Golf on Long Island

Three Suffolk courses partnering for a spring "Golf Trifecta" special

The Links and Woods courses at Cherry Creek in Riverhead and Pine Ridge Golf Club in Coram are teaming up this spring to offer Long Island players a "Golf Trifecta" discount on three rounds early in the season.

The Trifecta special includes one round at each course -- Cherry Creek's lengthy, driver-friendly Links Course, the tree-lined Woods Course and the challenging layout at Pine Ridge -- with cart included for a flat $99 rate.  To get in on the deal, purchase a Trifecta card at any of the three pro shops.  The card is valid for weekday rounds through May 22. 

For more on Pine Ridge (pictured), the par-6 18th at Cherry Creek Links or the Woods Course across the street, check out the course flyovers at the above links.

Seventh annual Knights of Columbus charity golf outing at Rock Hill on May 1

Knights of Columbus Council #5817 will support Boots on the Ground NY, the Lieutenant Michael O'Shea Memorial Service Award Fund and the Sergeant Jonathan Keller Memorial Scholarship Fund at this year's seventh annual charity golf outing, which will take place on Friday, May 1 at Rock Hill Golf & Country Club in Manorville. 

Registration fee is $150 per golfer.  The event includes a hole-in-one tournament in which players will have an opportunity to win a three-year lease on a 2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport, among other prizes.  Buffet lunch, on-course refreshments and a post-round cocktail hour and dinner with open bar are also included.  All players receive a one-year subscription to Golf Digest with registration.  To sign up for the golf outing, register as a dinner guest or donate to the above charities, visit the outing website.

Boots on the Ground is an organization of veterans that focuses on helping other veterans in need.  To learn more, visit the Boots on the Ground NY website.

Knights of Columbus #5817, founded on charity and patriotism, is continuing its ongoing support by contributing a portion of outing proceeds to the Lieutenant Michael O'Shea Memorial Service Award Fund and the Sergeant Jonathan Keller Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Future of former Calverton Links may be in solar energy

The former Calverton Links golf course will likely become a solar farm, according to an article published last month in the Riverhead News-Review.

The course, which has sat untouched since it abruptly closed for business in the fall of 2013, was sold last May for $3.5 million to developer Parviz Farahzad and a group called Bashi Calverton Links LLC. 

As written in the News-Review:

In December, the LIPA Board of Trustees announced a number of locations it had selected for potential solar panel farms on Long Island. One of them was listed as being a deal with San Francisco-based sPower Solar to put a solar farm “between 100 and 200 Edwards Avenue, on the west side, and between 400 and 500 Edwards Avenue, on the east side of Edwards Avenue.”

Neither LIPA nor sPower would be more specific at the time, although the address of Calverton Links is 149 Edwards Avenue. -- Tim Gannon, Riverhead News-Review, 3/19/2015

Travelers driving past the property on Edwards Avenue in Calverton will notice a new 45-acre expanse of solar panels on a former sod farm directly across the street from the course.  The Links itself sits overgrown on the west side of the road. 

The article states that in the event approval for the solar farm is denied, the land will likely be sold.

New hole configuration for 2015 season at The Golf Club at Middle Bay

The 2015 season is underway in Oceanside at The Golf Club at Middle Bay, though players eager to get to the course's signature waterfront holes will have to take a few extra swings before reaching them.

Middle Bay's new hole configuration made its debut earlier this month, amid other upgrades around the facility.  The course flipped its two nines and made a slight modification to the new back side.  In this updated layout, the bayside par-3 7th and par-4 8th open up the back as #10 and #11.

Play begins on what was previously the 10th hole, a 344-yard par-4 that faces south toward the bay.  The new front nine continues around the course's interior section before concluding on Middle Bay's original par-5 closer.  After the scenic stretch that was formerly holes 7 through 9, the 13th picks up at the original #1.  Most notable about the new order is that the old #6 -- a long, sweeping dogleg par-5 that bends right toward the clubhouse -- is the new 18th.

The change sets up a more dramatic finish.  It also heightens the challenge early in the round, since players are now sent directly into the most wind-exposed portion of the course.

Golf director Ron Wright told Golf On Long Island that the facility has completed a $100,000 bulkhead project and is now in the midst of installing new cart paths and a GPS system.  The cafe will be open on May 1.  Due to still-dormant turf conditions, riding is cart-path-only through the rest of April.

For more on Middle Bay, check out the course flyover.

[PICTURED:  The scenic par-3 up against the bay is no longer #7; it now opens the back nine as #10.]

April aeration special at Great Rock

Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River is reopening for the 2015 season on Friday, April 10, and since the course was recently aerated, special rates are in effect through the end of the month.

Players can get out at Great Rock for aeration rates as low as $29 with cart on weekday afternoons.  Weekday morning rounds are $39.  On weekends, rates are $59 until 11 a.m., $49 until 2 p.m. and $39 until close.  Regular spring rates take effect on May 1.

Great Rock's restaurant -- formerly Blackwells -- is currently undergoing a full-scale renovation.  On the course, bunker renovations are complete, and other updates, including realigning teeboxes, will begin later this year.

For more on Great Rock, check out the course flyover.