At the Brooklyn Open, All Golfers Are Welcome

The sun was just starting to rise over the marinas and box stores of South Brooklyn on Monday as Sam Maurer, a bartender at Lucky Jack’s on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, wriggled his foot into a golf shoe.

“I’d be going to bed right now on a normal Monday morning,” said Mr. Maurer, 25, who typically works till 4 a.m. He had just arrived at the Marine Park Golf Course, a city-owned facility built in 1963 atop a former landfill, to play in the Brooklyn Open.

The tournament, by turns sporting competition and block party, has become a rite of early fall for a wide swath of urban golfers. An unofficial event — it’s not sanctioned by any ruling body of golf — the Brooklyn Open welcomes anyone who pays its $175 entry fee. Players of all ages compete in different divisions depending on their skill level. Befitting a borough of immigrants and dreamers, their backgrounds are as varied as their golf swings.

Mr. Maurer, who grew up in Fairfax County, Va., took up the sport as a boy. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., he moved to Brooklyn two years ago to get his start in the hospitality business. Since then, he has played Marine Park about 50 times, although this was his first Open.

“New York City public golf is some of my favorite golf I’ve ever played, just for the people you meet,” Mr. Maurer said. “In Virginia, even at the public courses, it’s a pretty stuffy game still, and it’s not very inclusive. But in New York that couldn’t be further from the truth.”