Split Rock Golf Course

Overview: Split Rock Golf Course is the more demanding 18-hole half of New York City’s 36-hole Pelham Bay Park golf facility. The city market analysis lists the course at par 71 and 6,714 yards, while the current operator describes tight tree-lined fairways, hilly ground and strategic bunkering. Compared with neighboring Pelham Bay, Split Rock asks for more control on approaches and more discipline around its slopes. The setting is unusually open for a metropolitan course, with woods, marsh and shoreline landscape surrounding the golf.

History: Split Rock was developed during the New Deal era as part of the expansion of golf in Pelham Bay Park. NYC Parks records from 1934 describe an additional 18-hole course being built beside the remodeled Pelham course, with both courses sharing a new clubhouse. The historical design record assigns the work to the New York City Parks Department, while John Van Kleek is associated with the department’s golf-course planning. The present operator preserves that two-course municipal legacy and identifies the facility as New York City’s only 36-hole public golf destination.

Did You Know? The name comes from Split Rock, a distinctive geological feature in Pelham Bay Park. The course is also close to the site of the Battle of Pell’s Point, so the golf complex sits within both natural and Revolutionary-era history.