By Bill Fields
Rich Mueller, director of golf at Columbia University, was introduced to the distinct character – and challenges – of collegiate golf around New York City a long time ago.
His education began in 1995 as a freshman at New York University, whose main campus is in Greenwich Village. “My favorite memory of being an NYU golfer is taking the Coast Guard ferry across New York Harbor to Governers Island for my very first practice,” Mueller says. “What a fun, cool experience that was.”
A par-30 nine-hole design that wrapped around Fort Jay and featured stunning views of the Manhattan skyline, the Governors Island Golf Course didn’t endure through Mueller’s four years at NYU.
But colleges in the Met Area – whether in urban or suburban locations – still must get creative to secure sites for golf teams to hone their games.
“The biggest challenge for a coach in the New York City area is finding a place for your players,” says Phil Wildermuth, who is in his fourth year guiding the St. John’s University men. “As coaches, our No. 1 responsibility is to give our players the resources to improve. I take that very seriously, and I’m sure other coaches feel the same.”
Mueller has been fielding the same queries throughout his two decades at Columbia. “The first questions I’m asked are, ‘Where do we play?’ and ‘How do we get there?’” he says. “But really, there’s no shortage of amazing places.”
Despite the presence of numerous top-level courses – including venues such as Winged Foot and Shinnecock Hills, which have hosted multiple major championships – for most college golf programs in the Met Area, everything is an “away game” in the strictest sense.
Arrangements for practicing and playing can range from informal to formal, access greenlighted by a starter’s wave or an athletic director’s signature. Benevolent professionals and altruistic alums alike play important roles in ensuring young people can chase their dreams.
“We essentially rely on the generosity of pros,” says Ben Belfield, in his seventh year at Long Island University in Brookville, N.Y. “Some are slightly more generous to us than others. Piping Rock, Engineers, and Nassau Country Club are the three courses we probably play the most. But we’ve been about everywhere over the last few years: Sebonack, Maidstone, Rockaway Hunt, Fenway, Tamarack. Often, it’s through the pro, but sometimes because of a member alum.”
The backgrounds of coaches with deep roots in the region, such as Fordham University’s Gary Murphy, pro emeritus at Innis Arden Golf Club in Old Greenwich, Conn., where he spent three decades, are crucial.
“I have a lot of connections and rely on them,” says Murphy, who has been at the Bronx college since 2023. “After so many years around here, I know a lot of guys from playing events when we were young bucks, and they’re very good about helping me and the team. It’s all about reaching out.”
A notable exception to the prevailing reality is Sacred Heart University, which in 2005 purchased Great River Golf Club, an 11-mile drive from the school’s Fairfield, Conn., campus. And ownership of that course on the Housatonic River comes with privileges.
“It’s been great, and we really appreciate what we have,” says Matt McGreevy, head coach of the Pioneers men’s and women’s teams. “The continuity provided by the university having the course is tremendous. We know we always have a place to go. We’re not chasing tee times at different courses. It’s been a real boost to consistent practice times. Our players can store their clubs there instead of in their rooms or in their cars.”
McGreevy’s counterpart, Doug Holub of Fairfield University, which is a fellow member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, is faced with doing the more typical coaching dance for his men’s and women’s teams. “My goal is to have somewhere for them to play or practice every single day,” Holub says. “And figuring that out can be the hardest thing for golf coaches in this part of the country. There definitely is some juggling and creativity involved.”
Venerable Brooklawn Country Club, designed by A.W. Tillinghast, in Fairfield, Conn., is home base for the Stags, where they obtain tee times a couple of days a week. “We’ll stagger it – say, two groups at 11 o’clock and another group at 3 o’clock. Our kids are aware we don’t own a course – we’re borrowing it and we need to obey the rules. Good etiquette is essential.”
If Holub’s charges aren’t at Brooklawn, they utilize other nearby facilities, including municipal courses Smith Richardson, Fairchild Wheeler, and Tashua Knolls. Fairfield’s Carl Dickman Par 3 is a convenient option when the days shorten in the fall. Country Club of Fairfield often is welcoming on Mondays unless the prestigious venue has a scheduled outing. “I never want a kid texting me that there is nowhere to go on a given day,” Holub says.
Sean Burke, who oversees the men’s and women’s programs at Iona University in New Rochelle, N.Y., has seen the Gaels golfers benefit from more formalized weekday visits to three clubs: Wykagyl, Siwanoy, and Saint Andrews. “In the last 10 years we’ve gone from really no home course and just begging and pleading everywhere to our president and athletic director making arrangements, so we have a little more consistent access,” Burke says. “We’re in a much different spot.”
An example of the progress: In late October, the Iona men hosted their first true home event, the Wykagyl Collegiate, with a field of a dozen regional programs. The 54-hole event went down to the final hole with Rhode Island edging Long Island University by a single stroke.
A month earlier, it was the Columbia men hosting an inaugural tournament, the Metropolis Intercollegiate at Metropolis Country Club in White Plains, N.Y. Fifteen teams competed in what Mueller hopes will be an important addition to the Met Area collegiate scene over the coming decade. “We want to try to host a premier event with any club that wants to showcase its facility and wants to partner with Columbia,” Mueller says.
Nearly 15 years ago, the Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Westchester County – the oldest continuously operating golf club in the United States, which dates to 188 –—started doing its part to help 21st-century golfers. Saint Andrew’s became the home for the St. John’s women’s golfers, who are coached by Ambry Bishop-Santillo, a longtime assistant professional at the club.
“We’re so fortunate to play and practice there,” says Bishop-Santillo, in her 22nd season as head coach of the Red Storm women. “Being there consistently takes away the big challenge for golf programs in the New York City area. The membership has been very supportive of us.”
Mike Diffley, longtime head professional at Pelham Country Club in Pelham Manor, N.Y., has lived the life of a Met Area collegian. He starred for St. John’s in the early 1980s, winning the Big East individual title in 1981, and is a member of the school’s athletic hall of fame. “In my day, we went to Rockville Links, Garden City Country Club, and Garden City Golf Club,” he says. “Our standby was Bethpage – there was a clipboard in the window. We’d sign in and never pay.”
Diffley has done his part over the years to subsequent generations, welcoming not only his alma mater. “I love the kids, and we make the kids feel welcome. Fordham comes. Iona comes. Columbia comes. If a coach is polite and asks the right way, it’s not a problem. Most of the play is in the spring, when the club is not that busy. The default answer is yes, unless there is a special reason not to. We want to give back. It’s just not a big deal to get two foursomes out. The members like having them out because the kids are super behaved and polite. We’ve got nine spots on our range. If seven college kids are there, that’s not good. They know. They spread out. They go work on their short game.”
Says Wildermuth of St. John’s: “The members have been incredible to us. I can’t thank them enough.”
Weekdays, not far away from Pelham Country Club, at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point in the shadow of the Whitestone Bridge, you can sometimes find some of the area’s collegians working on their games weekdays through the facility’s Competitive Player Practice Program. “It’s usually from 4 to 6 o’clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” says general manager Brian Crowell, PGA. “They have unlimited use of the range, the short-game area, and the putting green. We’re a high-end course, but Bally’s is also trying to make an impact on the community around them.”
Teams in the area tout the bounty of stellar courses players will get to experience during their college careers.
As with the proximity to New York City itself, teams in the area tout the bounty of stellar courses players will get to experience during their college careers.
“We do use it as a positive,” Wildermuth says. “It might be just once a year, or once a semester, but the kids are excited to hear where we get to go. A school like Florida, say, might have its own course, but it doesn’t have a Winged Foot or Glen Oaks – all these top private clubs – but we do.”
It’s all part of going to college in or near a metropolis.
“When I’m recruiting a kid, the No. 1 priority is that they want to be in New York City, that they want to embrace that,” Bishop-Santillo says. “Then you can get into how great the golf is here, how great the experiences are. But they have to love the city feel and need to be comfortable with that to have an enjoyable experience.”
Off and on the course, it can be a winning vibe.