The handful of public golf courses that close for the Long Island winter typically go dark between the end of Thanksgiving weekend and the middle of December. Some might hang on until Christmas week if warm weather lingers, but usually the only courses still open by then are the ones that welcome players year-round.
So, with that said, now's the time to get in the final swings on Long Island's seasonal golf courses, otherwise your next tee times at places like Eisenhower Red and Timber Point will be in early spring. With the exception of Bethpage Red and Black, all of the Island's seasonal courses reopen by the end of March.
The following golf courses will close for the 2024 season in the coming weeks:
Some courses have already closed for 2024, including:
Check back daily as other courses are added. And for more information on Long Island's winter season, stay tuned for our annual Winter Golf On Long Island primer.
Harbor Links Golf Course, a municipal golf facility owned by the Town of North Hempstead, will be operated by Brooke Holdings LLC starting in 2025, according to a Newsday report. Brooke Holdings LLC is owned by golf professional Kelley Brooke, who also operates the pro shops and instructional programs at several New York State and Town of Hempstead golf courses, including Bethpage State Park.
The agreement between North Hempstead and Brooke Holdings includes a 20-year contract and an expected $18 million in rent and revenue, reported Newsday's Joshua Needelman. The current contract with longtime operator Century Golf Partners will expire on December 31. North Hempstead's Town Board voted 4–3 in favor of the new agreement.
Brooke, the 2018 LPGA Professional of the Year and longtime contributor to The Golf Channel, has managed golf facilities across New York City and Long Island since the 1990s. In 2018 she took over operations of the pro shop and instruction at Bethpage State Park and immediately bolstered the facility's social media presence and marketing reach, then later became operator at Montauk Downs. Earlier this year Brooke began a 10-year contract with the Town of Hempstead to operate and rebrand the Lido and Merrick Road Park golf courses. Instructional programs at all four facilities are now marketed under the Golf Channel Academy with Kelley Brooke umbrella.
Harbor Links has been a fixture in Port Washington since its opening in a reclaimed sand mine in 1998. The 27-hole facility hosts a highly popular series of youth and adult instructional programs. There is no word yet on Brooke's plans for instruction or marketing at the course.
For the many Long Island golfers who do not play golf year-round, there is usually a distinct point where the golf season comes to an end. Some might call it a year at Halloween, others Thanksgiving. Some might end it the first time they put the heat on at home, others might end it at the year's first frost delay.
Only one of those particular times, however, comes with a slate of golf outings and events.
Local players consider Thanksgiving morning the border between fall golf and winter golf, and they celebrate the transition by layering up and hacking around a local scramble. Conditions are often dicey, but with the winter playing season only one blizzard away from getting wiped off the calendar, a brief November chill is tolerable.
Golf On Long Island will update the 2024 Thanksgiving slate of scrambles and shotgun starts as information is made available. All Thanksgiving outings are designed to get you home at a reasonable time for family and football. Listed below are many of this year's special holiday events (all are on Thanksgiving, November 28, unless otherwise noted). These outings tend to sell out very quickly, so it's best to book early.
Cherry Creek is offering 18 holes on the Links Course with cart, range balls, hot breakfast, raffles and on-course contests for $79 per player. Shotgun tee time is 8:30 a.m. Call (631) 369-6500 to register.
Crab Meadow is hosting a Turkey Trot that includes cart, range balls, breakfast, food and beer. Call the pro shop at (631) 757-8800 to register.
Harbor Links will host its 18th annual holiday Turkey Shoot. Registration and breakfast begin at 8:00 a.m., followed by a 9:00 shotgun tee time. Golf, cart and breakfast are $75 for Town of North Hempstead residents; $85 for non-residents. Call (516) 767-4816 to sign up.
Middle Island Country Club will tee off with a holiday shotgun start. Call (631) 924-3000 for details and reservations.
Mill Pond (pictured) will host its 17th annual Thanksgiving Turkey Shootout. Format is four-person team scramble. The event always sells out fast; book in person or by calling (631) 732-8249.
Pine Hills Golf & Country Club continues its tradition of hosting a holiday outing on Black Friday (November 29). This year's event includes cart, range and prizes for $85. Shotgun start is 9:30 a.m. Call (631) 878-7103 or visit the pro shop to sign up. Part of each outing fee benefits Toys for Tots.
Spring Lake Golf Club will host its annual Thanksgiving Day Shotgun, which includes breakfast and 18 holes. Tee time is 8:00 a.m. Cost is $80 per player due at registration. Call (631) 924-5115 for a spot.
Swan Lake's holiday outing begins with 7:00 a.m. breakfast and an 8:30 shotgun start. Beverages and BBQ will be available until 1:00. Entry fee is $70 and covers golf and cart only (food and drinks not included in fee). Call (631) 369-1818 to sign up.
Check back through November for updated information.
Two weeks to go this season at Bethpage Black before the vaunted course closes down for winter and begins the stretch run toward the Ryder Cup spotlight. When it opens again next spring, it will be rocking shorter rough, possibly some wider fairways and maybe a few other new tweaks.
The last day to play the Black Course is Monday, November 11. Its two neighbors, the Red Course and Green Course, will stay open through November and close at the end of play on Sunday, December 1. As usual, the Blue and Yellow courses will remain open through the winter, weather permitting.
These final two weeks will represent one of the last stretches of status quo before next year's tournament and a 2025 season that will be far from normal. The Black Course will close six weeks before the Ryder Cup, sometime in mid-August, and pavilions, practice areas, parking and other tournament facilities will occupy space on the other four courses, presumably for much of the summer. A schedule will be released early next year, but you can expect nine-hole play and modified 18-hole layouts during peak season.
Call the Bethpage golf office at (516) 249-0700 for offseason info on course conditions and availability.
Prepare to see massive drives and aggressive lines at next fall's Bethpage Black Ryder Cup.
The Black Course's notoriously lush rough, what the pros typically encounter during championship play at Bethpage, will be rocking quite the buzzcut when the Ryder Cup tees off nearly a year from now in late September 2025. More notably, it will be clipped shorter than what sleep-in-the-car Bethpage golfers experience when they set out on their Tuesday morning foursome.
At a press event for members of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association on Tuesday, longtime Black Course superintendent Mike Hadley said he expects the rough will be cut to a "thick but more playable" 2 1/4 inches during the three-day international tournament. Bethpage Black's rough typically measures 2 1/2 to 3 inches during regular public play, Hadley said, and more than 4 inches for events like the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.
"With shorter rough you get more birdies, which means more action," Hadley said.
The relatively tame rough will accommodate Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and the "team of bombers" he is expected to put together on the American side, one that has little interest in gouging irons out of a 5-inch tangle. Bradley also wants to tee off from as deep as the holes allow, Hadley said, the only exception being the par-3 17th. There, a stadium-style setup will include bleachers on the back of the teebox that envelop the American and European players and set up a potentially raucous conclusion to the tournament.
At #1, the newly built lower tee should coax many players, especially the Americans, to take a run at the green. The official Ryder Cup yardage on the dogleg-right opener is 397 yards.
Ryder Cup championship director Bryan Karns said a spacious grandstand will occupy the current #1 teebox and wrap completely around the first tee and 18th green. The setup will elevate the Ryder Cup's "one-of-a-kind first-tee experience," Karns said.
In addition to the tweaks already made on the Black Course, specifically this spring's bunker expansion and relocation on holes 5 and 13, Hadley said the sixth and seventh fairways could be widened per Bradley's preference. Rough will be maintained short throughout the 2025 season, meaning Long Island's public players will get a rare break on the course during the spring and early summer.
Bethpage park director Scott Matson said the Black Course will likely close six weeks prior to the Ryder Cup. Plans and schedules related to the other four Bethpage golf courses will be determined early next year.
The 2025 tournament will be played from September 26–28 and is the second Ryder Cup to be hosted at a New York course (Oak Hill, 1995).
Stars aligned in recent years to free Long Island's original Lido Club from grainy black-and-white photos and resurrect it halfway across the country at Wisconsin's Sand Valley. Now it seems they might be positioning themselves again to inspire another Golden Age rebirth, one that stays right here on the Island's south shore.
The restoration of Timber Point, for decades a far-off fantasy confined mostly to circles of golf historians and design enthusiasts, is making its way toward reality. Peter Ganley, assistant to Suffolk County Parks Commissioner John Giannott, is leading an effort that would bring the course a century back in time to golf's architectural Golden Age, when Timber Point was a sand-swept 18-hole course designed by Charles Alison. Golf writer Daniel Wexler once wrote that Timber Point would be a top-25 American golf course if it still existed in its original form.
Specific details on designers, project costs and timelines are unavailable or confidential at the moment, but the next step in what has been a positive process to date, according to Ganley, is a meeting with Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and other political officials. The plan is to raise enough money from foundations and private sources to limit the costs taken on by Suffolk County.
"We don't want to use county money," Ganley says. "The intent is to keep Timber Point an affordable golf course."
A full restoration of the course includes revitalization of the site's natural wetlands, which were filled in when the course was remodeled in the 1970s, a decision that would never be permitted today by New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation, Ganley says. The DEC has been "exceptionally understanding" so far regarding plans for the property, he says, adding that the restored wetlands would alleviate water concerns and decrease pesticide use.
Ganley envisions a restored Timber Point as a world-class, championship-level public golf destination that is Suffolk County's version of Bethpage Black. "Timber Point is so intriguing because of what it once was," he says. Of the course's 18 original holes, 12 remain in place on the current Blue and Red courses, including the famed "Gibraltar" par-3 and the subsequent bayfront par-4s. The course would be brought back to its 1920s design and likely its sandier-on-the-edges layout, lengthened in spots to accommodate the modern game. Yardage from the tips will potentially be in the vicinity of 7,500 yards. Off the course, upgrades to the historic clubhouse, marinas and other facilities are planned. Added perks like a par-3 short course are also under consideration.
For years, historians and golf-architecture followers have weighed the potential of a Timber Point restoration. Designers have walked the grounds and drawn up detailed building plans. In 2021, The Fried Egg listed Timber Point as one of America's "sweet 16 of golf courses we'd love to see restored to their original glory."
"So maybe Timber Point’s best move would be to shed nine holes and restore as many of the rest as possible. After all, there’s certainly a demand for great accessible golf on Long Island," wrote The Fried Egg's Andy Johnson.
Timber Point has been a 27-hole facility since the early 1970s, when Suffolk County took control of the once-exclusive private club and hired William Mitchell to build an additional nine holes. Under the proposed redesign, the biggest change to the existing layout would be the elimination of Mitchell's White Course. In its place, restored native wetlands and several reoriented holes would connect the interior and waterfront portions of the course. During the course's early-1900s prime, players emerged from Timber Point's wooded front nine onto a sprawling sandscape with Great South Bay in the distance. The tenth played toward the bay, and #11, a wind-aided par-4 with multiple fairways, brought players back to the current "Harbor" hole — #2 on the Blue Course. Ganley says the revival of Alison's 10th and 11th holes would be "special."
"County Executive Romaine wants to create a masterpiece — that's the plan," Ganley says. "It will be a nice giveback by Suffolk County to the public."
[PICTURED: TOP TWO — The famed Gibraltar par-3 today and as it appeared in the early 20th century, when Timber Point was more of a sandy links than a parkland course. BOTTOM TWO — Modern and early views of the Harbor par-3, currently #2 on the Blue Course.]
Two of Long Island's top public golf courses known for being hard on scorecards recently earned some praise from Golf Magazine for going easy on golfers' wallets.
Bethpage State Park's Red Course and Montauk Downs both made the cut in Golf Mag's 2024 list of America's best golf courses for $100 or less, "where memorability meets affordability," as determined by Golf's course raters and editors. The list features 101 golf courses in four different regions of the country where peak-season weekend walking rates do not exceed $100. The selected courses "represent exceptional bang for the buck."
In addition to the green-fee requirement, selected courses must be open to the public and offer "the kind of golf experience you’d recommend to a friend."
Of the 19 golf courses representing the Northeast region, five are from New York State. Bethpage Red and Montauk Downs are joined by En-Joie in Endicott, Saratoga Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs and Seven Oaks in Hamilton. The Northeast has the lowest regional representation, mostly due to high costs around metropolitan areas, according to Golf editors. Approximately 40 percent of the featured courses are municipally owned. List editors praised "those public officials who understand the value and importance of funding exceptional public golf."
Bethpage Red and Montauk, of course, are fixtures on another annual list, the "Best Courses You Can Play" ranking published by Golfweek. That list highlights the best publicly accessible golf courses in all 50 states. In the 2024 Golfweek ranking, the Red Course landed at #6 with Montauk Downs one spot behind at #7.
[PICTURED: The signature par-3 12th at Montauk Downs.]
Two years into its rebrand in Riverhead, Sandy Pond Links continues to spruce up its nine holes on Roanoke Avenue all while it cuts the ribbon on a newer and much shorter 18 right next door.
The first of two planned attractions at Sandy Pond made its debut last week, a state-of-the-art miniature golf course complete with in-play waterworks, a snack bar and a locally brewed house beer. Sandy Pond's new clubhouse, the second development in the works on the north end of the property, is tentatively scheduled for a 2026 grand opening.
On the course, crews remain busy installing new irrigation and refurbishing Sandy Pond's nine greens. When new ownership took over during the 2022-23 offseason, much of their focus was on restoring the greens to their original size. Time and maintenance changes had reduced the greens to small, circular targets, far from what co-owner Brian Stark recalled from his early days living near and working on the course. "You can still see areas where the contours were lost, and how the greens have shrunk significantly over time," Stark told Golf On Long Island in 2023. "They used to have more character and pin positions."
The most startling change at the moment is the rerouting of the course to accommodate the new starter's booth, currently housed at the mini-golf course until it's eventually relocated to the clubhouse. Players now start on the former ninth hole, continue to the old opener and finish on what had long been #8. Along the way they'll pass the landmark red shack, which will likely stay in place. Players will also have access to a patio near the first tee that's lined with Adirondack chairs, yard games and even a mini version of the iconic Big Duck down the road in Flanders. The snack bar is stocked with a house IPA from Riverhead's Long Ireland Brewery, and cupholders built into each mini-golf hole sign serve as handy beer caddies.
Co-owner Earl Truland says the mini-golf 18 will be a family-friendly destination that doubles as a community gathering spot and a vehicle for revenue to cover upgrades on the par-3 course. The mini golf includes uphill and downhill holes and a series of waterfalls, one of which flows into an in-play stream that carries balls under a bridge and onto the tenth green.
"We've had people tell us they'd love to play mini golf while they wait to tee off," Truland says. "Now instead of passing by when we have leagues on Wednesday mornings, they can come in and spend time here before they play."
Plans for Sandy Pond's future clubhouse include a simulator room, a small bar and food service, Truland says. The structure still needs approval form the Town of Riverhead, and ownership hopes to break ground by spring 2025.
For more on the planned changes at Sandy Pond Links, see this post from January 2023.
Thinking about fall course aeration is depressing when it's still the heart of summer, but you can't ignore the fact that seasonal maintenance is just around the corner. And since most of the aeration at Bethpage will be done during what's technically summer, we can call the brief two-day closures "summer breaks" if it makes us feel any better about the calendar.
First to close for conditioning late next month will be the Blue Course. Don't worry about availability on the Black Course — it won't close for aeration until October.
Here is the full aeration schedule for the park's five golf courses:
Be sure to call the Bethpage golf office at (516) 249-0700 for the latest info on course availability.
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 looks back at courses that have been lost — some for a few years, 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.
******
Tucked away amid winding, wooded roads in western Suffolk County is a small, newly built residential community made up of nearly two-dozen luxury homes. The homes, each carrying a price tag comfortably north of $2 million, stand tall and glamorous along a pair of dead-end streets. By the sound of it, the developer in charge is not the type to lay up on par-5s.
Appropriately, the two streets — Long Drive Court and Eagle Court — end at cul-de-sacs of the exact shape and size of a putting green. From beginning to dead end, or let's call it tee to green, Long Drive is laid out like a double-dogleg par-5, roughly 500 yards in total. The only hiccup in the planning is that Eagle Court runs the length of a mere par-3.
And, coincidence or not, the development, titled Oak Hill Estates, shares its name with the renowned Rochester, New York golf club and famed championship venue.
Just a few years ago, though it wasn't yet Oak Hill Estates, the property was home not only to long drives and eagles but a dogleg par-5 oddly similar to what is now Long Drive Court. Back then, local golfers knew the site as Dix Hills Golf Club, the lengthier, more challenging alternative to the nine-hole Dix Hills Park Golf Course nearby. It was a par-35 with nine holes totaling around 2,600 yards.
The non-municipal beginner course has become an endangered species on Long Island, but before it closed in 2012, Dix Hills GC filled that niche across six decades. Built in the 1960s, Dix Hills was bookended by par-5s, and a series of short par-4s and unique par-3s filled out the middle. Its most prominent feature was the deep gully that cut across the front section of the course. Shots to the green on holes #3 and #5 needed to carry the pit or settle somewhere far below. It also featured deep, sticky rough that complicated what were otherwise simple holes. Like a lush, well-fed (future) Oak Hill lawn, the rough could snatch and turn a clubhead with ease.
Dix Hills' vibe was quaint and laid-back. An old-fashioned cottage with shuttered windows served as the clubhouse, shaded and nestled comfortably beneath tall trees. Players parked in a gravel driveway out front. The course, rising and falling over the hills and densely wooded in spots, had a pastoral feel.
The par-3s at Dix Hills were certainly diverse. The tiny fourth could be mistaken for a sled hill had there not been a green at the bottom. A generous 116 yards on the scorecard, the hole dead-ended abruptly at a fenced corner of the property. Ahead at #5, short or middle irons needed to clear the gully to reach a little green ringed by thick rough. And #8, listed at 239 yards, played nearly as long as the course's par-4s.
Quietly, with little notice to anyone beyond the inner circle of Dix Hills-area players, the course closed up shop in 2012. For more than two years it sat in a state of decay — behind the roadside entrance sign, weeds overtook the gravel driveway and obscured the empty cottage. By 2015, the future Oak Hill development was formally announced and broke ground on the site.
The course is remembered as a place where local players got their initial taste of golf. And its beginner-friendliness wasn't confined to its casual routing and vibe. One of Dix Hills' local rules — in the course's later years, at least — said bad misses to the right on the two par-5s (as in over the trees onto adjacent holes) could be picked up and dropped on the correct side of the tree line with no penalty.
All the more reason to go hard after long drives and eagles.
[PICTURED — TOP: Dix Hills' shaded cottage clubhouse. LEFT: Next to the clubhouse, #3 green sat behind a deep gully. The course's dense rough was cut close to the greens. BOTTOM: Dix Hills, as seen shortly before its closing in 2012, with the present-day roads depicted. (Image credit: Google Earth.) Long Drive Court is laid out on nearly the exact footprint of the par-5 ninth. Also, the course's 2009 scorecard.]
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
Part 6: Mill Pond East — Medford
