The toughest course in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY metro area is Saratoga National Golf Club, at slope 144 — ahead of Championship at Saratoga Spa State Park at slope 134 and East at Mohawk Golf Club at slope 134.
All 32 courses in the area with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: hardest from the tips, longest, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY is a metro area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it — the boundary is theirs, not ours. Each list counts only the courses in the area that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality — nothing here ranks how good a course is.
Toughest test
— the top 25 of 32 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.
Hardest from the tips
— the top 25 of 27 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA course rating published for any of the men’s tee sets — the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. Men’s ratings only, for the same reason as slope: the men’s and women’s ratings of one tee are different measurements. It measures difficulty and nothing else; it is not a quality score and never orders these pages by how good a course is.
Longest
— the top 25 of 44 courses with a published scorecard
The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.
Widest tee spread
— the top 25 of 43 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
| # | Course | Widest tee spread |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eagle Crest Golf Club | 6,288 yds between tees |
| 2 | Championship at Saratoga Spa State Park | 2,794 yds between tees |
| 3 | Saratoga National Golf Club | 2,311 yds between tees |
| 4 | Mohawk River Country Club Chateau | 2,077 yds between tees |
| 5 | Stadium Golf Club | 2,007 yds between tees |
| 6 | Blue Red at Western Turnpike Golf Course | 1,790 yds between tees |
| 7 | Orchard Creek Public Golf Club | 1,778 yds between tees |
| 8 | Brookhaven Golf Club | 1,751 yds between tees |
| 9 | Evergreen 1 at Evergreen Country Club | 1,650 yds between tees |
| 10 | Airway Meadows Golf Course | 1,604 yds between tees |
| 11 | Schuyler Meadows Club | 1,523 yds between tees |
| 12 | The Country Club of Troy | 1,503 yds between tees |
| 13 | Cobleskill Golf Country Club | 1,451 yds between tees |
| 14 | Van Patten Golf Club Blue Red | 1,438 yds between tees |
| 15 | Van Patten Golf Club Red White | 1,420 yds between tees |
| 16 | Capital Hills at Albany | 1,364 yds between tees |
| 17 | Van Patten Golf Club White Blue | 1,362 yds between tees |
| 18 | Burden Lake Country Club | 1,325 yds between tees |
| 19 | Albany Country Club | 1,306 yds between tees |
| 20 | Colonie Country Club | 1,300 yds between tees |
| 21 | Fairways of Halfmoon | 1,278 yds between tees |
| 22 | Pioneer Hills Golf Course | 1,274 yds between tees |
| 23 | Red White at Western Turnpike Golf Course | 1,226 yds between tees |
| 24 | East at Mohawk Golf Club | 1,188 yds between tees |
| 25 | Saratoga Lake Golf Club | 1,171 yds between tees |
Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.
Oldest
— the top 25 of 33 courses with an opening year
The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.
Highest above sea level
— the top 25 of 45 courses with a coordinate we could sample
| # | Course | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stamford Golf Course | 2,030 ft |
| 2 | Cobleskill Golf Country Club | 1,031 ft |
| 3 | Brookhaven Golf Club | 810 ft |
| 4 | Burden Lake Country Club | 656 ft |
| 5 | Hillcrest Golf Country Club | 611 ft |
| 6 | Hoosick Falls Country Club | 565 ft |
| 7 | Brunswick Greens Golf Course | 555 ft |
| 8 | Pioneer Hills Golf Course | 509 ft |
| 9 | East at Mohawk Golf Club | 452 ft |
| 10 | Albany Country Club | 415 ft |
| 11 | Eagle Crest Golf Club | 387 ft |
| 12 | Ballston Spa Country Club | 379 ft |
| 13 | The Country Club of Troy | 375 ft |
| 14 | Orchard Creek Public Golf Club | 373 ft |
| 15 | Saratoga Lake Golf Club | 371 ft |
| 16 | Saratoga Golf Polo Club | 367 ft |
| 16 | Van Patten Golf Club Blue Red | 367 ft |
| 16 | Van Patten Golf Club Red White | 367 ft |
| 16 | Van Patten Golf Club White Blue | 367 ft |
| 20 | Sycamore Country Club | 362 ft |
| 21 | First Nine at Edison Club The | 359 ft |
| 21 | Second Nine at Edison Club The | 359 ft |
| 23 | Stadium Golf Club | 353 ft |
| 24 | Frenchs Hollow Fairways Golf Course | 347 ft |
| 25 | Colonie Country Club | 346 ft |
Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.