Golf on Long Island

Mill Pond hosting ninth annual Turkey Shootout scramble on Thanksgiving

The ninth edition of Mill Pond Golf Course's annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Shootout is open for registration, and interested players should not delay in signing up for one of Long Island golf's most popular holiday events.  

As usual, Mill Pond's 2015 Turkey Shootout will be a four-person team scramble with a scheduled 8:00 a.m. start.  The $69 entry fee covers cart, range balls and a hot breakfast buffet before the round tees off.  Players are also entitled to one free beer or soda during or after play.  Prizes will be awarded for team score and a closest-to-the-pin challenge.  Sign up before the event sells out by calling the Mill Pond pro shop at (631) 732-8249.  Pre-payment is required.

Wind will certainly come into play on Mill Pond's open layout, and hard greens could be a factor depending on the late-November chill. 

For more on Mill Pond, check out the course flyover.

Friday aeration special at Stonebridge

Stonebridge Golf Links & Country Club in Hauppauge will be closed for fairway aeration on Thursday, October 29.  So on the following day, October 30, Stonebridge is offering a $33 aeration special -- with cart included -- to all players.  Discounted tee times can be made online at the course website.

For more on the course, which pays tribute to classic Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald holes, check out Golf On Long Island's Stonebridge flyover.

New restaurant Pure North Fork opens at Great Rock Golf Club

There's a restaurant once again at Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River. 

Pure North Fork, a modern bistro with a focus on local food and drinks, opened at the course earlier this month.  The new spot officially replaces Blackwells, the Zagat-rated steakhouse that closed early in 2014 when the club and restaurant came under new ownership.

Golfers who were accustomed to following a round at Great Rock with a burger and a beer in the wood-accented Blackwells tap room won't recognize the new digs, which now include a long marble bar, a few communal tables and contemporary light fixtures. 

More on the transformation can be found at Newsday, Northforker and Riverhead Local.

Voting open for "Best Golf Course" in 11th annual Long Island Press poll

With the fall season upon us, it's time for Long Island golfers to warm up their click fingers and vote online in the 11th annual Long Island Press "Best of LI" poll.  Every October the newspaper opens voting on dozens of goods and services around the Island, including local golf courses, stores and driving ranges.

In the golf course category, Bethpage State Park has done nothing but come away with gold.  This year's poll includes 17 other contenders (12 public and five private) looking to steal the title from Bethpage and its Black, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow courses.  Visit the Long Island Press "Best of LI" website until December 15 to cast your vote.

This year's public-course nominees are:

• Bethpage State Park
• Eisenhower Park
• Harbor Links
• Holbrook Country Club
• Lido GC
• Middle Bay
• Rock Hill
• Smithtown Landing
• Stonebridge Golf Links
• Swan Lake
• Tallgrass
• Timber Point
• Town of Oyster Bay GC
• Willow Creek G&CC

Vote for the "Best Golf Course" of 2016 at www.LongIslandPress.com, and while you're there be sure to cast a vote for your favorite driving range and golf shop.  Winners will be announced in January.

Crab Meadow Golf Course celebrating 50 years in Northport

Rock Hill in Manorville isn't the only local golf course celebrating the 2015 season with 50 candles in its 18th green.  Northport's Crab Meadow Golf Course turns 50 this season as well, and part of its celebration includes a dress-like-the-'60s scramble later this month.

The Town of Huntington course remains a popular destination on Suffolk's north shore, due primarily to its mix of playability and scenery.  William Mitchell, designer of many of Suffolk County's municipal courses, laid out the course in 1965 beside Long Island Sound marshland.  Mitchell's course leads players up and down the Northport hills, at times providing long-range views over the marsh toward the Sound.  Course operator Integrity Golf took control of Crab Meadow earlier this year and immediately set out to upgrade the practice area, clubhouse and maintenance procedures.  Crab Meadow is Integrity's first property in the Northeast and was featured in the company magazine last month.

Mitchell is actually the second locally prominent golf designer to lead fairways to greens at Crab Meadow's Northport site.  The property's golf history reaches farther back to 1921, when Devereux Emmet, the man behind Bethpage Green, Eisenhower Red and many other Long Island courses past and present, laid out the little-known Northport Country Club.  According to Daniel Wexler's Lost Links, Northport CC featured more interplay with the adjacent marshland than Crab Meadow does today, including two par-3s with greens closely guarded by the water. 

Like many courses built during the 1920s golf boom, however, Northport was hit hard by the Depression and off the map by World War II.  Integrity's magazine piece indicates the original clubhouse burned down in 1949 and the course sat abandoned until Mitchell, with governmental push from Huntington town supervisor Robert Flynn, created the current course during a second Long Island golf boom in the 1960s.  Flynn's efforts to expand Huntington's recreational space also included the building of Dix Hills Park's nine-hole course, now celebrating its 50th year as well.

On Wednesday, October 21, Crab Meadow will host an anniversary scramble.  For $50, golfers can play Crab Meadow, eat lunch and dinner, and compete for prizes.   Players are also free to dress in 1960s-era garb for the event titled "One Day of Peace & Golf."  Call (631) 757-8800 to reserve a spot.

For more on the Town of Huntington courses, visit the Crab Meadow and Dix Hills Park flyovers.

Bethpage Black aeration, green reconstruction on the schedule this month

The Black Course at Bethpage State Park will undergo its usual fall maintenance this month, but when it reopens for play after aeration, two of its par-3 greens will be out of the rotation.

Following aeration, which will close the Black from October 13 to 16, reconstruction will begin on #3 and #14.  To make up for the two lost greens, both #7 and #13 will be split into modified par-3/par-4 holes.  The new greens at #3 and #14 are expected to reopen with the rest of the Black Course in April 2016.

Black's 2015 closing date is tentatively scheduled for November 15.

The full aeration schedule for the month of October is:

Green Course: October 7-8
Black Course: October 13-16
Red Course: October 19-21