Where leaders are developed to protect the freedoms and dreams that define the United States of America, its five service academies—Military, Naval, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine—offer a range of opportunities. Alongside character development and a world-class education, there is the possibility to play golf.
Providing space for students to engage in recreation, physical training, and a place to balance their mental wellness away from service demands, the military owns more than 140 golf facilities. Operated by individual branches or through the federal Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) program, the resources available to maintain each course vary but most golf properties manage to be financially self-sufficient. The majority are also open to the public and you can read about them here. With all military courses, call ahead or review the guidelines to determine what kind of clearance may be necessary to play.
The United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., has a club team that plays at local courses, and it also has a partnership with the First Tee organization. The co-ed Golf Club at the Merchant Marine Academy, in King’s Point, N.Y., plays at several courses on Long Island. The Military Academy, Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy have their own fantastic courses.
Eisenhower Golf Club—Colorado Springs, Colo.
United States Air Force Academy
Designed in 1975 by Frank Hummel, the Silver Course is the newer, and significantly shorter, of the two Air Force Academy courses. The Blue Course, the only original Robert Trent Jones Sr. design in Colorado, is a championship layout that opened for play in 1959, covering 7,500 yards and playing host through the years to Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, Tiger Woods, and the Air Force Academy Falcons. Tee times at the Eisenhower Golf Club can be made only by Department of Defense card holders, though they are welcome to bring guests. The greens on both courses are tricky, quick, and tend to break away from the Rocky Mountains, which provide majestic views. There are some interesting local rules are in effect at Eisenhower Golf Club: “Large rocks in the general area indicating 150 yards from the green are integral parts of the golf course from which relief is not available without penalty… Areas of damage caused by bears, deer, elk, or the like are treated as ground under repair from which free relief is allowed… Large or hard ant hills and animal dung on the course are loose impediments or ground under repair at the player’s option.” Out of bounds is also addressed and simply described as “none.”
United States Naval Academy Golf Course—Annapolis, Md.
United States Naval Academy
Every day at 8:00 a.m., during the Morning Colors ceremony, the U.S. flag is raised, and the National Anthem plays solemnly across the United States Naval Academy Golf Course in a time-honored tradition. Together, people pause to reflect for this nation, for those who have sacrificed and for those who continue to serve. The Andrew Green-led renovation of the Naval Academy Golf Course, the last work of legendary architect William Flynn, was privately funded by The Friends of Navy Golf, co-chaired by Admiral Henry H. Mauz, Jr. ’59 and Rear Admiral William W. Cobb, Jr. ’68, and completed in 2020. “We brought together people from all across the country to support the effort to do it,” says Green. “It meant the world to accomplish that and to allow the course to showcase itself.”
Set on Chesapeake Bay with distant views of Bay Bridge, this private par-71 layout with bentgrass greens plays to over 6,700 yards. Green shares, “The 17th hole is spectacular. It’s a short, downhill par three to a volcano green, incredibly unique, and one of the more memorable places on the course.” Green continues, “It is amazing to think about midshipmen playing golf here for physical training, in navy shorts and white t-shirts with blue trim, on this interesting parcel of land with so much history.” Originally, the course was developed by the Greenbury Point Yacht and Country Club in 1928 and designed by Henry Collis, but it was abandoned during the Great Depression and the Navy acquired and used the land to expand their radio communications facility. It served as a major communication hub for the Atlantic fleet as Flynn was finessing his trademark preferred lines of play during World War II, with the course reopening from that renovation in 1944.
West Point Golf Course—West Point, N.Y.
United States Military Academy
Established in 1802, the nation’s first Military Academy is home to West Point Golf Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1948. Set in the scenic Hudson Valley and split by U.S. Route 9W, its 18-hole championship course plays to a par-70 and is home to the Army Black Knights. This public mountain layout, with its two counterclockwise routes of nine, is typically available to book a round April through November. Though it measures only 6,036 yards from its back tees, the course presents challenges for all levels of golfer with some sort of water present on all but four holes, including opening with a hole that has you crossing not one, but two creeks to reach the green. The 7th hole, aka “The Big One,” is particularly tricky with a blind tee shot and a large pond 20 yards shy of the green. The narrow fairway on the No. 1 handicap hole, the par-four 12th, is flanked with mature trees—drive it straight!
Have you ever played a course owned and operated by the U.S. military?
I have played Tinker Air Force Base golf course several times. It’s just a okay course, nothing amazing. Ed, from Indianapolis, In.
I played the course at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, FL in the late 1960s. Don’t remember specifics except for lots of moss hanging from lots of very big trees. Course very flat bc on the coast but not easy as I recall.
I have played the on post course at Ft. Eustis in Va. way back in the 1970’s while in the Army Reserve. Currently I have access to the nine hole track at Joint Base Cape Cod called Falcon Golf.
The Naval base at Guantanamo in 1970 had a nine hole course. (don’t know current status) This was after Castro had shut off the water to the base and it was operating on the desalinization plant. Water for the golf course was restricted to the greens only (very small greens as I remember). So the tees and fairways were basically desert-like sand and rock. I remember hitting a brand new Titleist down the middle only to find it had landed on a sharp rock and was now sporting a smile.
At Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio TX; Ft Eustis VA; Andrews AFB MD (East Course); The Fort at former Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis; Follow Me at the former Fort Benning, GA. One thing I learned–the quality of the course depends on the interests of the post commander! At Fort Sam when I was in combat medic training–it was fun but lots of tough lies; Ft Eustis is pleasurable and not over-crowded (being in the middle of a lot of Williamsburg-area options);The Fort, I think by Pete Dye, was up-and-down, wooded, beautiful, needs more than my one play to manage it; Follow Me’s main course was right across from the M-60 (?) machine gun range–I was playing with my daughter’s Command Sgt Major (the same who told me about quality changing with commanders), about to putt when what sounded like a hundred M-60s went off–“What the H was that, ” I asked. “What?,” he answered; Andrews has I think 54 holes, at least, by now–must be some people with rank hanging out around there.
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