Golf on Long Island

First annual Painting For Cures Outing tees off August 14 at Lido Golf Club

Feel like spending a day in the ocean breeze next weekend but prefer not to track sand and seaweed into the car?  Try scheduling some seaside golf nearby and help raise money for an excellent cause in the process (and track clumps of grass instead). 

Painting For Cures will hold its first annual charity golf outing at the Lido Golf Club on Saturday, August 14.  For $125, all participants will play 18 holes on Lido's scenic, wind-blown layout along Reynolds Channel, with cart, special tournament balls, range balls, lunch and beverages included.  At the end of the round, enjoy cocktails and an award presentation before heading out with a complimentary gift bag. 

All groups will tee off between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m.  (Tee times will be made available a week prior to the outing.)  Players may register for the event individually or as part of a foursome.

"Painting For Cures was formed to help make a difference in the lives of hospitalized children and their families," says Robert Catalfomo, the organization's founder.  It helps put smiles on the faces of children during extended hospital stays by providing them with arts and crafts programs as they recover from serious medical procedures.  For more information on Painting For Cures or to register online for the event, visit the organization's website.

Contact Robert Catalfomo at [email protected] for additional event and registration details.  To sign on as an event sponsor, contact Jonathan Donohue at [email protected].

Observations: Tallgrass Country Club

"Firm and fast" is a pair of adjectives not typically used to describe Long Island fairways, but with the scorching hot summer of 2010 depriving golf courses of the rainwater they desperately need, one course is playing even closer to its links-style design.

Tee shots were bouncing, bouncing, rolling and rolling (and rolling) during our last visit to the Tallgrass Country Club in Shoreham, smack in the middle of July's heat wave.  It was a welcome style of play in a region where soft greens and softer fairways are the norm.  This also suits a course that markets itself as a Scottish-style links design, with no trees, plenty of wind, wispy knee-length grasses and an array of pot and waste bunkers. 

Holes like the 17th -- a long par-3 with a bulge short of the green that can feed balls toward the flag -- are more open to different approaches to the stick, whether it be a high-arcing iron with the wind or a runner underneath.  The conditions certainly put creativity and shotmaking skills to the test.

Frequent contributor Jeff H. of Lynbrook also reports that now is an excellent time to play the Shoreham course if you are a fan of fast greens.  Finding those greens, however, can be difficult for those players who lack experience on the layout.  "There are a lot of blind shots on the course, usually with an uphill fairway or berms obstructing your view," Jeff says.  "It's tough to navigate the first few times around."

Tallgrass is one of four Long Island courses selected by Golfweek in its 2010 Best Courses You Can Play listing for New York State.  For more information on Tallgrass, visit the course flyover.

Summer Specials through August at Brentwood, Holbrook Country Clubs

Long Island golfers can play the Brentwood and Holbrook Country Clubs for less this summer thanks to a pair of specials that are valid through the month of August.  Just print the downloadable coupons from the course websites and tee off for as little as $24.

An Early Twilight special includes greens fee, reservation and cart for $42 anytime between 11 a.m and 3 p.m.  If you choose to walk, wait until 1 p.m. and play for $24.  (The regular $20 twilight rate kicks in after 3:00.)

Foursomes can also cash in at both Town of Islip courses.  After 11 a.m., groups of four can play for $148 -- that's $37 per player with cart and reservation included.

In order to receive either of the special summer rates, you must make online reservations for all players and bring a printed coupon to the pro shop on the day of your round.

Bethpage Black closed for NYS Open

The Black Course at Bethpage State Park will be closed for the New York State Open beginning tomorrow, July 19 through Friday, July 23.  It will reopen to the public on Saturday, July 24.

Issues continue to fester at Hamptons-area Poxabogue Golf Center

It hasn't exactly been a smooth stroll around the fairways for the Poxabogue Golf Center over the last couple of playing seasons.  The Sagaponack nine-holer has been the eye of a legal and municipal storm on the East End for at least the past two years, a well-documented whirlwind strengthened by bickering between municipalities, contract disputes and, most recently, a health issue that's been festering -- quite literally -- behind the scenes.

Golf On Long Island first addressed the ongoing issues at Poxabogue in February 2009 when safety upgrades at the driving range and eventual expansion of the facilities were delayed due to economic concerns and disagreements between the Towns of East Hampton and Southampton and local villages.  Earlier this year, controversy continued to swirl around the golf center when a change in ownership and lease terms of the Poxabogue cafe led to the messy departure of the restaurant's long-time operator.

Mattituck's Love Lane Kitchen was slated to open a South Fork branch in the former restaurant's place this summer.  But the latest in a string of negative developments emerged in late June. 

A rampant mold problem from a roof leak was discovered in the basement of the golf center, including parts of the restaurant facility and pro shop.  Michael Wright of the East Hampton Press wrote last month that closure of the Poxabogue building could be a possibility if extensive renovation work is necessary.  If the pro shop is forced to close for mold removal, a trailer could house the golf facility temporarily and allow the course to remain open, according to Jennifer Landes of the East Hampton Star.

Meanwhile, the Town of East Hampton is reportedly looking to sell off its half of the facility, potentially to its joint owner, the Town of Southampton.  The two municipalities purchased half-stakes of Poxabogue in 2003.  Beth Young of the East Hampton Press wrote earlier this month that East Hampton has already hired an appraiser to determine the value of the town's share of the facility.

The course itself, a 1,600-yard par-30 along Montauk Highway, is generally immune from the political and legal complications.  Clinics and lessons continue to run through the summer at the Poxabogue driving range.  In the event the building must close for gutting and repair, however, the course could be forced to pull the pins temporarily during the height of the tourist (and playing) season.

Additional coverage can be found in the Sag Harbor Express and The Independent.

Observations: Harbor Links - Championship Course

The Championship Course at Harbor Links -- Long Island's own grand canyon along Hempstead Harbor -- already has the look of Arizona down pat with its rock piles, southwestern-style vistas and sand-oriented history.  During a July heat wave, the Port Washington par-72 felt a little like the desert too.

Most significant update from the latest visit to Harbor Links: 

Carts will soon be equipped with GPS units.  Screens were mounted in all motor carts while installation of the main satellite system was being completed near the clubhouse.  According to an on-course staffer, the system should be in operation this week (if it isn't already up and running). 

Also of note:

Harbor Links' rough -- thick and lush like your father's lawn -- is still murder on spray shooters.

For more on Harbor Links, check out the course flyover.

Observations: Great Rock Golf Club

The recent (and ongoing) heat wave has done little to keep us off the fairways -- or more accurately, in the rough -- of Long Island's golf courses.  Earlier this week, Golf On Long Island visited Wading River's Great Rock Golf Club for another showdown with a course that demands pinpoint accuracy and a deft putting touch -- two requirements that are slightly harder to maintain under sweaty, sweltering conditions.

Last summer's visit to Great Rock -- one of Long Island's newest public courses -- landed us in a pairing with a member of a semi-private course farther east.  His course, he claimed, featured greens at their peak and worthy of a lofty ranking with the finest surfaces on Long Island.

The same can be said of Great Rock, where the putting surfaces are the standout feature.  They are quick and require a careful read from all angles, and most importantly, they're conditioned to provide a beautifully smooth roll.  Breaks that seem evident at first glance behind the ball tend to disappear like an optical illusion when viewing from the sides -- and misreads on a fast surface generally yield horrifying results.  Of course, much of the battle concerns approaching the greens with care.  One way to sabotage an enjoyable morning or afternoon at Great Rock is to leave lengthy lag putts from above the hole.

Take #1, for example, where the left and right sides of the green flow quickly downhill from a center spine.  This contouring makes a smart and accurate approach a necessity.  Starting the day with an up-then-downhill putt at breakneck speed is the easiest way to kill a pre-round high.  Later, on the par-3 12th, balls roll quickly with the pedal to the metal toward the left edge.  Even from only a few feet above a left-side pin, you better read the line correctly, because the only thing stopping the ball is the back of the cup.

In short, a few extra seconds to walk around the greens can do wonders for your scorecard.  See if you can feel the slope while strolling from left to right on the 11th green.  (Hint: Try not to fall over.)

Despite the immense heat, the greens remain in such brilliant shape that they seemed to overshadow the manicured but slightly heat-stressed fairways.  "It looks too good to be real," Rob said while looking back on the #2 green from the elevated third tee.  Over the course of the round, they played as great as they looked.

The overall experience continues to fit the cliched mold of "Country Club for a Day."  Bags are unloaded and loaded from trunk to cart.  The Tap Room at Blackwells Restaurant -- selected by Golfing Magazine to its 2009 Long Island Dream Club -- is one of the classiest public-course venues for a post-round pint.  And at $20, a three-course prix-fixe lunch is tough to beat.

Pictured: Above left, the view from behind #8 green (photo taken July 2009); above right, the par-3 16th from one of the course's highest points.  For more on Great Rock, check out the course flyover.

Bethpage Black's dark July dates

Bethpage State Park's Black Course will be closed sporadically through the month of July for scheduled maintenance and the New York State Open.

The Black will be dark every Monday for maintenance (open July 5 on a holiday schedule), as well as Tuesday, July 6, Thursday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 28.

From July 19 to July 23, the course will be closed to the public while it hosts the New York State Open tournament.

Call the course or reservation hotline for the most updated information.