[A full Eisenhower White Course flyover was published on February 10, 2012. Click here for the updated post.]
Eisenhower Park's Red Course gets most of the attention thanks to its past presence on the Champions Tour and its high marks from Golf Digest and Newsday, but the park's White and Blue courses each have good golf to offer area players. The courses are conveniently located in the center of the county in East Meadow and are relatively inexpensive for Nassau residents (with a Leisure Pass). While Eisenhower won't blow anyone away with natural beauty, it certainly succeeds in its role as a high-volume golf destination providing 54 holes of quality golf and varying styles between its three tracks.
The White Course is purely functional. There are no frills here, no surprises. It is, quite literally, nine holes straight out and straight back followed by another nine holes that do exactly the same. What separates the course from the other two and gives it some unique character is its bunkering -- every green is elevated and protected in the front by at least one mid-sized to large sand trap, and every tee shot is influenced by at least one harmless to intimidating fairway bunker.
To some golfers, the White's uninspiring design has become just as much a part of the course's personality as the sand traps. When I began to tell a friend back in the fall about that day's round at the White, his first response was, "Is that the course where all the holes are the same?"
This style can still be very appealing. Players interested in a flat course that they can easily walk will enjoy the White, as will those who like the idea of having their accuracy and creativity from the fairway challenged by yawning bunkers on every approach shot. So will players who appreciate the risk-reward relationship between the sand and the greens. Should you bring a fairway bunker into play in an effort to set up a cleaner shot at the pin, or steer clear of the traps off the tee but heighten the difficulty of the shot into the green?
Beginners can gradually learn the game here, especially in the offseason when the crowds thin. The open fairways and lack of water hazards encourage experimenting with all clubs in the bag, and the traps will provide the newcomer a crash course in how to get iron shots airborne -- and if they fail, a lesson in the art of bunker play.
But the golfers who look for a little variety in their round, who enjoy lining up different types of shots from hole to hole, will eventually find themselves feeling like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day." Every tee box is the start of a hole that plays almost exactly the same as the previous one. The fact that all of the par-3s are twin holes laid out side by side is like a practical joke on the senses (all the par-3s on the White and Blue are double holes). This type of player will likely find that the personality the bunkers provide gets old quickly, and that the repetitive design makes the course monotonous and flat-out boring.
From the back tees, the course measures more than 6,900 yards, ensuring that there will be at least a few inner debates about laying up in front of the green-guarding bunkers or muscling up and over them. It is a shade less than 6,400 yards from the middle tees, and all par-4s and par-5s have bunkers within a wood's reach from the tee.
Like Bethpage, Eisenhower golf tends to be crowded and slow-moving during peak season. If you're looking to squeeze 18 into a 4 1/2-hour window, look elsewhere. The White is a good destination in the offseason though, especially for new players.
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