La Tourette Golf Course may have been a sledder’s playground a few short months ago, but as golf season approaches, final preparations are underway both on its links and at Staten Island’s other two public courses —Silver Lake and South Shore.
All three courses are operated by GolfNYC, which runs nine links in the area.
As the weather warms up and players get ready to book their tee times again, the Advance checked in with the borough’s public courses to hear about what kinds of changes, upgrades and/or renovations the courses have recently undergone or are going through now.
Silver Lake Golf Course
Silver Lake Golf Course and The Veranda are awaiting the influx of golfers soon to return for the spring and summer. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)
Silver Lake, which has been open since 1929, still attracts thousands of golfers every year, and course representative Garrett Stein detailed some of the new upgrades being made to its grounds.
Stein shared that next week, the grounds will be aerated, which is the process of puncturing the course’s soil with thousands of small holes to improve the overall health of the turf.
“I’d say the greens and fairways are going to be in mint condition starting in about two or three weeks,” Stein said of the soon-to-be-seen results of the aeration.
An aerial view of the Silver Lake Golf Course on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon
According to Stein, the course’s picturesque restaurant/café, The Veranda, will also be under new management this year, leading to “new specials, new ingredients and new parties that happen throughout the year.”
These changes at Silver Lake also come after a years-long drainage project which was completed last spring, meaning that the course should be in tip-top condition when players return to in-season form.
La Tourette Golf Course
La Tourette Golf Course has made some key upgrades to its course ahead of the steady warm weather. (Courtesy of Priya Shahi)Priya Shahi
With the all the snow melted away from its sloping hills, the course at La Tourette is likewise just about ready to welcome golfers back on its greens.
Jason Zaretsky, regional director at GolfNYC, detailed some changes that the staff is hoping will “make it better for the golfer.”
“We redid the whole driving range, redid all the stalls, redid the field so that the balls are not damaged and put a brand new ball picker in,” Zaretsky said of the extensive renovations done to the course.
An aerial view of the clubhouse at the La Tourette Golf Course on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon
After new management overtook the care of the course in 2024, Zaretsky further pointed out that La Tourette is “going through a new update on its maintenance schedule, doing things like increasing the fertilizer usage.”
With summer days and lush views of historic Richmondtown awaiting, La Tourette, which will host the New York City Amateur on May 24-25, will surely be a great destination for another season of teeing off on the Island.
South Shore Golf Course
South Shore Golf Course is ready to welcome golfers back for peak season. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)
Like Silver Lake, South Shore’s course was built around a century ago and is still providing a fun outing for Staten Island’s golf community.
Unfortunately, the course experienced an incident of vandalism over the last year, but Zaretsky isn’t letting that deter the course’s readiness for peak season.
“Holes 12 and 14 were completely vandalized, so we’ve had to put in roughly $100,000 in repairs for the greens,” Zaretsky shared.
“We’re doing all the right things to make sure the course looks really great. We’re spending a substantial amount of capital to better the property,” he continued.
Despite this challenge, South Shore also recently saw upgrades made to its bunkers, ready to provide a healthy challenge for Staten Island’s golfers.
To book a tee time at any of the public courses on the borough, visit golfnyc.com.