Golf on Long Island

Annual Rev. Msgr. Thaddeus Rooney Memorial Golf Outing scheduled for June 6 at Timber Point

The annual golf outing held in memory of Rev. Msgr. Thaddeus Rooney of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church in Deer Park will take place on Thursday, June 6 at Timber Point Golf Course in Great River.  The event is sponsored by Mangano Funeral Home, Inc. of Deer Park.  Shotgun tee time is 2:00 p.m.

Entry fee is $150 per golfer and includes a barbecue lunch at noon, beverages on the course and dinner with cocktails after the round.  Prizes will be given away to winners of close-to-the-pin and long-drive competitions.  Dinner-only guests can reserve a spot for $55.

To register for the event or participate as a sponsor, print and submit the outing sign-up sheet or contact Deacon Phil Mills at (631) 667-4044, ext. 110. 

For more on historic Timber Point, check out the Blue, Red and White course flyovers.

Golfing Magazine partners with 11 courses for its 2013 Free Golf Program

Starting this week, Long Island golfers will receive a Golfing Magazine certificate that allows them to play for "free" at nearly a dozen golf courses Islandwide.  The magazine's 2013 Free Golf Program includes 11 local courses -- seven full-length and four nine-hole layouts -- plus dozens more upstate and across the Northeast.  Also, this year's program sets aside for certificate holders some much-needed tune-up time, specifically a half-hour lesson at the Town of Oyster Bay's Gold Coast Golf Center and an hour in the simulator at Eagle Golf in Bay Shore.  The $39 Early Bird Special has come and gone, but interested golfers can still sign up for the program for $59.  

Seven of the eight courses in last year's program are returning again in 2013 -- Brentwood Country Club, Dix Hills Park, Glen Cove, Gull Haven, Holbrook Country Club, Tallgrass and Island's End.  Added to the selection this year are The Woods at Cherry Creek and Sandy Pond Golf Course in Riverhead, Spring Lake's nine-hole Sandpiper Course in Middle Island, and Willow Creek Golf & Country Club in Mount Sinai. 

The Free Golf Program certificate entitles you to one "free" round at each of the above courses.  All you pay for on the day of play is a cart fee (and reservation fee where applicable).  The certificate will only be honored at certain times during the week and on weekends, and availability varies by course.  Be sure to check all terms and conditions when reserving your round.  Tee times must be made in advance.  Once that's done, it's great local golf at a steep discount.

As always, a one-year subscription to Golfing Magazine (five issues) is part of the program.  If you're heading up the Thruway or into New England sometime this summer, the certificate makes a valuable travel companion, as it's valid at a variety of participating courses in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and upstate New York.

To subscribe, contact Golfing Magazine at (516) 822-5446 or visit online at www.GolfingMagLI.com.  And for descriptions of the participating Long Island courses, click the links above to read the course flyovers.

2013 Suffolk County Junior Golf Tour tees off July 8 at West Sayville

It's a good time to be a junior golfer on Long Island.  The USSSA Junior Golf Tour is up and running across the Island, giving young players a chance to compete in tournaments and reach the national finals this summer in Florida.  One kid golfer is a few skills-challenge points away from playing beneath the magnolias of Augusta National as part of the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship.  And now, the annual Suffolk County Junior Golf Tour is back, a four-tournament challenge staged on each of Suffolk's four waterside municipal courses.

The 2013 Suffolk County Junior Golf Tour is open to all boys and girls from age 9 through 17.  It consists of four stroke-play tournaments, the first of which will be held at West Sayville Golf Course on July 8.  The Tour concludes a month later at Timber Point Golf Course in Great River.

Junior participants must be familiar with the rules and etiquette of golf and have a valid county Green Key Card.  Events are nine or 18 holes depending on age bracket.  Players must walk the course, be able to carry their bags (hand carts are permitted) and adhere to a standard golf dress code.

Tour fees are $140 for 12- to 17-year-old players (18-hole events) and $125 for 9- to 11-year-old players (nine-hole events).  All four rounds, practice balls at each event, a special two-hour golf clinic at Timber Point, pro-shop giveaways and an August awards banquet are covered by the Tour fee.

Junior Tour players are welcome to brush up for the main events at a special clinic hosted by Timber Point pro Andy Carracino on Monday, July 1.  The rest of the Tour schedule is as follows:

Monday, July 8:  West Sayville Golf Course
Monday, July 22:  Bergen Point Golf Course
Monday, July 29:  Indian Island Country Club
Thursday, August 8:  Timber Point Golf Course

All tournaments begin at 2:00 p.m.  Participants are urged to arrive no later than 1:00.

For more information on the 2013 Suffolk County Junior Golf Tour, call (631) 854-4947.  You can also download a Tour registration form at the Suffolk County website.

Observations: Spring Lake Golf Club

Spring has been slow to take hold on Long Island, but it seems to have arrived for good at Spring Lake Golf Club, and it doesn't have anything to do with the name.  All that was missing at the Middle Island course this past weekend were the leaves on the trees, which works in golfers' favor for just a short time longer.

Approaching the course from the opposite side of its namesake lake provided the perfect vantage point to admire the deep summer-esque green of the course standing out between the brown trees, themselves just starting to show first signs of color.  The course's fairways were in beautiful shape and the greens rolled fast and smooth -- if you ignored the bare branches and the hand-stinging chill that rolled in as the afternoon round wound down, you'd think you were playing in June.   

Spring Lake's crew deserves credit for having the course in such impressive condition so early in a season of cool, uncooperative weather.  Last fall, new drainage systems were installed on #1, #7 and #10 of the Thunderbird Course, with more planned for this season.  The grounds crew was hard at work this weekend preparing the 13th green for play (a temporary green stood in).

You're running out of time to take advantage of the relatively bare limbs at the heavily wooded Thunderbird Course and the Sandpiper nine.  Once May hits, trees overhanging the rough and fairways will be in midseason obstructionist form.  Good weather or bad, balls that settle inside the treeline sit at the mercy of green-blocking tree trunks.

For the full Spring Lake overview, check out the Thunderbird and Sandpiper flyovers.

Newsday runs correction for use of false data in golf business feature

Newsday has published a correction of the false data that ran in a graphic in the Sunday LI Business cover story on April 7 regarding Long Island golf courses.  The correction appears in the Wednesday, April 17 print edition.

The business feature, which analyzed the "shrinking" of the local golf course industry, claimed that the number of golf courses on Long Island has fallen from 279 in 2004 to 269 in 2012 (after rising from 247 in 1993).  However, none of those figures are accurate.  Golf On Long Island's reaction to the original Newsday story can be found here.

Newsday's correction reads as follows:

"The number of Long Island golf facilities -- defined as a single location where one can play at least nine holes of golf -- fell from 129 in 2004 to 127 in 2013.  A graphic in an April 7 story misstated the number of golf facilities."

As Newsday's golf writer Mark Herrmann reported last week, the recently closed Middle Bay Country Club in Oceanside will reopen next month as the semi-private South Bay Country Club.  So that 2013 figure will soon be back up to 128, leaving The Links at Shirley as the only course to close permanently since 2004.

Treat Mom to holiday golf at Spring Lake's Mother's Day nine

Show Mom your appreciation by teaming up with her and sinking a key putt to beat Dad at Spring Lake Golf Club's Mother's Day celebration, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 12.

For $95, you and Mom play nine holiday holes with cart and enjoy two post-round cocktails each plus hors d'oeuvres.  Even better, bring the family (of four) and play, eat and drink for a total of $175.

Groups participating in the Mother's Day special will tee off starting at 10:00.  Reserve a spot by calling (631) 924-5115.

Newsday report features false data to support negative view of Long Island golf industry

[Newsday published a correction in its April 17 print edition for the use of misinformation in its April 7 feature.  Read the correction here.]

While there's no way to dispute that rounds are down from previous highs and that Long Island golf courses are competing for customer dollars against additional and often cheaper leisure alternatives, nothing in Newsday's report is a new revelation.  And some of it is simply false.

There are not 269 golf courses on Long Island, as Newsday’s Sunday feature claims (Newsday photo and graphic pictured right; click to enlarge).  Not even close.  Careless misinformation like that calls the entire Sunday Business cover story into question.  Chop that number in half and you're closer to the ballpark.

The "shrinking" of the Long Island golf industry is a local symptom of an ongoing national problem.  The golf explosion of the 1990s created a tremendous supply of golf courses nationwide, and changing social and economic conditions have since stalled demand.  In some areas of the country, golf courses come and go with much more regularity.  For instance, along Myrtle Beach’s "Grand Strand," where supply swelled in the ‘90s boom, more than a dozen publics have closed – most, if not all, since 2000.  (MBGA.com, a constantly updated Myrtle Beach course directory, has the current closed-course count in the area at 22.)  We played at a course in 2005 that was closed for development the following year, and to date, still sits vacant, its 54 fairways and greens deteriorating and left to nature.  (Read more in this Sports Illustrated piece from May 2006.)

Here on Long Island, of the more than 70 public golf courses, fewer than a dozen were built within the last 20 years.  Some others were expanded or redesigned during that time from previous clubs or courses.  And only one – The Links at Shirley – has closed in the recent past.  The private Middle Bay Country Club in Oceanside, one of roughly 70 private clubs on the Island confronted with their own unique set of issues in terms of modern-day business models and membership interests, closed earlier this year, unfortunately, with assistance from Hurricane Sandy.

The Newsday report says “many courses are scrambling for customers,” then supports the statement by pointing at discounted membership rates offered at two clubs, and uses that data to represent all of Long Island golf – both public and private. 

One of those clubs, the private Woodside Acres in Muttontown, lost many of its members as a result of the recession (as Newsday wrote in January 2010) when it was known as the Woodcrest Club and filed for bankruptcy in December 2009.  As Newsday's Mark Herrmann reported in September 2011, the owners who purchased the club at auction decided to keep membership rates high in order to attract members looking for a classic country-club experience, while neighboring clubs were doing the opposite.  Yet Newsday cites this facility as a representative of the entire local industry.

It should also be noted that the semi-private Island’s End Golf & Country Club (pictured left), the other facility cited for its membership discount, recently announced on its website a 10-year extension of its property lease and the opening of a new on-site restaurant, amid other upgrades.

Rather than ring in the new season by taking a negative angle supported by false data and cherry-picked information, Newsday could have taken a different approach and focused on the management and maintenance staff at courses like Lido Golf Club and Timber Point that succeeded in making their facilities – submerged and severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy – playable again by March.  Or the crews at Bethpage that cleared hundreds of trees across five courses and will have all 90 holes open for play by mid-April, as usual.  From a business standpoint, Newsday could have spotlighted the courses around the Island that have worked proactively through hard times to retain and grow their customer bases, like Sandy Pond in Riverhead and Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River, the latter of which has renovated parts of the course to players’ benefit each of the past two seasons while keeping rates steady.

The 1990s era was one that we will likely never see again.  Waits were hours long on nine-hole munis.  We recall walking off a packed Bay Park Golf Course in the summer of 1997 because it took three hours to play six holes.  Ask any golfer from that time and they will undoubtedly have similar stories to share.  Rounds at Eisenhower Park hit the six-hour mark with regularity.  Business was off the charts, but it didn’t make for a great playing experience.

Since then, the market has brought demand down, perhaps to a more sustainable level.  Tee times remain hard to come by at many Long Island courses during peak season.  If golf courses have to work a little harder to generate more demand and come up with creative ways to appeal to more players, they are in the same boat as plenty of other local businesses and industries in this economic climate. 

Newsday chose to dump on an important local industry on the eve of a new season, which is certainly its right.  But it could have at least used legitimate information in the process.  It claims that the Long Island golf industry is “in the rough” and “off course.” 

While Newsday might have a problem using factual data, at least it has a strong handle on its use of metaphors.

Newsday: Long Island golf business not booming

[Read Golf On Long Island's take on the Newsday article: 
Newsday report features false data to support negative view of Long Island golf industry]

The business of golf on Long Island is "in the rough" according to a report published Thursday on Newsday.com.

Newsday's Ted Phillips said the Long Island golf industry is "shrinking" thanks to the combined effects of the course-building boom of the late 1990s, the struggling economy and a change in leisure priorities.  Phillips points to a drop in rounds at Long Island's state parks over the past 15 years:

New York State operates six golf facilities on Long Island: Bethpage (which has four courses in addition to the Black), Sunken Meadow, Montauk Downs, Sag Harbor, Jones Beach and Robert Moses. 

In 1998, golfers played 576,850 rounds at those public courses. Game play slid by 19 percent in the next 10 years to 466,343 rounds -- and fell even more after the financial crisis of 2008, dropping to 369,595 rounds last year. -- Ted Phillips, Newsday, 4/4/2013

Read the full report on Newsday.com.

2013 Summer Golf Camps on Long Island

Early in the spring, practice for the new season is typically confined to the driving range.  But when the heat arrives, not only is it time for everyone to start enjoying time on the course, it's also time for junior golfers to form and polish their game with help from experienced professionals. 

Learning doesn't have to stop when the school year ends -- teaching pros all over Long Island have developed summer camp programs that school junior golfers in the fundamentals of golf, the golf swing and course etiquette, among other aspects of the game.  These golf camps offered at a handful of Long Island courses are designed to either put the first building blocks in place for newcomers or provide expert guidance for juniors looking to take their game to the next level. 

The following is a list of 2013 summer junior golf camps available and open for registration at various public courses around Long Island.   For more information, follow the links below to the course websites and junior camp pages. 

(Please note that this is not a complete list of Long Island summer golf camps.  If a course or facility is not included here, contact them directly to learn about their available camps and clinics.)

Crab Meadow:  The High School Development Program is a unique instruction and competition experience designed for the intermediate player looking to advance his or her game.  On-course play includes lessons in course management, short game, club selection and bunker play, as well as head-to-head match competition.  Three-hour sessions take place weekly in July and August.  Call (631) 499-8005 for price and program schedule.

Dix Hills Park:  Basic Program open to junior players from age 6 to 14 with limited or no golf experience.  The program stresses safety, rules and etiquette through games and contests in a fun atmosphere.  Club Division open to boys and girls who are ready for on-course instruction and play.  Campers in this program receive advanced instruction and are introduced to various competition formats.  Six-week sessions take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and begin the week of July 8.  Cost is $325 (Basic)/$350 (Club).  Visit the junior golf program page for more info.

Gold Coast Golf Center at the Town of Oyster Bay Golf Course:  Half-day camps available for kids from age 6 to 9 with rates starting at $199.  Beginners and intermediate golfers focus on fundamentals in an environment designed to foster development and interest in the sport.  Full-day camps include on-course instruction and are open to juniors from age 10 to 17 with rates starting at $499.  All programs begin on June 10 with sessions available through August.  Other programs and discounts are available.  Visit the registration page for full camp info.

Great Rock Golf Club:  Half-day camps are open to boys and girls age 7 to 14 and run in four separate sessions from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., Monday to Thursday, beginning June 24.  Campers receive a Great Rock hat and final-day pizza party.  The cost is $199 per child, per session.  Full-day camps are open to boys and girls age 9 to 16 and run in five separate sessions from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday to Thursday, beginning July 8.  The cost is $399 per child, per session.  Full-day campers receive on-course instruction, Great Rock hat and daily lunch.  For more, see the Great Rock camp flyer.

Harbor Links Golf Course:  All camps are split into AM and PM sessions beginning the week of June 24.  Weekly programs for kids age 6 to 9 run Tuesday to Friday and include games and drills that help develop important skills and fundamentals.  Separate programs for teens age 10 to 16 run Monday to Friday and cover the full swing, short game, course management, rules and etiquette, and conclude with a two-day "Junior Scramble" team tournament.  Cost is $410 for the 6-9 camp and $585 for the 10-16 camp, with discounts available for family and friends.  For all program information, schedules and registration forms, visit the Harbor Links website.

Indian Island Country Club:  Weekly full-day camps include lunch, prizes, skills contests and on-course competition.  Camps are open to boys and girls of all skill levels between the ages of 7 and 16.  Fees are $450 per week, per camper, with family, returnee and multi-week discounts available.  Sessions begin July 1 and last through August.  See the Indian Island camp brochure for all details.

Lido Golf Club:  Camps are open to golfers age 6 and up, with all skill levels welcome.  Week-long programs focus on swing fundamentals, short-game skills and techniques, course play, etiquette and rules.  Evening camp sessions (5:00 to 7:00 p.m.) are available beginning the week of June 24; morning camp sessions (9:00 to 11:00 a.m.) the week of July 1.  Enrollment is $300 per session.  Visit the Lido website or Chuck Kupfer Golf for details.

Pine Hills Country Club:  Four-week programs take place on Tuesday evenings and are open to boys and girls from age 7 to 14.  First session begins July 2; second session begins August 6.  Campers will learn putting, chipping, full swing and etiquette, and receive on-course lessons from two PGA teaching professionals.  Registration is $295 ($275 before June 25).  For additional information, check out the camp brochure.

Poxabogue Golf Center:  Sessions run Monday through Friday and are open to boys and girls from age 7 to 16.  All campers receive daily lunch, shirt, hat and prizes, and will learn basics of the full swing, short game, putting, rules, etiquette and sportsmanship.  Cost is $475 per week, per camper, with family, returnee and multi-week discounts available.  Sessions begin July 1 and last through August.  See the camp application for details.

Smithtown Landing Country Club:  Contact the Smithtown Landing pro shop for information about details and availability of summer programs led by PGA professional and Hall of Famer Michael Hebron.  Call (631) 979-6534.

Spring Lake Golf Club:  Programs available for kids from age 8 to 11 (July 16-18) and teens from age 12 to 14 (July 30-August 1).  Three-day camps teach swing fundamentals in a fun environment with on-course play each day.  Cost is $179 per child.  Visit the Spring Lake website for details.

Timber Point Golf Course:  Six-week Basic Program is designed for new players from age 7 to 10, and focuses on fundamentals, safety, rules and etiquette through fun games and contests.  Club Division (four-week and eight-week programs available) is open to experienced juniors from age 11 to 15 and includes advanced instruction and on-course play.  Basic and Club sessions begin in late June and run through mid-August.  Call (631) 581-2401 or e-mail timberpointgolfcourse@yahoo.com for price, schedule and registration information.

West Sayville Golf Course:  Eight-week programs (total of eight four-hour sessions) are available on Tuesdays through Fridays beginning July 2.  Campers receive instruction at the range and on the course, with instruction concentrating on all aspects of the swing, including grip, stance and alignment, plus bunker play and video analysis.  The $450 fee also includes shirt, hat and rule book.  Visit the course website and download the camp registration form for more information.

Spring season opens at Timber Point with 18 of course's 27 holes ready for play

The spring season arrived a few days early at Timber Point Golf Course in Great River, where on St. Patrick's Day morning, more than 60 golfers put down the shillelagh used in a casual putting challenge and posed for group photos on the practice green.  After a few words of gratitude from Timber Point golf director Andy Carracino, the group moved on to the nine-hole Red Course for a holiday scramble that returned some new-season normalcy to a facility pounded last October by Hurricane Sandy. 

The land-locked Red Course is open from start to finish as the 2013 season slowly and frigidly gets underway.  Meanwhile, closer to Great South Bay, the Blue and White courses are open just enough to allow Timber Point golfers to enjoy 18-hole rounds.  The opener on the White Course, along with #5 through #9, are open, followed in the rotation by #1, #2 (the "Harbor" par-3, pictured) and #9 on the Blue Course. 

Along the water, the heart of the Blue Course remains a victim of its greatest asset -- its proximity to Great South Bay.  The Gibraltar par-3 and the two par-4s that follow were overrun by saltwater during the storm.  They were recently reseeded.  Timber Point staffers are hoping the Blue Course is playable by June.

Despite a blustery, overcast morning, pairs and groups of non-scrambling holiday golfers made their way to the first tee on the makeshift Blue/White nine for an early-season round.  Back on the Red, tough pin positions on the sloped greens of #1 and #2 foiled birdie attempts.  The St. Patrick's Day and season-opening celebration continued after the round at Oakdale's Snapper Inn.