Spring Lake's junior golf special is back this summer, offering Long Island kids the opportunity to tag along with an adult for nine holes at no cost.
On Wednesdays and Thursdays in July and August, kids under the age of 14 play a free round with each paying adult. The special covers nine holes on Spring Lake's Sandpiper Course, home to the facility's namesake lake and signature hole.
Book online at the Spring Lake website or call the course at (631) 924-5115 for additional info and reservations. Cart fees are not included, proper attire is required.
For more information on Spring Lake's Sandpiper Course, check out the course flyover.
The parking lot is paved with lines painted. A new sign stands at the entrance, and a "Now Hiring" banner waves at the top of the three-story building's nearly finished exterior. Topgolf Long Island -- New York's first in the international golf/entertainment chain -- is nearing its debut.
There is no official opening date just yet, but barring any surprise delays, Topgolf Long Island will open in mid-summer just west of Nicolls Road in Holtsville. Brookhaven Town Councilman Kevin LaValle told Golf On Long Island this week that the company still projects a grand opening between late July and the first half of August.
"Turf is down, and the exterior is just about done," LaValle said. "Things are moving along quickly."
On site, there is plenty of activity as construction workers, contractors and employees move in and out of the fully Topgolf-branded facility. A look through the glass-paneled walls reveals ground-floor hitting bays with couches and TV screens, with bright-green turf and target flags in the distance. Netting is complete and stands prominently over the Long Island Expressway at exit 62.
Behind the scenes Topgolf is currently hiring for food-service, cleaning and maintenance positions. In its initial project announcement, Topgolf estimated it would bring 500 jobs to Suffolk County.
The triple-tiered Holtsville range will offer 102 climate-controlled hitting bays with TVs, food/drink service and WiFi, as well as live music, year-round events, golf instruction and dining, in addition to the innovative, arcade-style targets and gaming features that Topgolf facilities are known for. It will also include private rooms for corporate events and parties.
According to price information on the Topgolf website, hourly rates for each bay range from $40 to $60 depending on time of day, with half-price rates available on Tuesdays. Bays are designed to accommodate up to six players.
SEE ALSO:
Topgolf Long Island moving quickly toward possible August opening
Progress at Topgolf site ahead of projected summer 2021 opening
Topgolf Long Island opening now expected for summer 2021
Long Island Topgolf taking shape in Holtsville
A New Decade of Long Island Golf, Part 1 -- A Changed Landscape, On and Off the Course
Topgolf inches closer to to first Long Island location with latest board approval
Street names can give clues about a community's past. That's especially true with golf courses. When Long Island streets are tagged with golf-related terms, it often means that buried beneath sidewalks and front lawns are the remains of a long-forgotten (or fondly remembered) course.
This series of posts will look back at courses that have been gone for decades, some close to a century, and whose presence is only marked by what developers scratched on road maps and signs. To see other courses in the "Street Names: The Ghosts of Long Island Golf's Past" series, click the links at the bottom of the post.
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A tiny minority of Long Islanders have the rare ability to walk off their front porches onto a street boasting the name of a famed U.S. Open golf course, turn onto the home of The Masters and loop around to a cul-de-sac titled for another historic American golf club. There are golf course views and access to pools, a spa, a rec center -- no, it's not a golf resort, but it's close.
The Meadowbrook Pointe Links and Spa retirement community in Medford is the next-door neighbor of Mill Pond Golf Course, and beyond its front gates weave residential streets like Augusta Drive, Pebble Beach Road and Cypress Pointe Court. Many of the large, modern homes look out over Mill Pond's lengthy 12th and 18th fairways.
Not long ago, the land beneath those homes and roads shared a much more intimate relationship with Mill Pond, because it was Mill Pond -- its East Course, to be exact, the third nine of what for a brief time in the early 2000s was a 27-hole golf facility.
Today Mill Pond is a popular 18-hole destination, but when it opened in 1999, it featured three distinct nine-hole layouts. The North, West and East courses were designed by Buddy Johnson and built over what was previously flat Medford farmland. From that level ground emerged a links-style course complete with mounds and dales, tall rough and a heavy wind presence. The complex featured six large ponds, three of which rippled peacefully on the East Course.
Like its sister courses, Mill Pond East dotted its fairways with small, round bunkers and protected its greens with larger traps and diagonal approaches. Some holes flipped the script, pitting the fairways instead with big, irregular traps and carving pot bunkers near the greens. Three holes required tee shots over or around the ponds, including the short par-3 seventh.
The East Course enjoyed only a fleeting moment along Mill Road, though. While play on the other 18 holes carried on, by 2006 Mill Pond closed and abandoned the East. For several seasons the fairways and greens deteriorated in plain sight, until builders finally broke ground in 2010 on the new Meadowbrook residences.
In addition to Pebble, Cypress and Augusta, the community also honors more modern American golf meccas with streets named for Pacific Dunes and Sand Hills.
Fun fact: Early in Mill Pond East's short run, two residential streets were built near the southern end of the course-- Tee Box Court and Mulligan Drive.
[PICTURED: Mill Pond Golf ad, circa 2005.]
SEE OTHER STREET-NAME POSTS:
Part 1: Cedar Point/Meadowlawn/Westwood -- North Woodmere
Part 2: The Lido Club -- Lido Beach
Part 3: Valley Stream Country Club -- Valley Stream
Part 4: Sayville Golf Club -- Sayville
Part 5: Riverhead Country Club -- Riverhead
The clock is ticking on the Tam O'Shanter Club in Brookville, and public golfers have access to tee times this summer and fall at the formerly private golf course, which is shutting down for residential development later this year. Reservations are available only on GolfNow.
Standard-rate tee times range from $75 to $105 with cart. A small daily selection of GolfNow's popular "Hot Deals" are priced as low as $68 per player.
Located next door to Long Island Lutheran High School in a quiet corner of Brookville, Tam O'Shanter is scheduled to close for good on November 1, if not sooner, just shy of its 60th-anniversary season. The course debuted in 1962 during a heavy golf-building boom on Long Island. It was reportedly constructed in just three months by Long Island course builder Charles Martin and a 64-man crew.
The club was sold in 2019 to Titan Golf LLC, an operator that specializes in rehabilitating financially challenged private clubs. Titan's owners are in the middle of a long-standing battle with the Town of Hempstead over similar development of The Woodmere Club, a century-old country club purchased in 2017. Woodmere's golf course was abandoned last year.
Public feedback on GolfNow has been mixed so far at Tam O'Shanter. Some players have complained about delayed tee times due to cart shortages; others describe a facility with few amenities and minimal maintenance.
A new ownership group that includes a part-owner of two Riverhead-area golf clubs is preparing to resurrect the dormant Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River, according to an article published last week in the Riverhead News-Review.
The sale to Chris Vene and Anthony Lomangino was expected to close this past week on May 27, wrote the News-Review's Tim Gannon. 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 that would service Great Rock.
Vene told the News-Review that a priority of the reopened golf course would be providing a "member for the day" experience.
[Vene] said some people might not play that often or might not be able to afford membership costs at other clubs.
“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.”
As for who will operate the restaurant, Mr. Vene said, “We’re working on it,” adding that he has interviewed “multiple local restaurateurs.” -- Tim Gannon, Riverhead News-Review, 5/18/2021
Great Rock abruptly closed in October 2019 amid rumors of a sale, some naming Vene as a potential buyer. The closure capped an abbreviated season filled with player complaints about course conditions, lack of maintenance and limited facilities. The course immediately began promoting its 2020 season, though the course never reopened.
Last month, Great Rock dropped vague clues of a potential return on its Facebook page.
Vene, who lives near the course, said he plans to meet with neighbors after the sale to discuss their concerns. One long-standing issue has been noise from weddings and other events held in the club's temporary outdoor tent, though Great Rock was granted town approval last year to expand its clubhouse.
A golf course reopening date is not available at the moment. Stay tuned to Golf On Long Island this spring and summer for updates on the course.
Long Island junior golfers with an eye on competing at Augusta National can start the journey to Georgia today by registering for local qualifying rounds of the annual Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, to be held this summer at three area golf courses.
Qualifying rounds for the 2021-22 Drive, Chip & Putt Championship will be held in July at Harbor Links in Port Washington (July 7), Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park (July 19) and the private Colonial Springs Golf Club in Farmingdale (July 20). The event, which is made possible by the United States Golf Association, the PGA of America and the Masters Tournament, is open to boys and girls from age 7 to 15. It gives juniors in all 50 states the opportunity to qualify at local courses and compete for a chance to play in a televised championship at Augusta National on the eve of The Masters.
Top performers at the Long Island qualifiers will advance to the sub-regional round, scheduled for August 22 at the Town of Colonie Golf Course near Albany. The eighty open spots at the Augusta championship -- 40 boys and 40 girls -- will then be determined at regional finals.
Participation in the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship is free. Players accumulate points for performance in driving, chipping and putting challenges. Complete competition rules, eligibility requirements and scoring outlines are available at the Drive, Chip & Putt website.
Bethpage State Park is updating its tee-time policy starting next week in order to address the "supply and demand" issue that has escalated since the start of the pandemic last spring. Golfers in the online reservation queue typically outnumber available tee times by hundreds on a daily basis, according to the park.
According to a notice distributed by the park this weekend, Bethpage will limit tee-time account holders to four reservations per week on the Red, Blue, Green and Yellow courses, and extend the cancellation window for all courses from six hours to 12, in an attempt to make tee times available to more golfers. Changes will go into effect on Sunday, May 23.
The Black Course policy of one reservation every 28 days will not change.
"It's simply an issue of supply and demand," according to the park notice. "Way more golfers available to play and no way to increase the number of available reserved times without compromising course conditions and/or pace of play." The park says nearly 500 people log on to the online system each night to book fewer than 200 tee times per day for the following week.
Total rounds at Bethpage increased over the previous year by nearly 25,000 in spring/summer 2020 despite intermittent closures at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Rounds at all Long Island state parks jumped by more than 40,000 in the same time frame.
Tee times are made available through the NYS Parks online portal. Golfers register on the site and can book tee times at any state park, subject to residency restrictions and current tee-time policies. For more information, visit NYS Parks.
With coronavirus restrictions loosening around the state, you can expect to see a return to outings, food-and-golf specials and more at area golf courses. Pine Hills in Manorville is offering a Nine and Dine outing this Wednesday, May 19 with tee times scheduled between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.
Nine holes with cart followed by a chicken, filet mignon or skirt steak dinner is $70 per person. Reservations can be made through the Pine Hills pro shop. Call (631) 878-7103 or stop by the Manorville course.
Pine Hills is a driver-friendly course and one of a small handful of Long Island publics to measure more than 7,000 yards from the tips. For more on Pine Hills, check out the course flyover.
The nets are up at Topgolf Long Island, and the company's familiar graphics adorn the building's facade. New York's first location of the nationwide golf and entertainment chain is starting to resemble the new-age driving range local golfers have been waiting for, looking down over the Long Island Expressway in Holtsville.
After years of speculation followed by Covid-era delays, Topgolf Long Island is entering the stretch run, and the finish line, according to Brookhaven Town Councilman Kevin LaValle, is a summer 2021 debut. In recent weeks, construction crews put the range netting in place, prepped the ground for Topgolf's targets and gadgetry, and paved access roads and parking areas along the LIE's north service road. LaValle says the company is likely shooting for an August opening, if not sooner given how quickly construction has progressed.
"There is so much excitement for this project," LaValle says. "Every day I have people asking me about Topgolf."
The councilman is planning a walk-through of the facility in June once crews build out the interior of the building. By then, LaValle expects Topgolf to begin filling the 500 jobs the company projected to bring to Suffolk County in its initial announcement. "They'll need to begin hiring soon so that their employees are trained and prepared for an opening this summer," he says.
The triple-tiered Holtsville range will offer 102 climate-controlled hitting bays with TVs, food/drink service and WiFi, as well as live music, year-round events, golf instruction and dining, in addition to the innovative, arcade-style targets and gaming features that Topgolf facilities are known for. It will also include private rooms for corporate events and parties.
SEE ALSO:
Progress at Topgolf site ahead of projected summer 2021 opening
Topgolf Long Island opening now expected for summer 2021
Long Island Topgolf taking shape in Holtsville
A New Decade of Long Island Golf, Part 1 -- A Changed Landscape, On and Off the Course
Topgolf inches closer to to first Long Island location with latest board approval
Friend of Golf On Long Island Rob Toffolo walked away from a recent round at Eisenhower Park's Red Course with interesting information about scheduled alterations to the century-old layout, some of which are currently in the early construction stages.
Two holes on the Red's front nine are in line for future modifications, and it won't take long during a round for golfers to notice the difference. New tees will soon be added on #1, according to park staff, shortening the par-5 opener by about 40 yards and reintroducing it as a lengthy par-4. Farther ahead at #7, park crews have already started clearing trees and marking ground for a project that will stretch the 452-yard par-4 into a slightly doglegged par-5.
When complete, the new teebox at #7 will be set way back near the perimeter fence along Salisbury Park Road, about 25 yards behind the current back tee. Flags currently mark the site of #7's future green, to be situated farther back and to the right of the present surface. The end result will likely be a shade over 500 yards with a late-turning dogleg that fits with the rest of the Red Course's long, bending fairways.
Hole realignments and redirected fairways are nothing new to the Red, of course -- especially the front nine, which has undergone a strange set of changes over time. Back in 2010 GOLI highlighted the Red's ghost greens at #4 and #6, each of which served as alternative targets at one time or another before being removed from the rotation. While old #6 is now long gone, the alternate #4 green -- once dubbed hole #4A on scorecards back when it was in use -- was recently restored with new bunkers and briefly used as a stand-in for the par-3 fifth while that hole was under repair. Otherwise it has mostly sat idly behind small trees.
And you cannot discuss realigned holes at Eisenhower Red without mentioning #2, where the longtime par-3 was paired up with an alternate par-4 back in the 1990s, an awkward 90-degree dogleg that's shoehorned between overhanging trees. Thankfully the par-3 remains the primary hole there.
For more on Eisenhower Red, a Devereux Emmet original and home of the 1926 PGA Championship, check out the course flyover.
[PICTURED: New #7 tee under construction near Salisbury Park Road.]
