Golf on Long Island

Brentwood and Holbrook Country Clubs offering summer discounts

Now through the end of August, the Brentwood and Holbrook Country Clubs are offering summer specials for all golfers, whether you're looking to beat the heat in a cart or aiming to work up a sweat with the bag on your shoulder.

You can play 18 and ride at either Town of Islip course next month for $42 after 11 a.m. -- make a reservation online and bring a copy of the valid web coupon with you when you check in at the pro shop.  If you'd rather walk, wait until noon and play for just $24.  Hold off until 2 p.m. and it's down to $20.

Brentwood is typically closed on Mondays, but it will be open on all Mondays in August, and town residents can take advantage with rates as low as $32 with cart.  Non-residents are welcome too for $42.

To get in on all the summer deals, visit the Brentwood and Holbrook websites to print a copy of the summer coupons.  Discounts will only be honored with a coupon and reserved tee time.

For information on all current discounts at Brentwood and Holbrook, check out their coupons and specials page.  And to read up on the courses, check out the Brentwood and Holbrook flyovers.

Million-dollar homes slated for former Dix Hills Golf Club property

The former Dix Hills Golf Club property on Half Hollow Road in Dix Hills will be the future site of luxury homes priced in the millions, Newsday reported Thursday.

Continental Pinewood purchased the site in June and plans to develop more than 20 homes on one-acre lots, as well as necessary infrastructure and improvements, according to Newsday.  The surrounding area is largely residential.

Dix Hills Golf Club, a nine-hole course with an old-time feel, closed in 2011 or 2012.  Since then the quaint clubhouse and gravel driveway off Half Hollow Road were overtaken by weeds (pictured).  Less than two miles away, the municipal Dix Hills Park Golf Course remains open.

More from Newsday about the infrastructure:

The Huntington Town board on July 15 approved an agreement with H2M Architects Engineers to provide engineering services for the installation of 3,000 linear feet of new water main along with the appropriate valves and fire hydrants.  In June, the town's planning department sent a letter to the developer advising it that it had to post two performance bonds for the project -- a general construction bond for $1,077,904.80, less $31,109, and a drainage bond for $1,032,791.

"The next step is for the developer to complete the required infrastructure improvements and to obtain building permits for the houses," town spokesman A.J. Carter said.

Gol said the improvements include such things as roads, curbs, a new entry, landscaping, trees, traffic signs and utility lines. -- Deborah S. Morris, Newsday, 7/24/2014

July 23 is the USGA's "Play 9 Day"

In its ongoing effort to draw new players to golf and promote different ways for experienced golfers to enjoy the sport, the United States Golf Association has named next Wednesday, July 23, "Play 9 Day," a celebration of nine-hole rounds and all the little things that make up the game.

More of a marketing campaign than an actual event, Play 9 Day by the USGA is designed to show present and future players that there is more to golf than a full 18-hole round on preferred courses.  The campaign is sponsored by American Express.  An ad starring Rickie Fowler debuted during last month's U.S. Open and emphasizes how golfers can play nine holes and still have time to go about their daily tasks.

“I don’t always have enough time to play a full round between practice and spending time with friends and family,” said Fowler in a USGA press release.  “I’m happy to join the USGA and American Express on 'Play 9’ to encourage golfers to play a nine-hole round, especially if that’s what’s going to get them out onto the golf course to play more often.”

According to the USGA, a 2013 study conducted by Sports & Leisure Research Group found that 33 percent of core golfers (those who play eight to 24 rounds annually) and 38 percent of casual golfers (those who play seven rounds or fewer) would play more nine-hole rounds if the format were “more strongly encouraged.”

Here on Long Island, nine-hole rounds are easy to come by.  Many nine-hole courses are run by municipalities and are good bargains for area residents.  Courses like Timber Point GC and Middle Island Country Club are full-length facilities with rotating nines.  Spring Lake Golf Club and Harbor Links feature 18-hole courses alongside nine-hole alternatives.  Out east, Sandy Pond Golf Course and Cedars Golf Club have both been refurbished and rejuvenated under new owners. 

The USGA is also encouraging activities like practicing at the range and on the putting green, as well as playing nine-hole best ball with a friend or challenging a playing partner to a nine-hole match.  For more on Play 9 Day, and to see the Rickie Fowler ad, visit the USGA's Play 9 site.

And for more on Long Island's nines, check out GOLI's list of public courses, or see previous posts on Nassau's nine-hole courses and Suffolk's nine-hole options.  You can also track the nearest tees and greens by using GOLI's course map.

Calverton Links sold for $3.5 million, golfing future remains unclear

Calverton Links has a new owner, but its future as a golf course remains uncertain, according to a report published in the Riverhead News-Review last weekend.

The 18-hole course in Calverton, which unexpectedly closed last October, was sold to developer Parviz Farahzad and a group called Bashi Calverton Links LLC in May for $3.5 million, the report states.  Farahzad is president of Little Rock Construction in Setauket.

While the news might seem promising for the Long Island golf industry, especially in light of the reopening of Great Rock Golf Club under new owners this spring, there is no reason for celebration just yet.  The property is zoned for a variety of uses, including office space and wholesale business.  Other uses like outdoor performance venues and agricultural production are permitted but require town approval.  Ownership has not commented on its plans for the land.

Calverton Links expanded from nine holes to an 18-hole layout in 1999, when architect Kelly Blake Moran built a western addition to the course over a sprawling expanse of hilly land bordering farms and fields.  Golf On Long Island visited the course, one of the more tranquil golf settings in the area, just a few months before its closing.   For more on Calverton Links, check out the course flyover.

Newsday spotlights Poxabogue Golf Center in its 50th anniversary season

The South Fork is the land of prestigious private golf clubs, but look closely and quickly on a drive through the Hamptons and you'll find an oasis open to all players -- the nine-hole Poxabogue Golf Center.  This year is Poxabogue's 50th anniversary, which might come as a surprise to visiting golfers who step on the gas between Shinnecock and Montauk without ever noticing the quaint golf facility on the north side of Route 27. 

New golf director Steven Lee, a Calverton Links transplant, is hoping to change that little by little, starting with the removal of roadside hedges that hide the course from onlookers, wrote Newsday's Mark Herrmann last month.  Bad weather pushed an anniversary celebration from June to September.  In the meantime, the course goes on for another season welcoming locals and celebrities alike.

Poxabogue has had issues in recent years, many of which have been documented here.  There have been municipal snags, legal battles and other concerns.  It all culminated in a sale to the Town of Southampton in 2012.

Herrmann writes:

Yes, there is a lot to be said for little Poxabogue: the new mats on the expansive driving range, the reconditioned bunkers, the Colonial bent grass fairways overseeded by superintendent Jeff Seeman, the weekday rate of $18 for Southampton and East Hampton residents, the fact you can play in an hour and 20 minutes.

But there is more than meets the eye. The host of "The Tonight Show" plays there. Sure enough Jimmy Fallon once brought Justin Timberlake along. Jon Bon Jovi brings his son for lessons. Or you might see Giants chairman Steve Tisch or reality TV star Bethenny Frankel. Alec Baldwin and Alan Alda are known to frequent the course's restaurant, which is open year round for breakfast and lunch. The other golfers just let them be. -- Mark Herrmann, Newsday, 6/26/2014

The course is a 1,583-yard par-30, with several holes of the pitch-and-putt variety.  For more on the course, visit the Poxabogue website.

Spring Lake to host "These Girls Rock Day" on July 17

The latest of the "Girls Golf Days" put on by the LPGA Foundation will take place at Spring Lake Golf Club in Middle Island next Thursday, July 17.  Spring Lake and golf director Cristy Jurgens will host "These Girls Rock Day," a fun morning and afternoon designed to draw young female golfers and heighten their interest in the game.

These Girls Rock Day will include a unique and fun golf clinic, various activities, lunch and on-course play.  Girls between the ages of 7 and 16 are invited to participate.  The event runs from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and all players will leave with gifts.  Entry fee is $60 per player.  To register, call Spring Lake at (631) 924-5115.

LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Days expose young golfers to the "Five Es" -- Empower, Enrich, Engage, Energize and Exercise.  To learn more about Girls Golf Days, visit the LPGA-USGA website.

Local leg of "World's Largest Golf Outing" returns to Pine Ridge on August 11

The "World's Largest Golf Outing" will tee off at courses across 28 states on Monday, August 11.  Now in its fourth year, the annual event is held at Billy Casper Golf properties around the country and raises money for the Wounded Warrior Project.  Long Island players can get in on the action at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Coram, one of three New York State courses involved in the event and one of the 110+ participating courses nationwide.

Entry fee is $65 per player, with $10 from each registration plus all additional donations going to the Wounded Warrior Project.  The fee covers cart, range balls, lunch, an awards reception and some golf-related parting gifts.  Format for the tournament is four-person scramble.

The Pine Ridge leg of the outing includes two separate tee times -- 8:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  Register for the event by visiting the World's Largest Golf Outing website.  You can also sponsor a team or make an online donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Since its initial event in 2011, Billy Casper Golf has raised more than $1.1 million for the Wounded Warrior Project through the World's Largest Golf Outing.  Its first Outing included 2,500 golfers and raised approximately $40,000.  Last year, it grew to more than 10,000 participants and almost $750,000 raised.

Built in 2006, Pine Ridge is one of Long Island's newer courses.  For more on the local host course, check out the Pine Ridge flyover.  And for additional information on the Wounded Warrior Project, visit the organization's website.

Golfweek ranks Bethpage Black #1 in its annual Best Municipal Courses list

Golfweek announced its annual ranking of America's Best Municipal Courses last month and the Black Course at Bethpage State Park found itself in a very familiar place -- at the top. 

Bethpage Black is the top muni in the country for the sixth year in a row according to Golfweek, and as usual, the Black's next-door neighbor -- Bethpage Red -- is a little ways down the list.  Montauk Downs returns as well.

The 2014 list features no change in the top five -- trailing behind Bethpage Black are Chambers Bay (Washington), Butterfield Trail (Texas), Torrey Pines South (California) and the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale (Arizona).  The Red Course, however, did make a jump to #16 after settling in at #27 in 2013.  The Rees Jones-redesigned Montauk Downs course fell two spots to #44.

In March, the three courses took their usual spots in Golfweek's Best Courses You Can Play list, a ranking of public golf courses by state.  The Black took top honors, while the Red and Montauk Downs landed at #12 and #13, respectively.  Shoreham's Tallgrass Golf Course, ranked #7,  was the other Long Island representative.  The Black also made the top 20 in Golfweek's Classic Courses list.

Golfweek's Best Municipal Courses list rates the top 50 government-owned layouts nationwide.  Golf courses are evaluated and ranked based on conditioning, routing, variety, memorability and other categories.

Celebrating the Red, White and Blue at Eisenhower Park as the Red Course turns 100

The traditional celebrations of the old red, white and blue went by this weekend with barbecues and the beach, pool parties and pyrotechnics.  For Long Island golfers, the party continues all summer in honor of the Red, White and Blue – golf courses, that is – at Nassau County’s Eisenhower Park, most appropriately with launched drives rather than fireworks.  It’s a special season for the Red Course, which turns 100 this year and has undergone relatively few changes since it was built in 1914.

Eisenhower Red has been one of the few constants in the heart of the Hub, a parcel of land frozen in time as Nassau’s hustle and bustle developed all around its borders.  Neighboring landmarks have come and gone – Roosevelt Raceway is now a shopping center; Mitchel Field is a sports complex – but the Red Course still leads golfers around long, lush fairways.

Even its original golf siblings departed long ago for the history books.  The Red was built by Devereux Emmet as part of the Salisbury Golf Club, a five-course facility once referred to as the “Sports Center of America,” according to local historian William Quirin in America’s Linksland: A Century of Long Island Golf.  Salisbury’s #4 course hosted the 1926 PGA Championship, won by the legendary Walter Hagen when the tournament was still played as a match-play competition.  After the Depression, only #4 remained standing.  When Nassau County eventually took control of the parkland, the course became the Red.  Today’s golfers pass under a “Home of the 1926 PGA Championship” sign each time they check in for a round.

New neighbors have moved in since the original Salisbury days.  Robert Trent Jones built parallel courses in the 1950s – the White Course is arrow-straight and known for elevated greens and gaping front bunkers; the Blue Course is nearly 900 yards shorter and throws in a few dogleg holes.  In a unique twist, both courses feature side-by-side twin par-3s designed to alleviate slow play.

Celebrating the Red Course with food and drink is easy enough thanks to one modern feature absent during its days as #4.  Thanks to the build-up of business around the course’s edges, players can get a look at a couple of nearby restaurants without ever leaving the fairways.

[A version of this Golf On Long Island post was originally published in the June/July issue of Networking Magaazine.]

Observations: North Woodmere Park Golf Course

Rates are up (or on their way up) at North Woodmere Park Golf Course and its four Nassau County sister courses at Bay Park, Cantiague, Christopher Morley and Eisenhower.

At least there are a few nice things to look at.

Golf On Long Island reader Tony sent along a photo of North Woodmere's new hole signage.  It's certainly an improvement over the small, faded markers that have been attached to the ball washers for the last decade or so.

North Woodmere is a nine-hole course tucked away in the Five Towns area of Nassau County.  It mixes short and long par-3s with some mid-length par-4s.  For more on the course, check out the North Woodmere flyover.