Golf on Long Island

Kids play free at Spring Lake this summer

Spring Lake Golf Club is reaching out with a deal that offers two benefits in the pandemic summer of 2020 -- it gets the kids out of the house and you onto the golf course.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays in July and August, kids under the age of 14 play for free with one paying adult.  The special covers nine holes on Spring Lake's Sandpiper Course, home to the facility's namesake lake and signature hole.

Call the course at (631) 924-5115 for additional info and booking.  Presently, all rounds at Spring Lake must be booked in advance -- no walk-up tee times are available.  The pro shop and restaurant are open with masks required.

For more information on Spring Lake's Sandpiper Course, check out the course flyover.

Nine courses participating in Golfing Mag's 2020 "Free Golf" Program

As the unique, contact-free Long Island golf season of 2020 hums along, a familiar figure of pre-pandemic normalcy -- Golfing Magazine's "Free Golf" certificate -- makes its way to area mailboxes once again.

Golfing Mag's 2020 Free Golf program includes nine Long Island golf courses, ranging from nine-hole munis to the region's most scenic waterfront layouts.  For $54, subscribers to the magazine's annual promotion are entitled to "free" green fees for one round at each of the program's participating courses.  It also includes a one-year digital subscription to Hicksville-based Golfing Magazine.

This year's Free Golf certificates cover rounds at Brentwood Country Club, Gull Haven Golf Course in Central Islip, Holbrook Country Club, Island's End Golf & Country Club in Greenport, Mill Pond in Medford, Peninsula Golf Club in Massapequa, Rolling Oaks in Miller Place, The Golf Club at Middle Bay in Oceanside and Willow Creek Golf & Country Club in Mount Sinai.

Taking advantage of the promotion is simple -- bring your Free Golf certificate with you to the course and all you pay is a cart fee (and reservation fee, in some instances).  The certificate is honored only once at each course, at designated times during the week and on Sundays.  Availability varies by course.  (Specific terms for each course are listed on the certificate and can be viewed at the Golfing Magazine website.)  Be sure to double-check all terms and conditions when reserving your round.  Tee times must be made in advance.

As an added bonus for those who travel across the Northeast, certificates are also valid at dozens of golf courses across upstate New York and New England. 

Players can subscribe throughout the season for only $54.  Certificates are valid until December 31, 2020.  To subscribe online, visit www.GolfingMagLI.com.  And for descriptions of the participating Long Island courses, click the links above to read the course flyovers.

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.]

Bethpage spring opening and aeration dates

After a fluky 2019 when the Bethpage State Park golf courses were partially and temporarily reopened in advance of the PGA Championship, it's back to regular business for the park in 2020.  Over the next few weeks, reopenings of the Green, Red and Black courses will bring the facility back up to full capacity.

First, the Green Course is scheduled to rejoin the year-round Blue and Yellow courses for play on Saturday, March 28.  The Red Course will reopen on Wednesday, April 1, followed by the Black Course on Wednesday, April 15.  All reopen dates are subject to change.

Bethpage also announced spring aeration dates, starting with the Yellow Course on April 23 and 24.  The full aeration schedule is as follows:

• Yellow Course: April 23-24
• Red Course:  April 28-29
• Blue Course:  May 5-6
• Green Course:  May 7-8

Refer to the NYS Parks website or Twitter feed for the latest updates.

St. Patrick's Day holiday scramble on the slate at Mill Pond

Corned beef, cabbage, beer, birdie putts -- they all come together on or around St. Patrick's Day each year at a couple of Long Island golf courses that celebrate the holiday with chilly, Irish-themed outings.  One of them is Mill Pond Golf Course in Medford, which will hold this year's outing on St. Pattie's Day morning as others march in parades and eat all kinds of green-infused goodies.

Mill Pond's annual St. Patrick's Day Golf Classic tees off at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17.  Format for the outing is four-person scramble.  Entry fee is $79 (pre-payment required) and covers golf, cart and range balls in addition to a 3:00 p.m. after-party featuring a hot Irish buffet, draft beer and wine.  Prizes will be awarded to the top three teams and winners of closest-to-pin and long-drive contests.

To register for the St. Patrick's Day Golf Classic, call (631) 732-8249.  In the event of inclement weather, the outing will be canceled and all registrants will be refunded.

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

2020 public golf course reopen dates on Long Island

It's natural for golfers emerging from the winter to look ahead to The Masters in April as the unofficial start of the new golf season.  But there are dates to mark on the calendar far ahead of the pros' tee times at Augusta -- the mid- to late March reopening dates at Long Island's handful of seasonal golf courses.

With no snow and mild temps throughout the 2019-20 offseason, this has been one of the area's more player-friendly winters in recent memory -- word of quality ground conditions have been sent to GOLI through the winter for courses like Wind Watch, Smithtown Landing and others.  Still, there's always anticipation for the start of a new season, whether or not January offered sunshine and non-frozen fairways.

Long Island's seasonal golf courses begin to reopen in the middle of March and continue to do so into early April.  Bethpage Black is typically the last course to get back to business in mid April.

The following is a list of tentative 2020 opening dates for Long Island's seasonal golf courses.  (Year-round courses remain open as the weather allows and are not included in this list.)  Courses will be added or updated as information becomes available.  Be sure to check back through March for the latest info.

*All dates listed below are subject to change.  Call the courses directly for updated dates and times.

GOLF COURSE REOPENINGS:

• Brentwood CC -- March 13
  
• Holbrook CC -- March 13
• Island's End -- March 13
• Woods Course at Cherry Creek -- March 14
• Town of Oyster Bay GC -- March 17
• Timber Point -- March 20 (DELAYED until 4/1)
  
• Bergen Point -- March 20
• Harbor Links - Championship/Executive -- March 21 (DELAYED thru 3/30)
  
• Bethpage Green -- OPEN
• Bethpage Red -- April 1
• The Golf Club at Middle Bay -- April 1
• Bethpage Black -- April 15

The following courses typically reopen in mid to late March (dates TBA):

• West Sayville
• Christopher Morley Park

The following courses typically reopen in April (dates TBA):

• Eisenhower Red 
• Bay Park 

[This post was updated on March 19, 2020.]

Riverhead Chamber offering discounts on eight East End rounds

East End golfers can save a pretty penny on a handful of Riverhead-area rounds this season thanks to an annual promotion by the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce. 

The Riverhead Chamber is once again offering its seasonal Golf Book, good for eight rounds total at two participating courses.  The discount package is available for $240, or $30 per round.

This year's participating courses are Middle Island Country Club in Middle Island -- home of the Spruce, Dogwood and Oak nines --  and Island's End Golf & Country Club in Greenport.  The prepaid offer covers up to four rounds at each course, with cart included, and is valid weekdays after 9 a.m. at Island's End and 11 a.m. at Middle Island.

Golfers can purchase the 2020 Golf Book online at the Chamber of Commerce website, or buy them in person at several Riverhead businesses.  Refer to the Chamber website for information on where the cards are available for pickup.  

For more information, call the Riverhead Chamber office at (631) 727-7600.  And for more information on this year's participating courses, click on the above links.

Winter Golf on Long Island: 2019-2020 Edition

It doesn't matter what the calendar says -- when weekend temperatures are hovering around 60 degrees and the sun is shining, it's a weekend to think about golf.

And not just golf on TV as the pros get tan in Hawaii and California.  It's time for playing golf, at least for those who haven't buried the clubs for the offseason behind Thanksgiving decorations and Christmas ornaments.

Winter golf season is a little uncomfortable and not entirely pleasant, but if you don't mind dressing in layers and spilling coffee down your windbreaker, it's also a great time to play local courses in relative peace and quiet, at a discounted price.  Ground conditions tend to hold up until the first prolonged snow cover, and ample tee times allow for pressure-free rounds that are ideal for newcomers and junior players.  And if you happen to catch a 60-degree Saturday or Sunday, it's like a belated Christmas gift -- except for the wait to get on the first tee.

Bethpage is back to normal this winter now that the PGA Championship has come and gone.  The Blue Course will be open through the offseason as well as the Yellow, which was closed for part of last winter to make way for PGA prep.  The other Bethpage courses will reopen closer to April.

See also: Winter Golf on Long Island overview

The handful of seasonal golf courses around the Island closed in December and typically reopen for play in March.  The rest keep the tees open year-round.  Some post updates on things like frost delays, rate specials and weather closures on Facebook or Twitter -- for others, you probably need to call ahead to check on conditions.

To keep winter golfers up to date on playing options around the area, Golf On Long Island will periodically post available discount rates and specials through the offseason.  At some courses, winter rates can be as low as two bucks a hole.  Some include lunch.  Check back for updated specials throughout the winter.

For a full primer on offseason golf, check out the Winter Golf on Long Island page, which will feature some of this season's special rates in addition to offers from previous years.

Timber Point closed for the season

The sudden arrival of mid-winter weather has pushed Timber Point Golf Course into an early offseason hibernation.  The Suffolk muni typically holds out until the end of the calendar year, but the course announced it is officially closed until spring due to this week's snow and frigid temps.

Timber Point usually reopens by mid-March.  Be sure to check GOLI in late winter for our list of course opening dates.

Winter course closings begin this weekend

December arrives this weekend and with it comes the first wave of Long Island course closings for the 2019-20 offseason.

Bethpage Red will close for the season at the close of play on Sunday, December 1, as will the Green Course, which typically remains open as needed during the winter.  Bethpage Blue and Yellow will be open for play through the winter, weather permitting.

December 1 is also the last day to play the Woods Course at Cherry Creek in Riverhead.

On Monday, December 2, The Golf Club at Middle Bay in Oceanside will close for the season.

Already shut down for the winter are Bethpage Black, which typically closes in mid-November, and Great Rock in Wading River.  The latter closed abruptly last month amid rumors of a sale.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more winter closures.