Marine Park: The Links at the Bottom of Brooklyn

Robert Trent Jones Sr. built for championships — Hazeltine, Spyglass Hill, the 400+ courses that defined mid-century American golf architecture. He didn't do many municipal courses. But when he built Marine Park in 1964, he built it like he meant it.

The course sits on reclaimed tidal flats at the southern tip of Brooklyn, on Jamaica Bay. It stretches past 7,000 yards from the tips — championship length, on a piece of ground that was underwater a century ago. The real defense isn't the yardage. It's the wind. The breeze comes off the bay with opinions. Club selection shifts by two or three clubs depending on the direction. The fairways are wide enough to accommodate the wind; the greens demand precision anyway.

RTJ Sr. understood something that architects still struggle with: accessibility and challenge aren't opposites. You can build a course that welcomes beginners and tests scratch players. Marine Park does both. On a clear day, from the back nine, you can see the Manhattan skyline. It's the closest thing to links golf within city limits — and it costs about the same as a decent dinner.

Part of The Muni Manifesto series.