Longshore

Located in Fairfield County, featuring panoramic views across Long Island Sound, the fairways of the Longshore Golf Course occupy what was once an onion farm before it was converted into a municipal golf facility in the mid-1920s by Orrin Smith.

The layout measures only about 6,000 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 69. It’s largely flat with very ordinary greens and bunkers to match but it’s a place where you’ll find golfers of all abilities out playing at a steady pace of less than four hours for a round, even on busy Sunday afternoons.

Part of Longshore's popularity is its coastal setting but golf is just one of many outdoor pursuits to be found within a public park that allows easy access to all forms of fitness, whether that might be jogging, biking or even just dog-walking between the fairways.

Operated by Westport Parks & Recreation, Longshore hired a third party course maintenance firm to help turnaround its fortunes in 2014 in an effort to return the municipal facility to recording the sort of 40,000-plus rounds per annum figures that were once the norm.