Forest Park Golf Course

A fairly challenging course because it is very narrow on some holes. Basically if you play a slice hope that the trees are in good mood and send you back to the fairway lol. The course itself is kept in decent shape but the tee boxes need some work– especially on the par 3s. The only downfalls to this course are– around the 3^rd and 4^th hole it will get backed up, especially for us early bird golfers and on some holes, you tee off so close to the greens on opposite holes you end up in the line of fire.

This is not a country club and it is not like the midwestern suburban muni courses I grew up with. It is a little bit rough around the edges which I think adds to its character.
Crowded? Frankly, I do not understand what the rush is; it’s beautiful out here, you’re playing golf, does it matter how long it takes you to finish?
Important Point #1: You can play golf in New York City at this or one of the other muni courses. This is supposed to be one of those things you give up for moving here instead of LA, Atlanta, Charlotte, Texas, etc.
Important Point #2: You can play 9 holes from under $ 20.
Recommendation: Put in 9 on a weekday before work. You’ll enjoy yourself.

I can not believe I have never reviewed Forest Park Golf Course, so here it is for review number 80. It is on my list of muni courses, however.
Forest Park is the second oldest muni in NYC, just behind Van Courtland, built I believe in 1898, and is a challenging track. From the blue tees, it plays just over 6000 yards, so not too long, but with tree lined fairways and tight turns, a good test of golf.
This is the closest course to me, around a mile away, so I have played it hundreds of times, but am still put to a good test. I’m not a great player, but not a bad one, and Forest Park will bite you if you are not in position.
The conditions, however, sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Today when I played, the greens were in good shape, but that is not always the case. Players do not repair ball marks and, at times, the greens are sketchy. Same with the fairways. Today they were fine, but have played some days when they were torn up. Unfortunately, tee boxes most days are a mess.
Probably the main complaint for most is the price. It is 70 or so with a cart, and for an old course in Queens, that is quite expensive, but I have never really felt ripped off. I go as a single sometimes very early, play nine, and with a cart it is a good bargain. Another issue is pace of play. This is a muni, so guys show up in jeans and Zep tee shirts and hack it around, but what can you do. The round can be close to six hours in the summer depending on the time you go, so either get there early, or play later in the day.
Overall, fun, challenging course with character. If you want a true golf experience with true players in true golf attire, head 25 miles out to Bethpage where pace of play, price and conditions are tops.

It hurts me to give this place 2 stars since it’s the course closest to my home but this place doesn’t have all that much going for it.
The layout tries to do the most it can with limited space and the actual holes themselves aren’t bad at all. A lot of them are pretty creative and you see a good amount of variation through the round. However, many of them are way too close to each other and I’ve both been hit by an errant shot here and seen someone else get hit with an errant shot.
The conditions of the course are pretty terrible. Tee boxes are often bare and the greens aren’t well kept either. Being in a bunker is a surefire way to add dents to your wedge-​heads since there are rocks the size of golf balls in there sometimes. The irony of it is once I was carrying my bag and I set it down on a tee box and the ranger drove over and berated me for doing so. Forgetting for a moment that their tee boxes are absolute crap to begin with, I just don’t see the fault in setting a bag that’s 20 pounds down on a tee box that withstands thousands of footsteps per day from people who are 200 pounds. But I didn’t want any trouble and, though I disagreed with the guy, I respected that he was trying his best to keep the place in good condition so I obliged.
The experiences I’ve had usually entail me standing around and waiting for long periods of time while my muscles tense and get cold. The average round is probably about 5.5 hours. That said, I’ve also gotten lucky at times and finished in under 4:30 which is a miracle by NYC public course standards. The longer rounds are by and large the norm though. Like all NYC courses, it’s overpriced for what you get.
The only saving grace for this place is it’s decently interesting layout and mixture of easy and challenging holes.

Tee boxes and cart paths are in the worst condition I’ve seen on a course in years. Old man cooking in the kitchen is absolutely nasty I asked for a bacon egg n cheese while he was cooking I asked him to put salt pepper ketchup on it he turned and asked if I wanted him to eat it for me too

Great golf course, prices and employees. All very professional and top notch!

This is a really nice place to get a quick round in. For a course that is in the middle of Queens it really is beautiful. While it is not the most expansive it does great with the space it has. Toward the middle holes it is very up and down so you need to keep your head up for the errant slice, but this is true of every course especially those in the city limits. Staff is really friendly and does not take the gig too seriously like other places I have played. If you have the golfnow app you can find some really good deals for early morning and later evening rounds. Played the other day for $ 27 and almost got a full 18 holes in before sun down. Recommend for anyone looking for a good spot to play.

This is a «Play at Your Own Risk» kind of place. The course design is such that it is made for golf balls to be raining down upon you. Several tees are situated such that even a slightly off shot from the group behind you will be close.
I played this course yesterday for the second time and I saw: several golfers chipping off of tees, a tee shot on a par 3 that was a line drive to the next tee box and the golfers shriek FORE!, 5 – 6 balls land within 15 feet of me or my group. I, personally, was HIT BY A GOLF BALL with no yelling directed my way. I have the welt to prove the strike and the whiteness to back me up that we heard no warning.
There is so much chaos of balls going everywhere that hardly anyone yells Fore. It’s like everyone just gets tired of yelling it.
Furthermore, it was almost $ 70 for a Saturday fee with cart. That was very expensive seeing three of the tee boxes where no less than raw mud.
With the tightness of the course, almost no protection from trees in critical areas, and the quality of the golfers I saw on this course, I recommend to stay away. I will not play there again.

To preface, I am on the course right now. Currently sitting between the 4^th green and 5^th tee box. I started my round 2 hours ago!!! For the price, this is awful. There are no rangers and no course personnel keeping the pace of play. There are 2 somes walking in front of 4somes riding. No organization whatsoever.
It’s a shame becuse the course itself isn’t half bad. I’ve played better, I’ve played worse. But I will never again be playing Forest Park and you shouldn’t either. Unless you want to spend more than half of your day sitting in your cart, stay away from this place. The staff sucks too. There was 1 guy behind the counter who didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. In fact, when I checked in, they didn’t even have a cart for me!!!
This course sucks, flat out. I’ll never make this mistake again…

My number of rounds at Forest Park number in the hundreds, as it has been my home course for 20-​something years. During that long stretch of time I always enjoyed it because you have to flat out, make golf shots. The front side favors a target golfer, as they can manage the course with smart play. Bombers beware, until you 9 tee where you can go driver. A smart player with ball control is a dangerous opponent to take on. (himt)
It took me a wintry weekend round to take all of the variables out of what would make a reviewer slam FP. Just looking at the course’s offering’s regarding layout, hole routing, landscape and the fact it gets a ton of traffic, which explains some conditions of greens and teeing areas in disrepair, Forest Park is a good course for what it is. Fee’s have jumped so much in the past years across the board in golf, no course went unscathed.
Hint-​take seriously the placement of trees that you have to always consider all along the course I will be the first to admit number 3 green is always an issue, even when it was number 17 before the reroute of the course. Number 4 was number 1 tee,(with a mobile home clubhouse and no pro-​shop) and so on until 15 tee.
Playing blue tees offer minimal distance from the white tee’s, but unless your a +10 or better, stay at the white tee’s. Because people unfamiliar with The Rules of Golf, play amazingly haphazard golf with no regard for rules (too many examples to list) that is why play is slow for the most part, one ranger is standard on golf courses and when you have 50% of players that never read The Rules of Golf, what can one possible expect as to play time for a round.
Yea I have been under par at FPGC, a few times… I can say it…
Yardage: 6,053/5,635/5,300
Rating: 68.2/119;67.2/115/70.5/120

One of the better public courses in NYC. I believe it is also one of the older courses. It reminded me of Van Cortlandt in the Bronx, with its meandering cart paths through the woods along the highway.
I’ve only played it once. It’s a bit of a hike from Manhattan, but I’d def go again.

Nice course, moves fast. I would go back.

The location can’t be beat. Conditions are pretty good and the layout is nice though short. Like at all NYC courses the lines are terribly long at the tee boxes.

Overall experience was a ‘B’. The course was well groomed besides two tee’s. The sprinklers were on during one of our holes. Like many NYC courses, the greens and tee’s can be close to each other (for different holes) but all-​in-​all, we’ll be back.

This course can get very busy which one would expect considering there are not many courses this close to the city on the queens side so all 3 or 4 are usually packed on nice days. Make sure you book your tee time because you will probably not get on in the morning with out a reservation.
The greens can vary from very fast to slow depending on the weather but dont usually give much breaks except on a few holes. There are a few very tough holes on this course but all in a ll a very solid and challenging place to play for most golfers

Living in Jamaica Forest Park is a short 10 minute ride from my apartment, so I guess I consider it my «home course». The course is adequate and far from exceptional, but definately servicable for the weekend golfer such as myself. With that being said do not book a tee time before 11am on a weekend, you WILL be on the course for at least 6 hours if you do. The par 3’s get backed up pretty badly, mainly because of guys taking 3 or 4 tee shots after they shank balls into the trees. The greens are pretty crappy, lots of bumps and irregularities. Tee boxes are inconsistent. Some have well kept grass, others are like teeing off of a cement sidewalk. This could be a great course if the managment paid alittle more attention to the greens and tee boxes, and if they stationed someone at the 3^rd hole to keep players moving.

I got my girlfriend to drive me and she wanted to just spend time with me while I played (very sweet of her I know). Well they said she couldn’t go on the course with me unless she was playing. I told them she’s the one who got me here and I wouldn’t be here otherwise. They rolled their eyes and told me it was alright but not to do it again.

I’ve played here about three times and the pace of play is unacceptable. Prior to the third hole, the back up was for close to a half hour and there are too many novice players hacking up on the course. I saw a group in front of us that would take around 5 practice swings and then shank the ball! Maybe it was just «one» bad experience but the three times I’ve played here, it took close to 5 and a half hours to finish 18! 18 holes of golf should not take longer than 4 and a half hours!
Also, majority of the players are walkers — slowing up the play even more. If this course had a mandatory golf cart rule, it would speed up the play substantially.
Overall the course is short and offers a few challenges but not enough for experience player to look forward too.
Avoid playing on the weekends at all cost. Call in sick during a monday or tuesday so you can breeze through this course.

When visiting NYC-​area courses, you really can’t expect much. Prices are generally a little steep for the experience, but hey — that’s NYC.
Forest Park is by far my favorite out of the NYC-​area courses. The layout is great, a few water holes, and the course has a lot of character. Some holes are flat, some holes with elevation, some holes with bunkers, some are doglegged, some are tight others are wide. All elements of a complete golf course.
I just went this past Sunday and it took 5 hours to complete a round with a 12:30 tee time so it wasn’t too bad. I was a one person walk-​in and he told me as soon as I purchase, «they are waiting for you at the tee box». Sweet!
The bev cart girl came to us very quickly. The grill was closed due to the bad weather (very cloudy).
My only complaint would be the greens need to be blown as they had leaves/​twig debris all over the place. With my bad putting, it really didn’t make a difference anyways
And it’s always a good golf day when you walk out with more balls than you came with. There are balls to be found all over!

Appalling. For all the money these courses get, you would think they would hire a proper superintendent that knows and understands that the course isn’t his front lawn and he has to take care of it properly. I would rate kissena as being 10X better than Forest Park condition wise. The back 9 holes are okay if you can live through the disaster that is the front 9. The greens get aerated in August??? dry, sandy, hard as slate, full of holes, completely unmaintained. crab grass on the greens? and the tee boxes were no better, having to use an iron to drive my tee in the ground.
I have no good reviews for this curse. er. I mean course. it plays very slowly, and when you take 3 putts instead of one or two because the greens are so aweful, then what fun is the round???
Head for ANY of the other courses around, Kissena, Douglaston, and Clearview. leave Forest Park for those that don’t care about anything.
DO NOT BELIEVE THE REVIEW BEFORE THIS ONE BY MATTHEW E.
THERE ARE OVER TEN TOP PUBLIC COURSES IN NYC. THIS GUY DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE’S TALKING ABOUT EITHER.
ONLY FULL SIZED COURSE IN QUEENS??? ARE YOU JOKING?
DOUGLASTON
CLEARVIEW
ARE FULL SIZED.
sheesh