Finally, The Rock has come back to Wading River.
Excuse the early-2000s wrestling reference, but it works. The Rock Golf Club, the rebranded and rejuvenated course formerly known as Great Rock, will reopen for play this Friday, July 1, after nearly three years out of Long Island's golf rotation. The course will be open to the public with membership options available.
Golf director Bill Mackedon says the new vision at The Rock is an authentic member-for-a-day experience, one that elevates the 20-year-old course among the top daily-fee facilities on Long Island, if not the best.
"Our concept is a private-club atmosphere for the person who might only be able to get out and play a few times during the season, where everyone feels like they belong," Mackedon says. "We have three strict rules -- play fast, have fun and be nice."
The Rock is emphasizing the "play fast" part of the house rules by spacing tee times at 12-minute intervals to ensure that rounds end up closer to a club-like four hours and 15 minutes, rather than the five-hour rounds typical of a crowded public or municipal course. All players will have access to a variety of perks -- names on lockers, an "On The Rocks" member lounge and a welcome area with refreshments, to name a few.
The modernized clubhouse includes a renovated pro shop where The Rock's new red, white and blue shield logo is prominently displayed on apparel and accessories. Pulcinella's On The Green, a satellite location of Italian restaurant Pulcinella's of Massapequa, is set to offer casual on-site dining.
As for the course itself, players who recall Great Rock in its heyday will not find any differences in the routing. Aside from a scheduled drainage project on #2, which will require reshaping the green, the layout of the course remains the same. The massive namesake rock still stands tall and majestic as it overlooks the signature par-4 tenth. Much of the focus since the course was sold to Chris Vene and Anthony Lomangino in spring 2021 has been on turf and soil health, and it's evident in the remarkable conditions of the fairways and rough.
"The course was closed for two years, but it's been neglected for six," Mackedon says. "It's in fantastic shape now, and the greens are spectacular."
Crews at The Rock pruned close to 1,000 trees in an effort to improve air flow and reverse much of the ground-level damage that had set in over Great Rock's final seasons, which were filled with player complaints about deteriorating conditions, including overgrown fairways and weedy sand traps. Off the fairway, much of the rough beneath the tree canopies had turned into rocky hardpan, according to Mackedon.
The only part of the facility that won't be up and running on day one is the driving range, which is expected to open around Labor Day. New synthetic pads were recently installed, and the range will feature grass tees available for use on weekends. Range access will be included in The Rock's $75 green fee.
Great Rock opened for play in 2001, part of the turn-of-the-millennium building wave that included Tallgrass, Long Island National and others. The course became well known for its lightning-fast greens and unique hilly setting on Suffolk's north shore. After a brief closure and sale in 2014, the club invested heavily in a new restaurant, but eventually players began to gripe about course conditions. During the 2019 season, players flooded golf-review sites and other forums with descriptions of a course that was essentially left to nature. The course abruptly closed that fall and never reopened.
Players can find more information at The Rock's new website.
Like a rush on tee times at Bethpage and Montauk Downs, you can always count on the two state-park facilities finding their way onto Golfweek's annual list of top public golf courses.
Golfweek released its 2022 Best Courses You Can Play list earlier this month, a collection of rankings highlighting the elite publicly accessible courses in all 50 states. On the New York list, the Long Island contingent offered no surprises.
Bethpage Black, Bethpage Red and Montauk Downs once again represent Long Island in Golfweek's annual ranking. The Black Course, as usual, is in the top spot, followed later in the top 10 by its state-park brethren. Montauk Downs jumped up to #6 -- its highest ranking that we can recall -- and vaulted one spot ahead of the Red at #7.
For many years, Golfweek included a fourth Long Island course on its Best You Can Play list -- Tallgrass Golf Course in Shoreham. But Tallgrass is gone, and the only other course of local interest is the high-end NYC muni Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, again ranked #2 in the state.Bethpage Black also placed #27 in Golfweek's ranking of the Top 200 Classic Courses built prior to 1960. The list serves as a reminder of the incredible depth of Long Island's classic-course selection, with 15 courses and clubs making the cut, including three -- Shinnecock Hills, National Golf Links and Fishers Island -- in the top 10.
For more on the three Long Island publics, including a Closer Look breakdown of Red #13 (and Tallgrass #8, just for old time's sake), check out the course flyovers via the above links.
The long-rumored reopening of Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River is delayed until later this summer, possibly around the July 4 holiday. Great Rock has been closed since late 2019 and was sold to a new local ownership group in spring 2021.
This latest projection follows earlier indications that the course was on track to reopen by Memorial Day. But the holiday came and passed, and the facility is still not prepared to welcome golfers back to play the hilly par-71, best known for its fast greens. The course itself appears to be ready for play, though the driving range remains in disrepair, and other work around the clubhouse is still ongoing.
One sign of progress is the announcement of a dining partner at the facility. Pulcinella's of Massapequa will open Pulcinella's On the Green in the space previously occupied by Blackwells and Pure North Fork. A restaurant staffer said they hope to open by mid-July.
There are also rumors that the course will be renamed The Rock, though this has not been confirmed. The course was originally named for the giant boulder unearthed during construction, which now sits next to #10 green.
Great Rock abruptly closed in fall 2019, capping a season in which players complained of deteriorating course conditions and signs of neglect. Local owners Chris Vene and Anthony Lomangino purchased the course in May 2021, according to the Riverhead News-Review. Vene has an ownership stake in the nearby Baiting Hollow Golf Club in Baiting Hollow and The Vineyards Golf Club in Riverhead, as well as a golf course maintenance company. He told the News-Review that one of his goals is to provide Great Rock's players with a "member for the day" experience.
[Pictured: Great Rock clubhouse in June 2022.]
Last fall Geoffrey Schwartz led a tour through an empty, white-walled shell deep inside a Commack strip mall, pointing to where he planned to set up golf simulators, a full bar and a mezzanine for events. Six months and a full transformation later, the space -- previously part of a closed Toys 'R' Us -- is filled with two rows of hitting bays, clusters of cozy lounge furniture and the high hopes of Long Island's latest cutting-edge addition to the local golf scene. X-Golf Commack, the first New York location for the California-based franchise, will officially open to Long Island golfers next week.
Its arrival follows other combined-experience golf venues that have debuted on Long Island in the past year, most notably Topgolf in Holtsville last summer. Birdies, a golf and cocktail bar in Patchogue, opened in February. X-Golf's appeal is in its state-of-the-art simulator technology, which features advanced innovations like automated ball retrieval, personalized tee heights and adjustable ground slope.
The Commack location has nine bays, including one exclusively for lessons and two for private parties. But what sets his venue apart, Schwartz says, is the VIP-style treatment players can expect when they step inside.
"We want everyone to feel welcome when they come in," Schwartz says. "They'll check in at the pro shop, leave their bag and have a drink at the bar or sit and relax. We'll set up their bags for them so they're ready to warm up and start playing."
Unlike in other simulators, players are free to admire their shots without having to chase their ball and re-tee for themselves or a playing partner. X-Golf's retrieval system does the work -- balls funnel into a slot in front of the tee while a new one pops up at the kick of a button. Tees automatically adjust to each player's preferred height, and when part of a league, player preferences and handicaps are maintained in the X-Golf system.
The biggest game-changer, Schwartz says, is X-Golf's superior short-game technology. Sensors around the tee pick up ball path and speed and translate chips and putts onto the virtual green with unprecedented accuracy. "Putting is usually an afterthought in most simulators," Schwartz says. "But nobody playing in a league wants to just guess at how to putt and take gimmes from eight feet."
X-Golf's network of 50-plus locations around the country (and growing, including a Westbury venue due to open later this year) allows local players to participate in national and regional competitions and tournaments, in addition to in-house leagues. Paige Spiranac is the company's most notable brand ambassador, though a hefty appearance fee might prevent a visit to Commack in the near future. ("Maybe one day," Schwartz says.)
Phil Barnhart, previously the pro at Willow Creek in Mount Sinai, will be on site for lessons and instruction.
Outside the hitting bays, a U-shaped bar will turn out beer, cocktails and small bites like wings, wraps and chicken fingers. A second-level mezzanine offers lounge space and a private room for corporate meetings and events. To reach it all, visitors first walk down a lengthy corridor lined with photos of famous players and murals depicting courses from around the world. Even before its official opening, the long hallway has drawn curious strip-mall shoppers given X-Golf's convenient location amid heavy foot traffic from the adjacent Whole Foods, Harbor Freight and Five Below.
Hourly rates range from $49 on weekday mornings and early afternoons to $69 on weekends. A full 18-hole round takes about 45 minutes to an hour per player. The list of nearly 50 courses -- with more to come -- includes a selection of highly regarded American classics (yes, Bethpage Black is there) and several lesser-known Asian layouts.
Reservations can be made at the X-Golf Commack website. Follow X-Golf's website and social media accounts for information about an official grand-opening date.
The Long Island Golf Junkies players group, one of the largest and most active groups in the region, will hold its second golf outing of the season on Monday, June 20 at The Hamlet Golf and Country Club in Commack. The "June Social" tees off at 11:00 a.m. and is open to all local players.
Entry fee is $130 per golfer and covers 18 holes with cart, plus range balls and LIGJ t-shirts. Spots can be reserved for singles and groups at the LIGJ website. It is an individual stroke play event with contests for closest to the pin and longest drive. Visit the LIGJ website for full registration details.
The Hamlet is a private club designed by Stephen Kay. Like Kay's other designs/redesigns at Willow Creek and Wind Watch, Hamlet is heavy on sand traps, and water comes into play on a half-dozen holes. Kay's work on the Island also includes restorations and renovations at prestigious clubs like Seawane and Cherry Valley, among others.
LIGJ hosts several formal outings, casual rounds and social meet-ups each season at both public courses and private clubs. Interested local golfers can become members via the Long Island Golf Junkies Facebook group.
Looking out from a flat, elevated square marked with dusty footprints, Jimmi Conway points toward a slender oasis in an expanse of tire-tracked sand, the pings of a bustling construction site echoing in the background. Four bunkers stand in line from left to right, their wavy edges framed by strips of green sod.
"I can see this becoming the signature hole," Conway says. "Picture what this will look like when it's all grown in."
Off to the right are the bare bones of a tumbling fairway, though all that's recognizable to the unfamiliar eye, at the moment, are three more sodded bunkers leading the way to a future green.
This square, possibly sometime next year, will be one of nine tee boxes at Heritage Spy Ring Golf Club in Setauket, soon to be the newest public course on Long Island and arguably the most ambitious public-golf project since Harbor Links was built on a reclaimed Port Washington sand mine nearly a quarter-century ago. The tee will start players on the 145-yard seventh, and the downhill fairway will be the closer, the dogleg par-5 ninth. Conway expects the high quality and appeal of these holes will leave Spy Ring's visitors counting down the days -- or maybe minutes -- until their next go-around.
Spy Ring, part of the newest residential development from Commack-based Heatherwood Luxury Rentals, is tentatively scheduled to debut in the second half of 2023 on the grounds of the former Heatherwood Golf Course. Named as an homage to the Culper Ring and the Setauket area's prominent role in covert ops during the American Revolution, it will be a full-length nine that can be stretched as long as 3,300 yards.
For many of its nearly 60 years, Heatherwood filled a niche as Long Island's only 18-hole executive course. The plan is for Spy Ring to also fill its own local niche -- that of a modern, fun-forward nine-hole destination on par with others that have attracted design enthusiasts and curious golfers to places like rural Tennessee and suburban Florida. There, imaginative architects took spent or outdated golf courses and spun them into darlings of the public-golf world with bold features, strategic design and a streamlined building process. Conway and Heatherwood president Christopher Capece think they've captured the same formula on the north shore of Suffolk County.
"This has a chance to be something special and unique for Long Island," Capece says. "I think this is going to be up on the same level with Sweetens Cove."
Tyler Rae is the man behind Spy Ring's design. Though young as far as golf architects go, Rae has a wealth of experience that includes work alongside Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (known locally for Friar's Head and East Hampton, of course), as well as Ron Prichard, Keith Foster and other acclaimed figures in the architecture field. His resume is a laundry list of restorations and renovations of Golden Age courses, heavy on Donald Ross classics, with some Flynns, Raynors and Tillinghasts thrown in as well. Spy Ring is one of his first solo designs, and he approached it with the heightened standards of Long Island golf in mind.
"Golf intellect is very high on Long Island," he says. "You can't just come in with Mickey Mouse bunkers and flat greens and expect to have success. Especially with a course like St. George's right down the street."
The enthusiasm for the project is hard to miss. Conway, the longtime director and general manager at both Pine Hills in Manorville and the Heatherwood course, says working on Spy Ring has provided a jolt of energy. Leading a walking tour on a sunny spring morning, Conway pauses to admire one of Rae's greenside bunkers at the par-3 fifth. "Sometimes you walk around here and wish you could just spend the day with a bucket of balls," he says. Capece stops on top of another perch to take in scenic views of rolling fairways and point out how the residences will blend into the course's background. All in the group rave about Rae's use of open approaches, contoured greens and run-off areas.
For Rae, designing the golf course he envisioned and maneuvering it around the shared property was a challenge. Initially he considered making the course a reversible nine, but that idea was scrapped over logistical concerns. He opted to go with a clockwise routing that begins on the flattest part of the site, a "handshake," he describes, to ease players into the round. Then Spy Ring "gets wild," beginning at #3, a straight, downhill par-5. Conway says the third tee is "where the course really starts," kicking off a steady build of interest and excitement with each hole.
Pandemic-related delays turned out to benefit the construction process. Rae and his team of builders had the time to personally shape every feature on the course to their exact specifications, so project costs remained low, a source of pride for the designer. The crew also stripped off all the topsoil from the site, leaving behind nothing but sand. ("Boy, it's going to be freakin' dry," Rae says with a laugh.) The course will be seeded with turfgrass adapted for sandy, firm-and-fast golf, and a state-of-the-art irrigation system will keep everything in balance. But golf balls will bound down fairways and roll over mounds, a rarity for Long Island publics.
"We set it up to be a turnkey firm-and-fast course," Rae says. "Very easy to maintain."
On the greens, Rae's internal contouring and funneling leave surfaces that will be fun without going over the top, unique but with enough restraint to make them appear as natural parts of the landscape. The green on #6, he says, is inspired somewhat by Seth Raynor's famous punchbowl at Fishers Island. The seventh has elements of a volcano par-3, a hole type often associated with Ross.
"There's a ton of variety in the greens, and plenty of pinnable space," he says. "Each one can play really easy or really hard."
To the experienced Long Island public player, Spy Ring might bring back memories of Gil Hanse's now-departed Tallgrass Golf Course in Shoreham, particularly the openness of the entire property and the creative introduction of elevation to a largely flat site (in Tallgrass's case, a former sod farm). Some might look at the bunkering on the par-5 ninth and draw parallels to #13 on Bethpage Black, where a center trap is farther from the green than it appears from afar.
Whatever comparisons and thoughts players have in mind when they walk off that ninth hole, Rae simply hopes fun is at the forefront.
"I want people to come off the course saying, 'I enjoyed those nine holes, and I can't wait to play them again.'"
[PICTURED -- TOP RIGHT: View from the par-3 seventh tee; TOP LEFT: The par-5 ninth tumbles downhill before turning left for the final approach; BOTTOM RIGHT: After a flat start, Spy Ring brings elevation change into the mix starting at the downhill par-5 third; BOTTOM LEFT: The last of three fairway traps is farther from the green than it appears on the par-5 ninth. The green is located near the trees at center.]
The golf grounds crew at Bethpage State Park was as busy as ever this past offseason, making sure its five public golf courses rebound nicely from the 250,000 rounds played in 2021 and preparing them for another quarter million likely to be scheduled this coming season. Much of the work, however, won't be immediately noticeable to the locals and visitors who line up at the park each day.
Bethpage reopened in full three weeks ago with the Black Course's 2022 debut, and with no major hole modifications like in recent years, the park's headline attraction underwent some necessary infrastructure improvements, according to superintendent and director of agronomy Andrew Wilson. The irrigation system on holes #15 and #16 were completely renovated, Wilson says, allowing for better water coverage and healthier turf.
The biggest change to hole layout is over on the Yellow Course, where the par-3 14th is significantly less sandy than it was when most players last saw it in the fall. The front-right bunker was eliminated, replaced in part by an extension of the grassy approach area and a smaller sand trap built closer to the green. Wilson says the previous bunker had fallen into disrepair.
"In the past we've renovated bunkers in the style of the Black Course and the results have not held up over time," Wilson says. "While spectacular upon completion, the bunkers get more play than on the Black but have smaller crews to maintain them."
Wilson also says the trap (pictured above, pre-renovation) was overly deep and penal for Yellow Course players. "I don't think having a golfer miss 20 yards short into a bunker 20 feet below the green did pace of play any favors," he says.
If the weather cooperates in the 2022-23 offseason, the crew plans to renovate #14's front-left bunker in similar fashion.
Elsewhere around the park, maintenance crews focused on removing trees and other growth to open up views and improve airflow and turf health. At Green #7, the crew removed a tangle of vines behind the tee, a subtle change that should strengthen the adjacent turf. They pruned branches and eliminated invasive trees ahead at #11, opening up the short par-3.
"We did some similar pruning on Red #4," Wilson says, "which allows use of the whole tee and vastly improves the look of the hole."
The Black Course will host the New York State Open and the Met Open later this year. "For the grounds crew, these tournaments serve as great training and help us prepare for future majors and daily play alike," Wilson says.
Spring aeration wraps up this week, with the Blue Course closed today and the Green closed May 4 and 5.
View photos of the offseason and ongoing renovations by visiting Wilson's and Bethpage Golf's Twitter pages at @Greensideup17 and @BethpageGolf.
[Red #4 photo above courtesy of Andrew Wilson]
Eisenhower Park's Red Course began its new 2022 season this past weekend, and those who ventured out to Westbury amid cool, windy conditions were the first to get a look at the Red's revamped holes, most notably the no-longer-par-4 seventh.
Changes have been afoot at Eisenhower Red for more than a year -- it was this time last spring when word began to circulate that a new tee and green were marked for construction at #7. Now an entirely new hole is in play. Once a straight 452-yard par-4, Red #7 is now a lengthened par-5 that doglegs right toward the new surface. The green slopes downhill from center to front, according to GOLI's Eisenhower insider Rob Toffolo, and a spacious bunker sits on its right. A new back tee near the perimeter fence is fully built and cleared of trees.
Meanwhile, #7's former green is still being converted to fairway, and lift, clean and place rules are currently in play.
Much more of a surprise are changes made to the par-4 11th. That hole, which features three different left, center and right tee chutes, now sports a series of four bunkers along the fairway's right side. This weekend the longest (left) tees were used, stretching the hole to its maximum length and pointing tee shots toward the new traps. Even drives that stay out of the sand are in danger of settling into sidehill lies on new mounding between the bunkers, Toffolo says.
At the Red's opening hole, an official shortening from reachable par-5 to a 413-yard par-4 is still in progress.
The changes continue the century-old Red's long tradition of hole rerouting and alteration, often done on the fly. Over time the Devereux Emmet classic has seen greens come and go, fairways added and removed, and new tees replace old ones. Next door on the White Course, park staff completely changed the identity of the Robert Trent Jones layout in 2017 by adding or remodeling dozens of shallow bunkers.
Check back throughout the season for further updates on changes at Eisenhower.
[Photos courtesy Rob Toffolo]
The Southampton-based Last Chance Animal Rescue will hold its eighth annual golf outing on Monday, August 1 at Mill Pond Golf Course in Medford. All proceeds from the event benefit the non-profit organization's efforts to rescue animals from inhumane kill shelters and relocate them to safe facilities and foster homes.
Entry fee is $175 per player and includes golf, cart and range balls along with on-course lunch, beverages and contests. Format for the outing is team scramble, with consecutive tee times beginning at 9:00 a.m. Once again a $10,000 par-3 hole-in-one prize will be up for grabs on Mill Pond's 179-yard tenth.
An early-bird registration discount is available until May 15. Register online at the outing website and be sure to submit your tee-time preferences. Official tee times will be announced in July.
To learn more about Last Chance Animal Rescue, including information on adoption, fostering and volunteering, visit the organization's website at www.lcarescue.org.
Great Rock Golf Club, the Wading River course that closed in 2019 and was sold to new owners last year, could reopen for play this spring, possibly by Memorial Day, according to staff.
The course, now dormant for nearly two and a half years, has undergone renovation and modification projects since its sale last May. In addition to general upkeep of the fairways and greens, maintenance crews have improved the irrigation and drainage systems, upgraded facilities to accommodate a new fleet of electric carts, and renovated bunkers and other areas of play. Trees have been removed from parts of the course, as well. The layout of the course is unchanged.
Still to come is a rebuild of the driving range. Visitors to the site today will find a driving range with torn-up grounds and tattered netting. The first and 18th holes appear to be in playable condition.
"When everything is finished, the course will be much better than what was here before," the staffer said.
Local owners Chris Vene and Anthony Lomangino purchased the course in May 2021, according to the Riverhead News-Review. Vene has an ownership stake in the nearby Baiting Hollow Golf Club in Baiting Hollow and The Vineyards Golf Club in Riverhead, as well as a golf course maintenance company. He told the News-Review that one of his goals is to provide Great Rock's players with a "member for the day" experience.
“So you go to Great Rock and you’re a member for the day,” he said. “You have a great facility, and you have access to the locker room, the sauna, the showers, the driving range. You can hit as many balls as you want and then, hopefully, get a great meal at the restaurant.”
The restaurant issue remains unsettled. Pure North Fork closed prior to the course's shutdown in 2019, four years after a major investment that transformed the dining space previously occupied by Blackwells into a modern, locally focused bistro.
Great Rock's return will be a much-needed win for local players in a part of Long Island that has lost several courses in recent years, most notably Tallgrass in 2017. Great Rock opened in 2001 on hilly terrain north of Sound Avenue in Wading River and came to be known for extremely fast greens and an upscale yet laid-back atmosphere. Its namesake rock, dug up during the course's construction, sits next to #10 green. The course briefly closed in the 2013-14 offseason and reopened a few months later under new owners.
In 2019, word started to circulate that the conditions at Great Rock were deteriorating. Dozens of local players posted reviews and photos on platforms like Golf Advisor detailing a neglected golf course with crabgrass-covered fairways and bunkers, bare greens and unmowed rough. In October, Great Rock suddenly closed for the year with little notice. Aside from a vague Facebook post last spring about a potential reopening, the course has remained silent.
[Pictured: Great Rock clubhouse in March 2022.]
