Last year, Bethpage Black on Long Island hosted the U.S. Open. Bethpage, designed by A.W. Tillinghast in 1936, is a public course, and one of five superb 18-hole tracks in Bethpage State Park. It is also just one of the state’s 29 golf courses located in state parks, but that doesn’t mean this course, or any other of New York’s park courses, are a walk in the park.

Some, like Bethpage Black, are seriously challenging. In fact, the Black Course, which was redesigned by Rees Jones in 1997/1998, should only be played by very low handicappers. Others, like Dinsmore Golf Course in Staatsburg, can be kind to less-skilled golfers. Some of the park courses are designed by relatively unknown architects, while others come with designer pedigrees, but one thing for sure: New York’s park courses represent some of the best values in golf anywhere in the country with some green fees as low as $20 to $30.

The Green Lakes State Park Golf Course in Fayetteville, one of the first courses designed by Robert Trent Jones in 1936, boasts a wildly scenic layout with two glacial lakes, plush fairways, pines, and deep bunkers. The rolling landscape guarantees many tricky lies, particularly on No. 9, a 484yard climb uphill to the green. What’s more, green fees range between $28 and $32.

The Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains provide the stunning backdrop for the Dinsmore Golf Course in Staatsburg, which sits in the 988-acre Mills-Norrie State Park. The third oldest public course (2nd oldest private) in the country, the course opened in 1893 as a nine-hole perk for the privileged Dinsmore, Hoyt, and Mills families.

Today Dinsmore’s original nine makes up the South Course, while a second nine was added in 1962 and designed by Hal Purdy. This is a user-friendly track for all levels of play and a good choice for beginners. Easy to walk, the land is pretty flat with mostly roll-up greens.

And finally, named for the great 19th-century author who spent summers in the Elmira area, Mark Twain State Park is the home of Soaring Eagles Golf Course, a scenic, challenging course with a unique design: only two holes run parallel. Built in 1963 by Archibold “Pete” Craig as Francourt Farms Golf Course and acquired by Elmira College in 1970, the course became part of the New York Parks system in 1990.

Excellent conditions for this course, which features bent grass greens and fairways, were created thousands of years ago by a retreating glacier that brought forth hundreds of feet of sand, gravel, and silt. Buried ice blocks slowly melted, leaving water-filled depressions or “kettle ponds” that can be found on the course today.