Ravenwood

It is easy to forget all the other sizable cities in New York outside of the Big Apple and its metropolitan area, but there are quality public-access facilities to be found in cities like Rochester as well. Ravenwood Golf Club is often hailed as the best public option in New York’s third-largest metropolis.

The course came from the pen of Robin Nelson, an architect better known for his work in the Hawaiian islands and other international locales. Ravenwood, for its name and its location in a part of the country known for its forests, sits on a relatively wide-open piece of property off of the New York Thruway.

He pulls out all the stops at the closing par five that, for its lack of trees, feels anything but wide open. Players will need to pinpoint a drive between two enormous fairway bunkers, and do the same between three smaller sand hazards during the second shot (there is little chance of getting home in two on this long hole). Still, the third shot is even tighter despite its short distance, as one of the smallest greens on the course sits within a natural amphitheater, and four bunkers guard access to the final putts of the day.