James Baird State Park Golf Course

This course is near and dear to my heart as I practically lived there every weekend for many many years. I hadn't played it on awhile and wanted to see what shape it was in.

They've altered the original layout on a few holes, mostly for the better and have greatly improved the fairways and tee boxes. Greens are in good shape. The course was layed out by one of the great architects and as such plays very interestingly. You get a great golf course for an affordable price.

The downside to the experience is the downgrade to the pro shop (only a shadow of what it used to be), the enjoyable 19th Hole (hopefully only a temporary Covid casualty, and the presentation of the experience to the golfer. Xeroxed paper scorecards, tiny faded 8x10 corrugated plastic hole signs, no yardage markers at all on the course all led to a diminished experience even before the first tee.

It is my hope that some of this will be remedied in the post-Covid world. It feels like it wouldn't take very much to make this place appear great again.

So here’s the deal. I actually played the course yesterday. Baird has been known for being unplayable due to conditions during the summer months. Lack of a good drainage system and watering left large sums of the greens and fairways with patches. I heard the greens were back so I figured I would play 9 Yesterday to check it out. Conditions were indeed much improved. So much so that I booked in person for following day (today) for a foursome. We all arrived ahead of our tee time only to be told our tee Time didn’t exist at the time i was told. I was told 10:20. A time that I actually reconfirmed before I coordinated my guys. Came into

The pros shop only to be told I was a

9:20. Kinda blew my mind that there was this obvious mistake on the courses part. Annoyed but humble I asked can we just be squeezed in. NO he said. That made no sense to me cause we were early. According to policy, there can be no

Walk up. So it behooves me why we couldn’t be squeezed in. Our slot existed which meant tee times were moved up. What ever happened to customer service. It’s not like we were trying to get over . The pro in all honesty was being very inconsiderate. Don’t judge the course by the staff in the pro shop.

Course is in the best condition it has been in years! Only negative is that the bar and restaurant are gone so no 19th hole which is bad.

Being a resident of the Hudson Valley, I’m frequent this course a lot. Baird Park has improved a lot over the years. The lay out is superb. This past Sunday was without a doubt the worst I’ve seen the pace of play. I assume there was an increase in players because the DC amateur was being played at a neighboring course. However they should have prepared for this. Very disappointed

Kudo's to the maintenance staff at this straightforward track. Fun layout with lots of variety. Pace of play is great, with consistent greens and fairways.

Moderate number of hazards and many rolling sloping fairways. Follow the Fairways they are like highways winding, dipping, rising and turning on several holes. Very long par threes on several holes (one has you going across a large lilly pond with a crooked dog leg left to an elevated green. Note: unbelievably they have no handicap flags, or so I was told ...and it's a State Park!!