Golf on Long Island

Future of Calverton Links uncertain, according to Riverhead News-Review

Calverton Links closed for the season at the end of October, but according to a report by the Riverhead News-Review, this offseason's hiatus could stretch much longer than a typical winter hibernation.  The future of the golf course is in doubt, and it appears at least somewhat likely that Calverton Links might be closed for good.

General manager Steven Lee told the News-Review's Rachel Young earlier this month that the owners of Calverton Links are looking to sell the course. 

“I asked the family what the future of Calverton Links was and they said they don’t know, but they know they don’t want to be involved with running it anymore,” said Mr. Lee, who spent 15 years working at the 172-acre Edwards Avenue golf course in Calverton. “They said they were looking for someone to buy it.” -- Rachel Young, Riverhead News-Review, 11/5/2013

Eagle's Landing, the course's on-site catering facility, has also closed for the season and is not booking any events for 2014.

Long a nine-hole course just north of the Long Island Expressway at Edwards Avenue, Calverton Links expanded to an 18-hole layout in 1999, when architect Kelly Blake Moran built a western addition to the course over hilly, wide-open land bordering farms and fields.  Golf On Long Island last visited the Links in June, and focused on the course's funky green shapes and slopes in this Observations post.

If Calverton Links does not reopen, it would be the second Riverhead-area course to drop from the public rotation in 2013.  Long Island National, a few miles away on Northville Turnpike, was sold in the summer and is now a private club.

Thanksgiving Day events at South Shore courses

Thanksgiving 2012 was an uncertain time for the Lido Golf Club and Timber Point Golf Course in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.  Thanks to hard work that culminated in remarkable recoveries this season, on Thanksgiving 2013, the focus will simply be on fun holiday golf.

Registration is open for the Lido Golf Club's annual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, which tees off shotgun style this Thursday, November 28 at 8:00 a.m.  Entry fee includes cart, practice on the range, breakfast and a Lido winter hat.  Prizes will be awarded for longest drive, most accurate drive and closest to the pin.  Breakfast and hot coffee will be served at 7 a.m.  To reserve a spot in the event, contact the Lido pro shop at (516) 889-8181.

As the first drives hit the cool air at Lido, the first bagels will be buttered out east at Timber Point, which will tee up its own Thanksgiving Scramble that begins with an 8 a.m. breakfast followed by a 9 a.m. shotgun start.  Pre-round activities include a putting contest and range work.  In keeping with its tradition of holiday-themed gimmicks (a shillelagh was used for the St. Patrick's Day putting contest), prizes will be awarded for "Nearest to the Pilgrim" and "Wildest Turkey."  Format is four-person, nine-hole scramble.  The $55 entry fee includes all food and beverages, plus prizes for contest winners, low score, runner-up and on-course bonuses.  Sign up by calling (631) 581-2401 or e-mail [email protected].

For more on Lido, which was in impressive form during our recent visit earlier this fall season, check out the course flyover.  To read about Timber Point's recovery, see Golf On Long Island's September "Observations" post.

Local artist puts Long Island golf courses on canvas

With its rolling terrain and massive size, the Black Course at Bethpage State Park lends itself to a gorgeous photo, and since the 2002 U.S. Open, dramatic pictures of the glacier bunker, opening tee and sand-heavy finale have been easy to find.  Less prevalent are artistic interpretations of the course's beauty, but a local artist has found that Bethpage can pose for a beautiful painting as well.

A.W. Tillinghast is the master behind the design of the Black Course, but Elaine Faith Thompson of Bohemia is the artist depicting Tillinghast's work, as well as other Long Island golf scenes, in vivid color on canvas.  Since that Open more than a decade ago, Thompson -- whose previous work includes Long Island landmarks like the Big Duck in Flanders -- has expanded her collection with paintings of Shinnecock Hills for the 2004 Open, Bethpage again in 2009 and Sebonack for the U.S. Women's Open earlier this year.

Newsday profiled Thompson and displayed several of her course paintings last week.  Thompson's works fill in much of the detail lost in the grainy black-and-white photos that exist of Long Island's 1930s-era golf courses.  In one, a female golfer in early-1900s attire is captured in mid-swing at Timber Point Country Club.  Great South Bay ripples in the background, just as it did when Timber Point was an exclusive private club in the early 20th century, and as it still does today beside the public Blue Course.  In another, an old-time golfer takes aim at the Black's par-3 eighth, as spectators around the tee cast shadows near his ball and more onlookers wait in the distance beside the green.

To read the full feature written by Newsday's Candice Ruud, click here.  You can also view some of Thompson's other golf (and off-course) work at her gallery.

Annual Turkey Shoot Scramble slated for Thanksgiving morning at Crab Meadow

Crab Meadow's habit of hosting holiday outings continues next week, when the rolling 18 near the Sound in Northport hosts its annual Turkey Shoot Scramble on Thanksgiving morning, November 28.  Reserve a tee time today by calling (631) 757-8800 or register online.

Shotgun start is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. with beer and finger foods to follow at the conclusion of the round.  Continental breakfast and unlimited practice balls will be available prior to first tee.  Entry fee for the outing is $70 and includes all food and beverages.

All participants will receive parting gifts and a chance to bag additional rewards for closest-to-the-pin and long-drive challenges.  Format for the event is four-person team scramble -- singles and pairs will be placed to fill out teams. 

For more information on the course, check out Golf On Long Island's Crab Meadow flyover.

Spots open in Spring Lake Golf Club's Thanksgiving Day Shotgun

Spring Lake Golf Club will host its annual Thanksgiving Day Shotgun next week, with tee time scheduled for 8:00 a.m.  A limited number of remaining spots can be reserved by calling the Spring Lake pro shop at (631) 924-5115.

The event will be played in a best-ball format with prizes at stake.  Check-in and breakfast buffet begin at 7:15.  After the round, it's straight home for Thanksgiving dinner's first course.  Entry fee for the outing is $56.

Winter rates are currently in effect at Spring Lake.  For more on the Middle Island facility, check out the Golf On Long Island flyovers of the 18-hole Thunderbird and nine-hole Sandpiper courses.

Cherry Creek preparing for inaugural Snowball Classic, November 24

Cherry Creek and a bunch of its Suffolk County counterparts will host events on Thanksgiving morning, but the Riverhead course will warm up for the holiday outing a few days in advance when it hosts its first annual Snowball Classic on the Links Course on Sunday, November 24.

The Classic will tee off with an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start.  It is a mixed-format, two-person team event consisting of alternate shot, best ball and scramble for six holes each.  Entry fee is $79 and includes cart, range balls, hot cocoa and donuts at the turn, beer on the course and a post-round buffet with beer, wine and soda.  Prizes will be given out to the top team and closest-to-the-pin winners.

Register for the outing by calling the Cherry Creek Links pro shop at (631) 369-6500.  Payment is due this Sunday, November 17.

Cherry Creek Links is the longest public course on Long Island not named Bethpage Black.  It is a long and straight 7,187 yards and is home to the Island's only par-6.  For more on the Links Course and its 644-yard closing hole, check out the course flyover.

Veterans Day special at Mill Pond, plus Thanksgiving Day "Turkey Shootout"

In honor of the nation's veterans, Mill Pond Golf Course is offering all golfers the opportunity to play the course for free.  Play (and pay) on Veterans Day -- this Monday, November 11 -- and receive a voucher for a free weekday greens fee valid until the end of April 2014.  Call the Mill Pond pro shop at (631) 732-8249 for more details or to register, or book a tee time online.

If golf on Veterans Day isn't in the cards, there's always Thanksgiving.  Mill Pond's seventh annual "Turkey Shootout" scramble outing tees off bright and early at 8:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, November 28, and the event has a habit of selling out fast.  Call the course at the above phone number to sign up (payment is required upon registration).

Entry fee for the Thanksgiving event is $59.  The fee covers cart, range balls and a light breakfast.  Format is two-person scramble.  Since the early start is designed to get players home in time for the first course (and opening kickoff in Detroit), there are no post-round festivities.

For more information on either of the holiday offerings, contact the pro shop at the above phone number.  And for more on Mill Pond from a golf perspective, see the course flyover.

Bethpage Black to close the 2013 season on November 17

The Black Course at Bethpage State Park, typically the first of Long Island's seasonal public golf courses to hang a "See You In Spring" sign on its clubhouse door, is down to its final weeks of the 2013 playing season.  The course will close on Sunday, November 17.  

If you can't get out on the Black before it goes dark, you have an extra two weeks to set aside time on the Red Course, which will close on Sunday, December 1.  The Blue and Yellow courses remain open through the winter as weather permits.

Black and Red will reopen in April.