Golf on Long Island

Spring Lake Golf Club to host St. Patrick's Day-themed outing on March 16

It might not feel this way, but there are signs of spring on the golf front.  Just beyond the rock-hard snow piles and frozen (and re-frozen) doorsteps are scheduled golf outings, the first of the 2015 season.  Though cold-weather golf is not for everyone, it's a signal that we're almost out of another golf-free offseason that was iced out seemingly from the start by Old Man Winter.

Spring Lake Golf Club in Middle Island will hold -- weather permitting -- its annual St. Patrick's Day-themed scramble on Monday, March 16.  Tee time is scheduled for 8:00 a.m.  For $59, participants get golf, motor cart, corned beef and cabbage after the round and a free drink.  There's also a shot at team and individual prizes.  Call (631) 924-5115 to sign up for the holiday outing.

For more on Spring Lake, check out the 18-hole Thunderbird and nine-hole Sandpiper flyovers.

GOLI's Long Island Golf photo-history book scheduled for June 1 release

Keep an eye out later this spring -- Golf On Long Island is hitting the bookshelves.

Images of America: Long Island Golf by Golf On Long Island's Phil Carlucci will be available at area bookstores on June 1, right in the heart of peak golf season.  The book contains more than 200 photos of public courses, private clubs, long-gone layouts, tournament play and local golf figures starting from the 1890s through the present day, all collected from local clubs, golf associations, libraries, historical societies and government archives.

Long Island Golf will join hundreds of other titles, as well as many Long Island-oriented editions, in Arcadia Publishing's popular "Images of America" photo-history series.  Books in this series feature anywhere from 180 to 240 black-and-white images gathered from public and private collections.  Long Island Golf looks back on more than 120 years of local golf history, with chapters dedicated to boom periods like the golf-course rush of the Roaring Twenties, and downturns like the Depression and the struggle through post-WWII land development.

There will be more information to come throughout the spring as the release date draws near, just in time for Fathers Day.  Check Golf On Long Island and the GOLI Facebook page for frequent updates and potential giveaways.

The Barclays tournament will return to Bethpage Black in 2021 and 2027

Bethpage State Park's schedule of high-level professional golf tournaments continues to grow after an announcement last week that the Black Course will be part of The Barclays rotation far into the next decade.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the Black Course will host The Barclays in 2021 and 2027, bringing the total number of major and high-caliber pro tournaments on the Bethpage slate to five.  The Black Course is already scheduled to host The Barclays in 2016, as well as the 2019 PGA Championship and the 2024 Ryder Cup.

“Bethpage State Park is one of the best public golf courses in the nation, and we are proud to welcome The Barclays back for two more tournaments," Governor Cuomo said. "We look forward to welcoming golfers and spectators to these world-class competitions and urge them to also experience all that Long Island has to offer."

The Barclays -- played in August as the first event of the FedExCup playoffs -- last came to Bethpage in 2012.  Nick Watney won the event.

For more on Bethpage Black, check out the course flyover.

Public hearing scheduled for indoor golf facility in Hauppauge

A blizzard and a follow-up ice storm have set real golf on the back burner for a while, but at least there is some action on the indoor-golf front.  Newsday reported last weekend that a February 26 public hearing has been scheduled by the Town of Smithtown to address an application by a local company to convert an old manufacturing building into a modern indoor-golf facility.

Simplay Entertainment LLC of Hauppauge is seeking a special exception to renovate a 1.7-acre site that includes the former manufacturing building and parking lot on Commerce Drive near Adams Avenue.  The building is located within an industrial park north of the Long Island Expressway in Hauppauge.

The plan calls for virtual-golf cubicles as well as party and dining facilities, according to David Flynn, assistant planning director for the Town of Smithtown.  Newsday added:

Simplay's attorney, David N. Altman of Melville-based Brown & Altman LLP, confirmed the content of the application, which said the proposal would decrease the amount of vacant light-industrial properties in town. "The proposed use is in harmony with the surrounding industrial park and will provide year-round recreational opportunities to those who work within the industrial park and live in the neighboring community," it said.

The special-exception consideration is needed because commercial recreation is not considered a permissible use under town zoning regulations, Flynn said. -- Newsday, Lauren R. Harrison, 2/1/2015

Parking and site improvements are also included in the application.

Four public golf courses are located within five miles of the Commerce Drive site -- Brentwood Country Club, Stonebridge Golf Links, Wind Watch Golf & Country Club and Heartland Golf Park.