Staten Island has a compact but meaningful golf identity inside New York City. Unlike Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx, Staten Island offers a golf landscape that feels less compressed and more connected to parks, hills, residential neighborhoods, and older club traditions. The borough does not have dozens of courses, but its golf map is unusually complete for its size: public golf, private golf, amateur competition, historic club culture, and access to nearby courses in New Jersey and the wider metro area.
Golf on Staten Island is led by La Tourette Golf Course, Silver Lake Golf Course, South Shore Golf Course, and Richmond County Country Club. Three are public, while Richmond County Country Club gives the borough one of the most historically significant private clubs in New York City. Together, these courses make Staten Island one of the more practical places to play golf inside the five boroughs.
The borough’s golf identity is shaped by terrain. Staten Island has more elevation, parkland, and open space than many people associate with New York City golf. Courses here use hills, tight corridors, mature trees, and older routing styles rather than resort-style width or modern real estate development. For local players, that creates a golf scene built around accuracy, convenience, repeat play, and neighborhood familiarity.
Golf Courses and Places to Play on Staten Island
La Tourette Golf Course is the centerpiece of public golf on Staten Island. Located in the Staten Island Greenbelt near Historic Richmond Town, La Tourette is an 18-hole, par-72 public course with a traditional layout, elevation changes, and one of the stronger tournament identities among New York City municipal courses. It is also home to the New York City Amateur Championship, which gives the course a competitive role beyond ordinary public play.
La Tourette’s setting is a major part of its appeal. The course sits in a greener, hillier part of the borough, with parkland surroundings that feel removed from the densest parts of the city. It also has a practice facility, an important advantage for Staten Island golfers who want a place to work on their games without leaving the island. For public players, juniors, league golfers, and competitive amateurs, La Tourette is the borough’s most complete golf facility.
Silver Lake Golf Course is another important public option. Located on the North Shore, Silver Lake is shorter than La Tourette but still demanding because of its tighter layout and emphasis on accuracy. Its location makes it convenient for players coming from different parts of Staten Island, and it is also relatively reachable from the Staten Island Ferry side of the borough. Silver Lake works well for golfers who want a public round that is accessible, established, and less sprawling than a longer championship course.
South Shore Golf Course gives the island a third public course and a different geographic anchor. Set in the southern part of Staten Island, South Shore has a former-country-club feel and serves players who live farther from the North Shore and Greenbelt courses. Its location also makes it useful for golfers moving between Staten Island and New Jersey. For many local players, South Shore functions as a practical neighborhood course: a place to get in regular rounds without needing to cross a bridge.
Richmond County Country Club is the private-club pillar of Staten Island golf. Organized in the late 19th century, it is one of the oldest private clubs in the United States and has long been described as New York City’s only private country club. Its location in Dongan Hills/Todt Hill gives it a classic Staten Island setting, with elevated land, harbor views, and a club culture that is distinct from the public-course scene.
The larger Staten Island golf map also benefits from proximity. Golfers on the island can play locally, but they can also reach courses in New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens, and elsewhere in the metropolitan area. That gives Staten Island golfers more flexibility than the borough’s course count suggests. A local player may use La Tourette, Silver Lake, or South Shore for regular rounds, then cross into New Jersey or other boroughs for variety.
Golf Culture, Players, and Tournaments on Staten Island
Staten Island golf culture is practical, local, and competitive. It is not built around golf resorts or national television exposure. It is built around public tee times, club memberships, amateur events, junior players, older course traditions, and the daily reality of playing golf inside New York City.
Public golf plays a major role. La Tourette, Silver Lake, and South Shore give residents multiple options without requiring private membership. That is important in a city where land is limited and golf access can be difficult. Staten Island’s courses allow local players to keep the game part of their regular lives, whether they are playing early morning rounds, weekend rounds, leagues, outings, or casual nine-hole sessions.
The borough also has a serious private-golf tradition through Richmond County Country Club. The club’s long history gives Staten Island a connection to the early development of American golf. It also creates a different type of golf culture from the public courses: more club-based, family-oriented, traditional, and tied to long-running member competition. That public-private split is one of the defining features of golf on Staten Island.
Competition matters most clearly at La Tourette. The New York City Amateur Championship gives Staten Island a place in the citywide amateur golf structure. Hosting that event helps elevate La Tourette beyond ordinary municipal golf and gives competitive players from across the city a reason to play Staten Island golf. For local juniors and amateurs, it also makes the borough feel connected to the larger New York metropolitan golf scene.
Staten Island has also produced notable players and golf figures. Bill Britton, who played on the PGA Tour, and Jim Albus, who had success on the senior circuit, are part of the borough’s competitive golf story. Their careers matter because they show that Staten Island golf is not only recreational. The island’s courses and clubs have also been part of player development, professional pathways, and the wider history of metropolitan New York golf.
Junior golf and instruction are important to the borough’s future. Staten Island has enough public access to introduce young players to the game, but it still faces the usual urban-golf challenges: limited land, cost, transportation, tee-time demand, and competition from other sports. Practice access at La Tourette helps, as do junior rates, clinics, school programs, and family participation. The more visible those pathways become, the stronger Staten Island’s golf culture can be.
Staten Island golf also has a different pace from golf in the rest of New York City. It is still urban golf, but it often feels more neighborhood-based and less crowded by the city’s densest infrastructure. That gives local players a strong sense of ownership. Courses are not just places to play; they are part of the borough’s recreational geography.
The Golf Landscape Going Forward
The future of golf on Staten Island depends on maintaining public-course quality, protecting golf land, and keeping the game accessible to residents. The borough already has an unusually useful course mix: a championship municipal course at La Tourette, a tight and convenient public course at Silver Lake, a South Shore public option, and a historic private club at Richmond County. For a single borough, that is a strong foundation.
The biggest opportunity is public-golf improvement. Course conditioning, drainage, tee-time systems, practice access, and junior programming all matter because Staten Island’s public courses carry much of the borough’s golf activity. When La Tourette, Silver Lake, and South Shore are well maintained, Staten Island becomes one of the best public-golf areas in New York City.
The borough also benefits from its position near New Jersey and the rest of the metro area. Staten Island golfers can stay local or use nearby bridges to reach a larger regional golf market. That flexibility gives the island a practical advantage, especially for players who want more variety than three public courses can provide.
Staten Island will never be a large golf destination in the resort-market sense, but it does not need to be. Its golf value is local access, historic continuity, citywide amateur relevance, and a rare amount of playable golf inside New York City. For residents, visitors, and competitive amateurs, Staten Island remains one of the most important golf pockets in the five boroughs.
