Golf on Long Island

Junior golfers play free this Saturday at New York State Parks courses

Take your junior golfers to the nearest state park for nine or 18 holes this Saturday -- New York State is picking up the green fee.

This Saturday, July 20, is Free Youth Golf Day, a statewide event that Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this spring as New York welcomed the PGA Championship to the crown jewel of NYS Parks golf courses, Bethpage Black.  All players 18 and under are entitled to a free round of golf at all state parks, five of which are on Long Island -- Bethpage, Montauk Downs, Robert Moses, Sag Harbor and Sunken Meadow. 

"We want to encourage and grow the sport of golf in New York.  To help encourage that, the State is going to sponsor an event on July 20 where anyone under the age of 18 years old can golf for free at any of our state facilities," Governor Cuomo said back in May. "It's a nice way to get young people out to experience the game, and I think once they experience it and they understand it, they will be hooked."

Golfers must be New York State residents to participate.  Cart fees, range balls and food/drinks are not included in the promotion.

For a full list of state-park golf courses, see the Free Youth Golf Day info page.

Flyover: Smithtown Landing Country Club

Here's a general rule of thumb about golf courses on Long Island -- the closer you get to Long Island Sound, the more likely it is that you'll square off in an 18-hole battle with hilly, tumbling terrain.  Up in Kings Park, not far from where the Nissequogue River flows into the Sound, Smithtown Landing Country Club is ready to duke it out.

Smithtown Landing is a town-owned municipal course sporting an up-and-down layout that culminates with one of the most dramatically sloped closing holes on Long Island.  It's hillier than its north shore neighbor courses at nearby Sunken Meadow and Crab Meadow and plays longer than the modest 6,199 yards measured from the tips. 

Besides the terrain, what contributes to Smithtown's challenging 18 is the persistent threat of closely looming treelines.  Areas of forgiving width are scarce around the course, putting a premium on accuracy and control on nearly every shot.  The course features small greens closely surrounded by rough, and a relatively high frequency of internal out-of-bounds -- all the more reason to have some semblance of control over your ball flight as you set out upon the hills of Smithtown.

LAYOUT:
Smithtown Landing begins with one of its many dogleg par-4s, this one an uphill climb that bends to the right.  Trees line both sides of the fairway at and beyond the turn, so position on the left is key to ensuring a clear shot at the green.  The putting surface is relatively small with mounding around the back and sides that give this green -- and several others around the course -- a mini-amphitheater effect.  The same goes for the par-3 second, a 145-yarder (185 from the tips) with rough that slopes down toward a broader green.  Getting caught on these sidehills can make up-and-downs for par a real test.

You can breathe easy on the 260-yard third, which presents one of very few wide-open tee shots (just don't miss badly to the right and go careening down onto the adjacent par-3 course).  You'll need your strength up ahead at the par-5 fourth, a 580-yard behemoth that requires two mighty clouts and an accurate approach.  The first segment of fairway narrows between trees before opening up to a roomier second half, all while the green waits way out, seemingly on the horizon, a tiny target (pictured right) sitting behind stands of tall trees and a gully.  Offline approaches are subject to ricochet, blocked recoveries and hillside bounces into the unknown.

The sixth is a much more forgiving par-5 -- at just 450 yards, the hole merely asks for a solid drive down the middle in return for a coveted opportunity to reach in two.  The fairway turns a bit to the left and runs downhill before rising again toward a plateau green.  Two straight par-4s over level ground bring the front nine to an unadventurous close.  A pair of bunkers guard the approach to the 300-yard eighth, while closely encroaching trees loom on both sides of the ninth fairway.  The 360-yard ninth offers a flat green and a scenic, high-altitude view of the club.

Players ease into the back nine with a tee shot toward a diagonal fairway on the 273-yard tenth.  A little touch is required on the short approach, as there's a bunker in front and just about zero real estate to accommodate misses long.  Ahead at #11 is the first of Smithtown's two back-side par-3s, both of which feature tiered greens.  The 11th is the shorter of the two, measuring 145 yards from the middle (180 from the tips) with a ridge separating the lower front half from the raised back half.  The 180-yard 16th requires a solid long iron to get over the trio of small front-side traps and reach an upper-tier back pin.

Two par-5s on the back move to the left and sport heavily sloped fairways.  The 469-yard 12th is another scoring opportunity not only because of its modest yardage, but also because it offers the roomiest tee shot on the course.  The fairway here is wide, spacious and pitched from left to right.  You'll want to take advantage because the second shot needs to clear a cross bunker directly in front of the green.  The 465-yard 14th takes a much harder turn to the left with a slope that filters balls to the outside of the bend.  You can try cutting the corner a bit, but beware of internal out-of-bounds on the left side.

In terms of terrain, and hopefully not your score, it's all downhill from the 17th tee.  The 320-yard par-4 drops steadily from tee to green -- any well-struck shot should find its way down the slope and settle within a short pitch of the cup.  Take a par here and make your way to the memorable finisher (see below in Holes To Remember) with some momentum.

CONDITIONS:
With a couple of exceptions, most notably the cross bunker on the par-5 12th and the traps on #18, there is not a lot of sand protecting Smithtown's greens.  Or its fairways for that matter.  In fact, the course has filled in a handful of greenfront traps over the past decade.  Still, there are not many opportunities to send runners up onto the undersized greens because many of them are cut off from the ends of the fairways by rough, or in cases like the par-5s #4 and #6, by gullies.  The greens, most of them small, need to be taken by air.

Not surprisingly, there are a noticeable amount of unrepaired ball marks on many of Smithtown's greens. 

Given the high volume of play as a town muni and the wooded nature of the layout, pace of play seems to be a common concern among longtime players.

It's important to note that Smithtown has a significant amount of internal OB, something to consider when trying to cut corners on doglegs.  The right side of #1 (aka #10 fairway) is out of bounds, and so is the left side of #18.  Though the par-5 14th is fairly wide open throughout the rough inside the bend, shots that stray just a bit too far left -- even if easily found and playable -- will be subject to penalty.

HOLE(S) TO REMEMBER:
Smithtown Landing boasts one of the top closing holes among Long Island publics.  The 18th is a fitting conclusion to a round played over such dramatic hillsides.  At 390 from the tips and 360 from the middle, #18 makes a near right-angle turn to the left about halfway home, diving straight downhill toward a tiered green.  There are two ways to play it -- aim straight out from the tee and leave yourself a downhill approach from the 150-yard marker, or take an aggressive line over the corner and let the slope pull your ball closer to the green.  No matter what you choose, you will have a clean look from above at the course's most heavily bunkered putting surface (one big trap short, small ones long) and its only water hazard (right of the green).  Unmowed mounds also come into play near the hazard.  The upper tier on this wide green is on the right side -- given the trouble that lurks to the right, point the final approach to the lower left half.

AREAS TO AVOID:
Anyone with a propensity to miss left could have a problem on #7, a straightforward par-3 with some breathing room on the right but just about none left of the pin.  The hole is 160 yards from the middle tees, and to the left, a very slim sand trap sits below the green.  Beyond that, nothing but dense foliage, though white stakes save you the trouble of searching for a ball that's likely unplayable anyway.

OTHER NOTES:
Smithtown Landing also features a par-3 "Learning Links" nine-hole course situated at the center of the property.

Deer sightings are common, and there is plenty of tall, unkempt grass beneath the trees, so use caution to avoid ticks, especially when searching for balls beyond the rough.

NEARBY COURSES:
Sunken Meadow State Park -- Red/Green/Blue (6 miles)
Stonebridge Golf Links (7 miles)
Crab Meadow (9 miles)

SIMILAR COURSES:
Crab Meadow Golf Course
Town of Oyster Bay Golf Course
Great Rock Golf Club

CONTACT:
495 Landing Ave., Smithtown 11787
(631) 979-6534
www.smithtownlandingcc.com

Have thoughts and opinions on Smithtown Landing?  Share them with other Golf On Long Island readers by posting in the comments section below.

Pine Ridge planning Hawaiian-themed golf outing and party on July 13

The sounds of Oahu will filter through the pines of Coram next weekend when Pine Ridge Golf Club hosts a Hawaiian Luau Golf Classic on Saturday, July 13.

Guests are encouraged to sport their Hawaiian-style beachwear as they play 18 on Pine Ridge's challenging, tree-lined layout, beginning with a shotgun start at 2 p.m.  After the round, a 7 p.m. dinner and luau includes an authentic Hawaiian buffet with beer and wine, plus live music.

Registration for the full event is $75 per golfer with cart and range balls, and $35 for party-only guests.  Sign up online at the Pine Ridge website or call the course at (631) 331-7930.

For more on Pine Ridge, check out the course flyover.

Golf with the Islanders at Bethpage for 12th annual Children's Foundation Golf Outing

The on-ice makeup of the New York Islanders might be changing today on Free Agent Frenzy Day but the team's focus on raising money for Long Island's children remains unchanged and as strong as ever.

The 12th annual Islanders Children's Foundation (ICF) Golf Outing will take place on Bethpage State Park's Red and Blue courses on Tuesday, September 10.  As usual, participants will get the opportunity to take their shots alongside Islander players, coaches and alumni.  The event raises more than $100,000 each year.

Tee time for the outing is 12 noon.  Following a pre-round brunch, each foursome will go out with an Islander as the fifth member of their group.  The $750 entry fee ($2,900 for a foursome) also includes BBQ lunch on the course, a cocktail party and dinner reception after the round where guests can bid on team memorabilia and unique fan experiences.

Since its inception in 2003, the Islanders Children's Foundation has raised more than $13 million for various efforts to support children in the Long Island community.  For more information, visit the ICF website.

To register the event or for information on sponsorship, see the event brochure on the Islanders website or contact Ann Rina at (516) 501-6870.

Bethpage and Montauk named to Golfweek's 2019 "Best Courses You Can Play" list

Golfweek released its 2019 Best Courses You Can Play ranking last month, a familiar list of various New York golf courses all filling in spots in the state's top 15 behind the long-untouched leader, Bethpage Black.

Bethpage Black, Bethpage Red and Montauk Downs once again represent Long Island in Golfweek's annual ranking of the top publicly accessible courses in each state.  Bethpage Red, a constant in New York's top 10, settled in this year at #7.  One spot back at #8 is its state-park sister course Montauk Downs, up from #13 in the 2018 list.

With a fourth staple of the annual Golfweek list -- Tallgrass Golf Course in Shoreham -- now part of Long Island golf's past, the only other course of local interest is the high-end NYC muni Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, which is ranked #2 in the state.

Bethpage Black also placed #25 in Golfweek's ranking of the Top 200 Classic Courses built prior to 1960.  The host of the 2019 PGA Championship is listed ahead of vaunted clubs like Garden City (28), Maidstone (33) and Piping Rock (39), while Shinnecock Hills, National Golf Links and Fishers Island each cracked 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.

[PICTURED: Bethpage Black #8 at the 2019 PGA Championship.]

A half-century in East Rock: Nassau muni Bay Park in the midst of its 50th-anniversary season

It's a special season at Bay Park Golf Course, though you won't find any milestones announced on a banner billowing over the park entrance or stretched across the facade of the course's faceless, utilitarian brick clubhouse.  There are no anniversary logos printed on hats and polos, no leather-bound books to chronicle the course's half-century beside the bay in East Rockaway.  No turn-back-the-clock green-fee specials with yesteryear pricing, for sure.  And if even a small handful of local golfers are aware that Bay Park made its debut the same year as Joe Namath's guarantee and the Miracle Mets, it likely won't come up in conversation. 

What you can bank on though is a scanned Leisure Pass, a point in the direction of the first tee and another day of basic nine-hole golf with local youngsters, seniors and all the groups of novices in between.

Bay Park has quietly gone about its business serving Nassau golfers since 1969, making this its 50th-anniversary season.  Tucked away at the southern edge of a recently rejuvenated Bay Park complex that's just about unrecognizable to even the longest of longtime visitors, the golf course itself remains a familiar throwback, its hilltop first and second greens standing tall behind a chain-link fence, leading golfers toward the bay.

With the golf world slowly readjusting its focus more toward accessible public and municipal golf for all, there's a certain charm to functional Bay Park and its Nassau County Parks brethren at North Woodmere, Cantiague and Christopher Morley.  Bay Park is free of pizzazz.  There are no dramatic, stylishly shadowed photos of its greens, few travel more than a couple of minutes to play it, and those who do swing by don't record their visit with pristinely filtered social-media tales.  It's simply golf pared down to its core -- grandkids learning the game with grandfathers, little sister swinging alongside big brother, groups of young friends and groups of seniors, all playing nine holes over 1,900-plus mostly flat yards at the neighborhood golf course.

Bay Park opened for play in 1969 on the site of a former dump with green fees of $1.25 on weekdays and $2 on weekends.  The course's debut wasn't without some Long Island-style political drama -- in December 1968, it was announced that Bay Park's spring opening would be postponed due to budget cuts.  So that spring and summer, with the course already built and prepared for play, it sat empty except for a crew completing the clubhouse building and a single greenskeeper tending to the grass.  Meanwhile, local residents and community groups bombarded the office of Nassau County Executive Eugene Nickerson with complaints, per Newsday.

When a reworked budget "found" some money to cover operating costs, the golf course opened in late summer.  Unlike today's course, the 1969 version was equipped with light stanchions that would allow for night play.  "I used to hit those poles all the time," says William Kienke, who lived near the course on Rhame Avenue.  "Big wooden poles like the ones on the way to Jones Beach.  Great ricochet."

Another East Rockaway resident at the time recalls how it was impossible to track the flight of the ball once it went above the lights during nighttime rounds.  Night golf at Bay Park, however, was very short-lived -- due to issues with water pressure, soil moisture and wiring, the lights rarely worked as designed.  "The lights were terrible and didn't last too long," he says.  "After they took the lights down, they left the poles up for years, which made bad shots even worse."

The course has seen its highs and lows over the half century.  It opened near the tail end of the 1960s/early-1970s Long Island golf growth spurt that introduced dozens of modern public and private courses and nearly all of today's county municipal layouts.  Long Island began to shed courses through the 1980s, but once the Tiger Woods era boomed in the late '90s, Bay Park, like most other courses, was jammed.  As Tiger took the golf world by storm, waits to get on Bay Park's 299-yard opening par-4 were often measured in hours. 

Valley Stream native Matt Krantweiss played Bay Park in between two-a-day soccer practices nearby at Valley Stream South High School in the late summers of 1997 and 1998.  "After morning practices we'd go over to Bay Park to get nine holes in before we had to be back in the afternoon," he says.  "The wait was so long, with so many groups waiting to tee off on each hole, we rarely could finish nine holes."

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy took down trees on the course and littered it with debris from boats docked nearby, along with other courses on the south shore that were submerged by ocean and bay waters.

Today, just about everything about the park has changed, including the access road that leads visitors down toward the course, though once on the fairways and greens, there's not much to tip off whether it's 1969 or 2019 -- save for the lack of light poles, of course.

For more on Bay Park, check out the course flyover.

National Women's Golf Day events planned at Willow Creek, Sunken Meadow

Tomorrow is National Women's Golf Day, and here on Long Island, a couple of facilities have on-course and off-course events on the schedule for women of all skill levels.

Willow Creek Golf & Country Club in Mount Sinai is offering a $40 tee-time special valid between 12 noon and 1:00 p.m.  In the evening, head golf pro Thomas Berry and general manager Robin Rasch will host a ladies' golf clinic at the range, which includes complimentary wine, for $25 per person.  The day will also include an open-forum discussion from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. with beer and wine tastings.  Reserve a spot by calling (631) 474-9200.

At Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park, for $50 golfers can choose either a nine-hole round with cart or a two-hour clinic with course staff, followed by some light bites and a social hour with fellow golfers.  Reserve a spot by calling (631) 544-0036.

Sunken Meadow is also hosting "Chicks, Chip and Sip Socials" on June 7 and June 21, bringing together short-game practice and wine.  Contact the course for details and reservations.

National Women's Golf Day is a one-day international event giving girls and women the opportunity to practice or play golf in a fun, relaxed environment and engage with others interested in golf.  For more information, visit the Women's Golf Day website.

Original Lido Club featured on Golf Channel, golf history podcast

Amid its wall-to-wall PGA Championship coverage at Bethpage Black earlier this week, the Golf Channel aired a short but fascinating six-minute feature on a lesser-known Long Island golf powerhouse, one that's long gone but certainly not forgotten by followers of golf history.

The segment covered the original Lido Club (1914-1942) with insight provided by Connor Lewis of the Society of Golf Historians and golf architect Jim Urbina, both of whom have extensively researched the C.B. Macdonald classic, a course considered by many during its brief peak to be among the greatest golf courses ever built.  Last year, Lewis walked the routing of the original club, tracing the locations of its famous holes that are now buried beneath Lido Beach homes and schools or part of Lido West Town Park.  Lewis even teed up a few shots on the site of the oceanfront par-3 eighth, now a public beach.  Lewis and Urbina walk through some of these locations in the segment.

Bringing all the black-and-white historical imagery to life are incredibly detailed computer renderings of the Lido produced by Peter Flory, a Michigan-based golfer with an appreciation for lost golf courses.  His work on the Lido has spanned hundreds of hours recreating the course using available photos, models and aerial images.  Much of his work to date has been published on the Golf Club Atlas discussion forum.

View the feature on the Golf Channel website.

This weekend, Lewis and Urbina went into deeper detail on Rod Morri's TalkinGolf History podcast:

In the podcast, Lewis, Urbina and Morri discuss the history of Lido as well as their exploration of the current site, efforts to recreate the course elsewhere, and the search for long-lost course photos taken by the family owners right before its WWII-era demise.

For additional info on the group's work, visit the Society of Golf Historians Twitter page.

And be sure to check out Golf On Long Island's previous coverage of the Lido Club:

A brief look back at the original Lido Golf Club in its "centennial" season
Street Names: The Ghosts of Long Island Golf's Past, Part 2 (Lido Club)
Newsday slideshow features 11 places that were formerly golf courses
Closer Look: Lido Golf Club #16

Also, the Lido Club is prominently featured in the photo-history book "Images of America: Long Island Golf" by GOLI's Phil Carlucci.  Follow the preceding link for more info or click the book image at the top of the page.

Willow Creek offering free green fee for PGA Championship ticketholders

Here's an added perk for locals and visitors who will be on site at Bethpage to see the world's best golfers compete in the PGA Championship.

Willow Creek Golf & Country Club in Mount Sinai is offering a free round to PGA ticketholders during Championship week, May 13-19.  Just show your official PGA ticket or pass and all you will pay is a cart fee.  The deal is valid all day Monday through Friday, and after 2 p.m. on the weekend.

Elsewhere, Bergen Point Golf Course in West Babylon is waiving tee-time restrictions for the month of May.  Residents and non-residents can book a round at the Suffolk County muni by calling the course directly at (631) 661-8282.  (Online tee times are still subject to residency rules.)

Swan Lake flips its two nines, now draws to a watery close

The course at Swan Lake Golf Club looks the same as always this 2019 season, with its roomy fairways and even roomier greens, but its scorecards sure don't.  Swan Lake flipped its front and back nines in April, a change sure to take many by surprise upon their first visit of the new year. 

Perhaps the most significant effect of the new routing is that it now concludes with what is arguably Swan Lake's most intimidating hole.  The new 18th, formerly #9, is a 373-yard par-4 with water along the entire right side.  The hazard even reaches across the far end of the fairway, serving as a deterrent for long drives and an ominous, penal presence on the round's final approach shots.

Swan Lake's equally testy -- albeit drier -- par-4, now arrives early in the round as #3.  The former 12th features an incredibly slim green sandwiched by two side bunkers.

For more on Swan Lake, check out the course flyover.

[PICTURED: Swan Lake's former seventh hole, a sharp-looking par-3 with hazards short and left, is now #16.]