Golf Guide: Greenwich - CT

If you were asked to define low-key class, you could utter in your best-hushed Fairfield County voice, "Greenwich, Connecticut" in southwestern Connecticut. No doubt.

Less than a one-hour commuter train ride from the Big Apple, Greenwich, a trendy playground for movers and shakers in arts, industry, and the financial world, lies on Long Island Sound, a town of huge mansions, yachts and a leafy street lined by pricey stores like Brooks Brothers, Lily Pulitzer and Lacoste.

For golfers in Greenwich, it's not about the green fees, but access. It has but one public golf course, the municipal RTJ-designed Griffith E. Harris Golf Course but that too, although open to all 61,000 town residents who pay a modest fee to join, is open only to those who are accompanied by one of these members.

So where can you play if you don't have connections? Try towns outside Greenwich like Stamford's three public tracks, Westport, Norwalk and Fairfield. Although even in these towns, the nod is typically given to residents, you can usually find a game at courses like Sterling Farms Golf Club in Stamford, a Geoffrey Cornish classic redesigned in 2005 and the town-owned Longshore Golf Club, a links-style track on the Sound in Westport.

One of the better bets in this area ($42-$54 non-resident) is H. Smith Richardson Golf Course in Fairfield, a pretty hilly layout that "Golf Digest" has rated as one of the top "Best Public Courses" in the state while another beauty, the highly rated Richter Park Golf Course in Danbury, is routed around tall stands of trees and the West Lake Reservoir. Oak Hills Golf Course in Norwalk is another good choice open to the public.

Greenwich is in the northeast and thus most courses are closed in the winter. However, you might be able to get on in late fall or early spring depending on the arrival and departure of snow. Go for it.