Golf on Long Island

Bay Park, Merrick open for play

The last remaining Long Island public golf courses to start their pandemic-era spring seasons have finally opened for play.

After an extended offseason, Bay Park Golf Course, a Nassau County muni, and the Town of Hempstead's Merrick Road Park Golf Course are open for pre-booked rounds only -- a distinct change for two courses that have long been strictly walk-up. 

Tee times at Bay Park can be reserved on the Nassau County Parks website or by phone at (516) 571-7242.  Rounds must be prepaid by credit card.

Tee times are available at Merrick on the Town of Hempstead website.

[NOTE: Pitch-&-putt golf courses within municipal parks are subject to park openings.  Robert Moses and Cedar Beach are open; Nickerson Dunes (Nickerson Beach) is unconfirmed.  Also, Great Rock Golf Club has still not reopened and appears to be permanently closed.]

All Long Island public golf courses open except two Nassau municipal courses

With tomorrow's scheduled reopening of Harbor Links' Executive Course, all but two of Long Island's public golf courses are back open for play in a 2020 spring season where tee times are scarce and social-distance regulations are firm.

Bay Park and Merrick Road Park, municipal nine-hole courses owned by Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead, respectively, are the last holdouts.  (A third still-closed course, Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River, might be out of business.)

Park personnel confirmed on Friday that the golf courses remain closed.  When asked about a scheduled opening date, an employee at Merrick simply answered, "We're not open."  A phone message stated the course is closed "until further notice."

A representative at the Nassau County parks department said by e-mail that Bay Park's golf course is expected to open sometime next week upon approval of seasonal personnel.  However, an employee in the park's main office said she is unaware of any planned opening date.

The rest of the Nassau County munis -- Eisenhower Park's three courses, plus Cantiague, Christopher Morley and North Woodmere -- reopened in late April.  Hempstead Town's other municipal course at Lido Golf Club opened then as well.

Coronavirus Update: Motor carts permitted at county, town courses

Motor carts for single riders only will be available as soon as Saturday at some Long Island county and town golf courses, according to Newsday's Jeff Williams.

The Suffolk County municipal courses at Bergen Point, Indian Island, Timber Point and West Sayville will allow the use of motor carts for golfers age 65 and over, and disabled players of all ages, beginning this Saturday. 

Town-owned golf courses at Brentwood Country Club, Holbrook Country Club, Gull Haven, Mill Pond, Rolling Oaks and Smithtown Landing will also permit single-rider carts under Suffolk County's guidelines.

In Nassau County, all players can rent single-rider carts beginning Monday, May 11, at Eisenhower Park's Blue and White courses.

Following the reopening of golf courses in late April, seniors and players with disabilities complained that New York State's walking-only restriction prevented them from returning to the course.  Under the state's revised business guidelines, as a non-essential business, golf courses can allow play with only security and maintenance personnel on site.  With no golf employees, facilities like the clubhouse, pro shop and presumably a cart shed are to remain closed.

However, municipal facilities are exempt from the state's essential and non-essential classifications.  There is no word yet on when non-municipal public courses will be able to rent motor carts.

Business regulations are expected to be loosened when the state's "NYS On Pause" shutdown expires on May 15.

Great Rock silent as Long Island's 2020 golf season revs up

After abruptly ending its 2019 playing season last October, Great Rock Golf Club spent the rest of the fall e-mailing and posting "See You Next Year!" messages to Long Island golfers, a cheery and optimistic retreat from a season littered with tales of weedy bunkers, scorched greens and barren facilities. 

Now, next year is here, and Great Rock is silent.

Long Island golf courses are packed with pandemic-weary golfers this spring, but no one is quite sure what is going on in Wading River, where Great Rock sits with a neglected 18, dormant social media and a disconnected phone line.  There are rumors of a 2019 sale and scant evidence that the course plans to open at all in 2020.

Once regarded for pristine grounds, most notably its ultra-fast greens, Great Rock fell into serious disrepair in 2019.  So poor were conditions that dozens of Long Island golfers posted reviews and photos on platforms like Golf Advisor detailing an essentially abandoned golf course with crabgrass-covered fairways and bunkers, bare greens and unmowed rough.  The recently renovated on-site bistro, Pure North Fork, did not reopen during the season.  A few days short of Halloween, Great Rock suddenly closed for the year with little notice.

As the season progressed, the course responded to online player complaints with canned apologies and vague promises of future improvements.  Then, following its closure, Great Rock started a heavy "See You Next Year!" marketing blitz on its Facebook page and mailing list.  All communications ceased in January.  Its most recent post on January 25 promoted leagues and outings in 2020.

If Great Rock is indeed closed for good, it would be yet another blow to the East End public golf scene.  Tallgrass is now covered from head to toe with solar panels, and Calverton Links -- the last course to close early amid sale rumors and never return -- is an overgrown playground for paintball and other outdoor sports.

[PICTURED: Great Rock's downhill ninth in brighter times.]