day. I show up the next day for my Tee Time sharp and guess what, there was already a half dozen golf carts lined up. I’m beginning to suspect they overbook time slots and just tell you all times are available. Also when we walked up to the golf carts to load up we had a staff member run over to us «whoa whoa whoa what are you guys doing?» Confused we said we had an 8am tee time and we’re loading up the cart. They asked us what were we loading up the cart to do? Confused we just said… to play golf? He looked at us very suspiciously and escorted us back to the front office from where we came. The nice lady at the front desk confirmed we had that time slot and that we were fully paid up. The staff member mumbled something and walked away. We then headed out and loaded up the cart without hassle. We waited in line till about 8:40 before we got to start. Around the 7^th hole we did start to notice things thinning out, there weren’t any golf carts ahead of us or behind us so we thought things were good now.
Half way through the 7^th hole, a staff member drove up to us and told us we were holding up an entire line of carts behind us. We looked back and didn’t see anyone waiting at the tee off, not a cart in sight. We responded by saying we didn’t want to rush and anyone coming up behind us can play through if they wanted. The staff member just told us to «speed it up» and then drove off. Not 30 seconds later another staff member shows up and basically told us we were too slow and to pick up the ball and head to the 9^th hole. We kept pointing out there’s no one behind us but they just kept repeating the same mantra «speed it up, you’re backing everyone up». So we picked up and headed over to the 9^th hole completely skipping the 8^th, keep in mind as we’re driving through we passed one group finishing up on the 8^th, but no one was rushing them. The staff member followed us to the 9^th hole where we had to wait for one group ahead of us. Then they basically sat there waiting and watched us tee off, and then once again repeated «ok, speed things up» and then drove off. And of course by then time we were on the 9^th hole green we looked back, and once again no one behind us.
I would like to point out the following coincidences in this story, we coincidentally happen to be a group of 2 Asians, and 2 Black guys. We are coincidentally dressed properly according to their dress code. The group we passed on the 8^th coincidentally was all white. Racial profiling? Maybe just a coincidence. However I’m going to coincidentally avoid this place in the future.
This review still gets 2 stars because during all this waiting, the beer cart did roll by and parked next to us and the beer girl was very friendly and nice. And also the staff members that harassed us had that perfect jersey Sopranos mob accent.

The golf course itself is great and improved drastically compared to over the years. The fairways are lush and the greens roll true compared to most other courses in the city. The food however (Veranda), seemed to take a nose dive compared to before. Stick to bottled beer, you can’t go wrong.
Most of the staff is friendly with the exception of a few. The heavy set man who looks like Rob Ryan seems to always give crap or give you that look when you check in with either EZ Links or golf now discount. If you have a problem with people playing golf under discounts, don’t do business with golf tee time sites in the first place. A good amount of golfers have families to support as well as other priorities that come before golf. We all don’t work on a golf course to play golf for free or for almost nothing.
More than a few times there’s always this middle age woman who seems to go bezerk on either the staff or customers themselves. From those times she kept reiterating that she’s the boss and owner and she can do and talk to people however she wants. If you truly are the owner, learn some people skills. Unless you inherited the business, how in the world did a disgruntled female like you end up running a golf course in the first place? Its no wonder why La Tourette always sells more tee times.

Silver Lake is a nice little course. I took a long weekend to go explore some of the muni courses in the NYC area and found this place to be one of the better ones. The course was in pretty good shape tee to green and it provides a decent challenge to the intermediate golfer. Lots of significant elevation changes and some blind tee shots.
Overall, the value is right for the greens fee and I found the pace of play to be good. It’s too bad that a few other reviewers had a bad experience. I guess it can happen anywhere on a given day, but in my experience there wasn’t anything to suggest that this was common at this course.
My only gripe is that there is no driving range for warming up (which I knew of ahead of time) and the practice green is a bit lacking. The good thing is that the course starts off with a couple of short par 4s then a par 3, so you don’t need to pull driver until the 4^th anyway. Staff was friendly too.

The actual course itself is not the reason for my low rating. The grounds were fairly maintained besides a very dirty lake (which you should avoid anyway), and some swamp land in the middle of two fairways (i think they may have a draining issue).
The reason for the low rating is because they overbooked their course then they want to rush you through your round of golf. I’m a very laid back golfer, just looking for a good time with friends. I don’t mind waiting if the course is moving slowly. This allows me more time to socialize with my foursome. So we found ourselves waiting for the pair in front of us after every ball we hit. No problem. However, on the 8^th hole we decided to take our time since we would end of waiting anyway. After we tee off and set up for our approach, the ranger comes up to us and says do you know their is a hole in between you and the guys in front of you. We respond by saying we’ve been waiting to hit all day till this hole. He instructs us to pick up the hole and go to the ninth. We agree to do so. When we pull up to the 9^th tee box, the pair in front of us are in the middle of the fairway, so we have to wait again. We refused to let this ruin our round, so we waited and played the whole. When getting ready to WALK on the green, the ranger approaches my buddy and says, «we heard you guys have been driving on the greens.» We tell him that we have not, and we know proper golf etiquette. We even obeyed the 90 degree rule that was in effect for the most part. At this point we started feeling harassed. We started rushing our shots and had to make sure we didn’t break kill any birds. I believe this all could have been resolved if they didn’t over book their morning.
I don’t want to be known just as a complainer, so I will say what this golf course does well. The cart girl came around regularly, and domestic beer is only $ 4. I had no complaints with that.

The good:
The layout of each hole varies enough to keep things interesting. The course is decently maintained. The price was affordable. It was easy to get a tee time. The atmosphere is pretty casual. There’s a cart that comes around with reasonably priced beers ($ 4 a can for Bud).
The bad:
I think they book tee times too tightly together. Which is okay — I’m there to enjoy myself and don’t mind waiting.
That being said, they really pissed me off on the eighth hole… One of the staff drove up to our group and started breaking our balls about how there were two empty holes in front of us, and how we were holding up the whole course. I was shocked by this, since we had been right behind a pair up until a few minutes before, and could clearly see only one pair waiting to tee off behind us (and who were far enough away that they could have hit off if they wanted to).
This was our first day out, so yes, we were rusty and were taking a few more strokes than the average Joe — so we apologized and said we would speed it up, or would be happy to let the pair behind us play through.
That staff member leaves, and thirty-​seconds later another one drives up to us and starts breaking our balls all over again. We try to explain to him that we just talked to someone a few seconds before, but he shuts us down and says that he wants us to pick up our balls and to move to the ninth hole to clear up the «congestion» behind us. Seriously?
Not wanting to get into a big argument, we bit our tongues and did as was requested.
Imagine our surprise when we round the bend, and the pair in front of us is smack in the middle of ninth. Meaning, we had our game disrupted just to move up and wait for someone else.
So we’re sitting there chatting killing time, when the same staff member drives up and starts breaking our balls about driving the carts on the course. Like, not on the greens, but on the fairway. He says the carts have to stay on the path. This is despite the fact that there was no signage anywhere that said that — and every other person there was driving on the course as well.
Again, we don’t want to be confrontational — and assume we must have missed a sign or something, so we apologize and say we’ll be sure to stay on the path.
We move along a few more holes, and the same guy comes driving up to me again. He starts asking me whether we’ve been driving our carts on the greens. I said, no, sir we have not. That we understand golf course etiquette and know that would cause significant damage to the course, and that regardless we’ve stayed on the paths since we talked to him earlier. He continues to give me a hard time, saying «someone» saw us driving on the greens. Again, I politely say we have not. He reiterates that we’re to stay on the path, and to not drive on the greens. I say okay and walk away.
So long story, but we felt really harassed by this guy. He shorted us a hole and screwed up our score on the first nine, and was just generally a jerk.
Not sure what we did to rub him the wrong way, but I sure wasn’t expecting that level of attitude from a course that calls itself «the working man’s country club».
I won’t say that I’ll never go back, but it sure as heck won’t be my first choice.

Silver Lake Golf Course bills itself as the «working man’s country club» and that pretty much sums it up. It’s a well-​kept, well run, public course. Play back 9 nearly every weekend, 18 when there’s time. It’s a challenging course, narrow fairways in several spots, water a factor at holes 5, 10 and 11, 14 and 16, but few bunkers. Only one par 5. The owner does a great job tweaking the course. Club house super friendly, good food, more than reasonable prices. You can spend more money. Don’t know if you will find a better value.

Never would guess it is a city course (I believe it is?). Well maintained and pretty setting. Not a long course but has its challenges. Lot of right fairways and hills. Greens were fast and rolled well. I was very impressed with the overall condition.
You do need to be careful though, lot of fairways cross cross and there were some stray balls flying around. Obviously they had to work with limited space but it does make for a bit of danger. Took about 5 hours to get around, guess you can’t avoid that around here, but definitely a good option if you don’t mind driving to Staten Island.

I took some photos for the Silver Lake Golf Course for work a few years back. Probably one of the best golf courses in NYC. Well maintained, lots of turns, hills, and valleys… and a decent clubhouse to boot.
In addition, there is a vineyard here that they use to make their own wine! I forget their dogs name but he is probably the coolest dog I’ve ever encountered. He rode with us throughout the golf course and actually posed in pictures. Very, very friendly ownership group here.

This has become my go-​to spot for late golf on the weekends. Its a fast drive from Williamsburg Brooklyn and after 4:00PM the price drops from $ 39 to $ 26 for 18 holes! The course isn’t perfect, but is a very pretty break from the city and is fairly challenging. Not too many sand traps but a lot of water features and holes you have to hit over water which are always fun.
They have a beer/​snack cart that goes around for a reasonable price and everything is pretty relaxed. Its a pretty club but it doesn’t feel very stuck up, mostly just normal people playing a bit of golf. Haven’t tried their clubhouse restaurant but likely will someday.

The course is in great shape!!! Kudos to the groundkeepers. They have to move a little faster in the clubhouse, it shouldnt take 15 minutes for a hot dog at the turn! FORE

I scored a great deal in the middle of the week — $ 30 for 18 holes with a cart and just a quick trip over the bridge from Brooklyn. The course is nothing spectacular, but I agree with the other Unilocalers who’ve said the tee boxes and greens are kept well enough that you can fulfill your golfing needs without venturing too far into NJ. I’ll definitely be back.

I’ve played here twice now and it’s the most convenient to get to via public transportation from lower Manhattan. It’s a ferry ride over and then the ⁶¹⁄₆₂ bus for about 10minutes. The bus itself is accessible within the ferry terminal waiting area, just have to walk to the end terminal. The course itself plays pretty quickly and is pretty tight in some spots. It offers good greens and decent tee boxes. The markers are a bit spotty to track down but not overly hard to judge. The price is right if you get a tee time through the site; I paid $ 43 with a cart midday sat which is a great deal. For those that live in lower Manhattan, this is the place to practice that short game and shot shaping.

Okay, so I know what you are thinking… Staten Island, right? At least that is what I was thinking the first time I booked a tee time here on a Friday morning. I have since returned again, this time a Saturday. This place is legit.
I booked a time here on a recommendation from a coworker that resides in Staten Island. I, being from the NYC metro area, but on the other side of the river in NJ, wanted to try something new. I’ve always thought that great golf courses had to be about 30 miles west of NYC, and usually the further west, the better. I was wrong.
This place is solid and convenient if you live in the Hoboken/​Jersey City area. It’s a 15 – 20 min car ride tops. The first Friday, we hit traffic on I-​278 so beware (add 10min). Today, Saturday, it was a breeze to get here. Either way, one of the closest, quality courses that you can play in the vicinity. One of the guys that joined us lives in Manhattan. He took mass transit from the LES to get here so very accessible from all local origins.
The course is somewhat short, but if you think you are Tiger, you can play from the tips, which play very long and make for a much more challenging round than the blues. I’ve played a lot of courses where there is not much difference between the blues and the tips. This is not one of them. The fairways are well groomed and have several dog legs in both directions. There is a decent amount of water that comes into play, and you definitely cannot hit the driver on every par 4. The par 3s are a combination of short 110 yards, and long 215 yards. The course will definitely make you use every club in your bag. The course lacks ample sand, which is fine by me. It’s also a little bit tight so you need to pay attention when someone shouts, «FORE!!»
The greens are very true. On my first visit, they had just air raided them, so it was not as enjoyable as it could be, but let’s be honest, it’s been extremely dry so far this season. A member of the staff told me to come back two weeks later, so I did. Unbelievable what a difference two weeks makes! The greens were extremely true, and not to mention, challenging. There were several multiple break shots that could keep you guessing for days. A twenty foot putt definitely leaves you feeling very satisfied.
The price is reasonable, $ 70 on weekends with cart (you must leave a $ 10 deposit which you can leave on the card and receive cash when you return the key). The biggest compliment I can pay to this place is the people. Everyone is really friendly, both the staff as well as the people that play here. You don’t have any d bags hitting up on you or taking twenty minutes searching the woods for a ball that belongs on a 1980’s milk carton. It was a pleasant change of pace from Bergen County. Their golf courses should give out free anger management classes with every round… just sayin.
Bottom line, pay the $ 10 (NJ residents), cross the Bayonne Bridge, and play a solid, enjoyable round of golf. You will not be disappointed, I will promise you that. 4 stars is the highest rating I’ve given so far. I will be back here very soon.

Just played 18 today. The round took almost 5 ½ hours to finish. I knew the course would be full given it was great weather on a Saturday, but wow, this was slow. The greens were sandy, bumpy and slow. The fairways were very firm. Narrow fairways so be on the lookout for errant drives. Everyone was very friendly though — a comfortable place to play a round of golf.