Golf on Long Island

Bethpage Black and Red land in GOLF Magazine's Top 100 Courses You Can Play

Another list of top public golf courses, another chance for Bethpage State Park's marquee layout to shine.  Bethpage Black is featured near the top of the latest course ranking, this time GOLF.com/GOLF Magazine's 2024-2025 list of Top 100 Courses You Can Play, though for once the Black Course is forced to step back and cede some of the elite-tier spotlight to another course with Long Island roots.  Well...sort of.

GOLF posted its Top 100 last month, rating America's best public golf courses (and publicly accessible private clubs) from Pebble Beach at #1 to Wine Valley (#100) in Washington.  Bethpage Black and Red, New York State's only representatives on the list, came in at #5 and #65.

The Black Course cracking the top five of a national ranking is noteworthy, especially when it's slotted directly in front of headliners like Kiawah Island, TPC Sawgrass and Bandon Dunes.  But it's the course ahead of the Black at #4 that's of unique local interest.  The Lido — the Tom Doak reincarnation of the long-lost Long Island club — has been a hit since it opened at Sand Valley in Wisconsin in 2023.  (GOLF ranked Lido #68 in its Top 100 World list during its debut season.)  The course is nearly a down-to-the-inch replica of the vaunted C.B. Macdonald club in Lido Beach once considered among the greatest American golf courses.  For a brief period from the Black's opening in 1936 to Lido's demise in 1942, the two courses were active at the same time, separated by just 20 miles.

Of the two existing Long Island courses on the list, GOLF writes: "The Black enjoys one of the great routings, highlighted by the masterful way Tillinghast placed the fairways and greens from the second hole in a valley all the way through the dogleg left ninth.  The par-5 fourth and its iconic cross-bunkering is a world-beater."

The Red Course "more than holds its own, albeit with much less fanfare than its fellow Tillinghast design.  There’s no warning sign at the first tee like at the Black, the rough is friendlier and the bunkers less dramatic (except for the fistful that split the fairway on the par-4 13th).  But locals know none of that makes the Red a pushover."

Newsday: Kelley Brooke to become new course operator at Harbor Links

Harbor Links Golf Course, a municipal golf facility owned by the Town of North Hempstead, will be operated by Brooke Holdings LLC starting in 2025, according to a Newsday report.  Brooke Holdings LLC is owned by golf professional Kelley Brooke, who also operates the pro shops and instructional programs at several New York State and Town of Hempstead golf courses, including Bethpage State Park.

The agreement between North Hempstead and Brooke Holdings includes a 20-year contract and an expected $18 million in rent and revenue, reported Newsday's Joshua Needelman.  The current contract with longtime operator Century Golf Partners will expire on December 31.  North Hempstead's Town Board voted 4–3 in favor of the new agreement.

Brooke, the 2018 LPGA Professional of the Year and longtime contributor to The Golf Channel, has managed golf facilities across New York City and Long Island since the 1990s.  In 2018 she took over operations of the pro shop and instruction at Bethpage State Park and immediately bolstered the facility's social media presence and marketing reach, then later became operator at Montauk Downs.  Earlier this year Brooke began a 10-year contract with the Town of Hempstead to operate and rebrand the Lido and Merrick Road Park golf courses.  Instructional programs at all four facilities are now marketed under the Golf Channel Academy with Kelley Brooke umbrella.

Harbor Links has been a fixture in Port Washington since its opening in a reclaimed sand mine in 1998.  The 27-hole facility hosts a highly popular series of youth and adult instructional programs.  There is no word yet on Brooke's plans for instruction or marketing at the course.

Expect short rough and deep tees at next year's Ryder Cup, say Bethpage, Cup officials

Prepare to see massive drives and aggressive lines at next fall's Bethpage Black Ryder Cup.

The Black Course's notoriously lush rough, what the pros typically encounter during championship play at Bethpage, will be rocking quite the buzzcut when the Ryder Cup tees off nearly a year from now in late September 2025.  More notably, it will be clipped shorter than what sleep-in-the-car Bethpage golfers experience when they set out on their Tuesday morning foursome. 

At a press event for members of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association on Tuesday, longtime Black Course superintendent Mike Hadley said he expects the rough will be cut to a "thick but more playable" 2 1/4 inches during the three-day international tournament.  Bethpage Black's rough typically measures 2 1/2 to 3 inches during regular public play, Hadley said, and more than 4 inches for events like the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

"With shorter rough you get more birdies, which means more action," Hadley said.

The relatively tame rough will accommodate Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and the "team of bombers" he is expected to put together on the American side, one that has little interest in gouging irons out of a 5-inch tangle.  Bradley also wants to tee off from as deep as the holes allow, Hadley said, the only exception being the par-3 17th.  There, a stadium-style setup will include bleachers on the back of the teebox that envelop the American and European players and set up a potentially raucous conclusion to the tournament.

At #1, the newly built lower tee should coax many players, especially the Americans, to take a run at the green.  The official Ryder Cup yardage on the dogleg-right opener is 397 yards.

Ryder Cup championship director Bryan Karns said a spacious grandstand will occupy the current #1 teebox and wrap completely around the first tee and 18th green.  The setup will elevate the Ryder Cup's "one-of-a-kind first-tee experience," Karns said.

In addition to the tweaks already made on the Black Course, specifically this spring's bunker expansion and relocation on holes 5 and 13, Hadley said the sixth and seventh fairways could be widened per Bradley's preference.  Rough will be maintained short throughout the 2025 season, meaning Long Island's public players will get a rare break on the course during the spring and early summer.

Bethpage park director Scott Matson said the Black Course will likely close six weeks prior to the Ryder Cup.  Plans and schedules related to the other four Bethpage golf courses will be determined early next year.

The 2025 tournament will be played from September 26–28 and is the second Ryder Cup to be hosted at a New York course (Oak Hill, 1995).

Sandy Pond Links debuts new routing, state-of-the-art mini golf course

Two years into its rebrand in Riverhead, Sandy Pond Links continues to spruce up its nine holes on Roanoke Avenue all while it cuts the ribbon on a newer and much shorter 18 right next door.

The first of two planned attractions at Sandy Pond made its debut last week, a state-of-the-art miniature golf course complete with in-play waterworks, a snack bar and a locally brewed house beer.  Sandy Pond's new clubhouse, the second development in the works on the north end of the property, is tentatively scheduled for a 2026 grand opening.

On the course, crews remain busy installing new irrigation and refurbishing Sandy Pond's nine greens.  When new ownership took over during the 2022-23 offseason, much of their focus was on restoring the greens to their original size.  Time and maintenance changes had reduced the greens to small, circular targets, far from what co-owner Brian Stark recalled from his early days living near and working on the course.  "You can still see areas where the contours were lost, and how the greens have shrunk significantly over time," Stark told Golf On Long Island in 2023.  "They used to have more character and pin positions."

The most startling change at the moment is the rerouting of the course to accommodate the new starter's booth, currently housed at the mini-golf course until it's eventually relocated to the clubhouse.  Players now start on the former ninth hole, continue to the old opener and finish on what had long been #8.  Along the way they'll pass the landmark red shack, which will likely stay in place.  Players will also have access to a patio near the first tee that's lined with Adirondack chairs, yard games and even a mini version of the iconic Big Duck down the road in Flanders.  The snack bar is stocked with a house IPA from Riverhead's Long Ireland Brewery, and cupholders built into each mini-golf hole sign serve as handy beer caddies.

Co-owner Earl Truland says the mini-golf 18 will be a family-friendly destination that doubles as a community gathering spot and a vehicle for revenue to cover upgrades on the par-3 course.  The mini golf includes uphill and downhill holes and a series of waterfalls, one of which flows into an in-play stream that carries balls under a bridge and onto the tenth green. 

"We've had people tell us they'd love to play mini golf while they wait to tee off," Truland says.  "Now instead of passing by when we have leagues on Wednesday mornings, they can come in and spend time here before they play."

Plans for Sandy Pond's future clubhouse include a simulator room, a small bar and food service, Truland says.  The structure still needs approval form the Town of Riverhead, and ownership hopes to break ground by spring 2025.

For more on the planned changes at Sandy Pond Links, see this post from January 2023.

Bethpage, Montauk Downs listed among Golfweek's 2024 Best Courses You Can Play

There are certainties in Long Island golf life — group photos at the Black Course warning sign, wind at Montauk Downs, and Bethpage and Montauk ranked highly in Golfweek's list of the region's top public golf courses.

Golfweek's 2024 Best Courses You Can Play rankings were published earlier this month and Bethpage Black finds itself on familiar ground atop the local list, followed closely by its next-door neighbor Bethpage Red and its New York State sister course at Montauk Downs.  The Best Courses You Can Play list ranks the elite publicly accessible courses in all 50 states.  The three courses are typically locks for New York's top eight with the Red Course and Montauk Downs jockeying for position.  This year the Red Course at #6 edged out Montauk by a spot.

Also of local interest, Bally's Ferry Point (formerly Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point) in the Bronx is ranked third behind only the Black Course and Leatherstocking in Cooperstown.

Bethpage Black is featured prominently on Golfweek's broader lists as well.  The Black moved up one spot to #9 on the national Best Courses You Can Play list, jumping ahead of the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.  It also held its #26 spot on the Best 200 Classic Courses list, which ranks public and private courses built before 1960.  That list showcases Long Island's enormous depth of internationally renowned golf courses, with three courses in the top 10 (Shinnecock Hills, National Golf Links and Fisher's Island) and a total of 15 courses overall.

For many years, Golfweek included a fourth Long Island course in its annual Best You Can Play — Tallgrass Golf Course in Shoreham.  Tallgrass is gone, of course, but another "lost" course with local ties — sort of — did crack the list.  The resurrected Lido at Sand Valley in Wisconsin lands at #15 on the national list and #2 in the state.  That course is a nearly identical replica of C.B Macdonald's original Lido Club located on Long Island's south shore from 1917 to 1942.

For more on the three Long Island publics, including a Closer Look breakdown of Red #13 (and Tallgrass #8, just for old time's sake), check out the course flyovers via the above links.

[PICTURED: Bethpage Black #5 in spring 2024.]

Newsday: Stonebridge Golf Links ownership withdraws on-course housing proposal

A development plan that would have built 28 additional homes at Stonebridge Golf Links and Country Club in Hauppauge and shortened its 18-hole golf course into abbreviated nines has been withdrawn by ownership, according to Newsday.  All that remains now are lingering questions and concerns about the future of the current golf course.

Newsday's Jean-Paul Salamanca reported last week that Stonebridge representatives sent a letter of withdrawal dated May 7 to the Town of Smithtown's Planning Board, roughly six weeks after a public hearing in front of the board and members of the community.  At that March 20 meeting, attorney David Altman and Islip-based architect Jerry Rumplick presented a plan for new houses along Stonebridge's western perimeter.  To build the proposed homes, Stonebridge asked the planning board to consider amending the longtime covenants that restrict new development on the site. 

The most notable exchange took place near the end of the meeting when board member Rick Lanese pressed Altman to explain how Smithtown residents would benefit from a plan that adds housing to an environmentally sensitive site and negatively impacts the existing Stonebridge course.  Altman said they benefit because the alternative would be total loss of the golf course.

Now that the plan has been withdrawn, that back-and-forth between Altman and the board takes on much greater significance.  Stonebridge representatives declined to comment to Newsday about the withdrawal, Salamanca reported, and Altman has not responded to questions about the golf course from Golf On Long Island.

Stonebridge replaced and redesigned the former Hauppauge Country Club in 1999, at which time covenants were put in place to limit future additions to the 105-home residential community and changes to club membership and the golf course itself.  The two golf courses have occupied the Veterans Highway site since the 1950s.

Residents and neighbors spoke out against the plan at the March 20 meeting, citing concerns over the course modifications, environmental impact, proximity to the adjacent county park and decline in home value.  Under the proposed plan, new homes would have replaced the 17th and 18th holes, and the western half of the current course would have been reduced to an executive-length nine-hole layout.  The eastern half likely would have remained as a separate full-length nine.

Stonebridge's course design pays tribute to renowned early-1900s designers C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor and Charles Banks.  Macdonald biographer and historian George Bahto redesigned the previous Hauppauge course to include replicas of holes typically found at famous American and European clubs, making it unique among Long Island's roster of public golf courses.  The 17th hole, which would have been destroyed under the housing proposal, is modeled after Macdonald's "Eden" par-3s.  Other replicas include the Redan at #4, Biarritz at #7 and Hog's Back green at #16.

For more on the course, see the Stonebridge flyover.

SEE ALSO: Proposed homebuilding plan calls for major modifications or possible closure of Stonebridge Golf Links

Eisenhower Park to close with limited golf access during next month's Cricket World Cup

[UPDATE: Eisenhower Red and Blue will both reopen for play on Thursday, June 13.]

Long Island golfers will have limited access to the golf courses at Eisenhower Park next month while local and visiting cricket fans take in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, part of which will be held at the Nassau County park from June 1 to June 12.

Signs informing local players about park and course access have been posted at the golf office and driving range, though they only tell part of the story.  Eisenhower Park's White Course will be the only 18 open for play during the event.  Tee times during the special-event period are available by reservation only.

The Red and Blue courses, along with the rest of the park facilities, will be closed.  No reopening dates are currently available for the two courses.

Players with tee times on the White will be required to park in the lot just north of the course at Stewart Avenue and Salisbury Park Drive.  There will be no access to the main golf parking area.

The cricket event will be held at a temporary 34,000-seat stadium built south of Park Boulevard, adjacent to the miniature golf course.  In addition to a June 1 exhibition match between Bangladesh and India, the stadium will host tournament matches involving India, Pakistan, Canada, Ireland, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh, Netherlands and the United States.  

Call the park golf office at (516) 572-0327 for the latest information.

Bethpage Black opens 2024 season with bunker tweaks, irrigation upgrades

Players who went looking for a one-on-one fight with Bethpage Black on the golf course's opening day were instead met with an ambush by briskly cold temperatures and a brutal, relentless wind.  But the surprises weren't all bad — waiting on the first tee for some of the park's morning players was the Ryder Cup, perched on a pedestal in all its golden glory.  Representatives from the PGA of America were on hand to give away hats and let players from all five courses pose for photos.

The trophy's presence at Bethpage Black's grand 2024 opening was a gleaming reminder that Long Island is just a year away from hosting the famed international tournament and that Bethpage's accomplished staff continues its years-long effort to prepare the course for the global spotlight.

This offseason the Black Course received another set of upgrades, the most important of which, according to director of agronomy Andrew Wilson, was the completion of its irrigation system.  Longtime Black Course superintendent Mike Hadley led the effort to install new irrigation on holes 13 and 18, and with those two holes finished, the staff now has precise control of water usage throughout the course.  "The building blocks of a successful course are the irrigation and drainage systems," Wilson says, "so we are excited for the work to be done."

Up on ground level, players will find one notable change at #13.  Wilson says the crew "leapfrogged" the two fairway bunkers on the bending par-5, filling in the near trap and creating a new one just beyond the far bunker.  The new alignment will better defend against longer drives.  From the tees likely to be used in the Ryder Cup, the two traps will sit between 300 and 350 yards away.  Regular players will encounter them roughly 260 to 300-plus yards from the middle tees.

Also on #13, Wilson says the fairway has been widened by about 10 yards leading up to the traps.  "Over the past year or two we have widened fairways on many holes so running balls will not get caught in the rough," Wilson says.  "Now they could run into the bunkers."

The massive fairway bunker on the par-4 fifth will be even more intrusive this season.  Crews widened that trap a bit and made some improvements designed to prevent flooding.

As for Ryder Cup preparations, Wilson says there will be no changes to the Black Course's routing, as some have speculated.  The course will be played in order, from 1 to 18, starting at the Black's recently built Ryder Cup tee.  Other changes could be in the works as this season progresses.  

"We will see once the Ryder Cup captain is chosen," Wilson says.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Wilson]

Proposed homebuilding plan calls for major modifications or possible closure of Stonebridge Golf Links

The future of Stonebridge Golf Links and Country Club suddenly appears to be in doubt.

A proposed plan to build additional homes at the Hauppauge course would modify or eliminate several golf holes and remodel Stonebridge into two separate layouts, said attorney David Altman at a March 20 meeting of the Smithtown Planning Board.  If the town board does not approve amendments to longtime covenants attached to the property, said Altman, who spoke on behalf of Stonebridge ownership, the alternative might be closure of the golf course.

The project, as outlined in a presentation by Altman and Islip-based architect Jerry Rumplick, calls for 28 houses and a new access road to be constructed along the property's western perimeter, which is currently occupied by several holes on the course's back nine.  Maps and renderings indicate the plan would eliminate the existing 17th hole, heavily modify holes 11, 16 and 18, and shorten Stonebridge's western half into an executive-length course.  The eastern section of the course would likely remain as part of a full-length nine.

However, development at the site is limited by covenants put in place in 1999 when Stonebridge, an 18-hole semi-private course that surrounds a 105-home residential community, took over the former Hauppauge Country Club.  The covenants restrict further homebuilding and particular changes to the golf course and membership.  

Altman's project overview did not explicitly raise course closure as a possibility, but when pressed by a board member to explain how the plan benefits Smithtown residents, Altman said the alternative was loss of the golf course. 

More than a dozen residents of the course community and neighboring areas spoke out against the plan, citing concerns over the course alterations, environmental impact, proximity to the adjacent county park and decline in home value.  They also argued the covenants were integral factors in their decisions to buy or stay in their homes on the property and should not be amended to accommodate major changes to the site.

Stonebridge and the previous Hauppauge Country Club, both full-length 18-hole courses, have occupied the property along Veterans Highway since the 1950s.  Community resident Sue Stavrakos told the board that keeping a par-70 golf course on the site is required by the covenants.  Another resident who lives next to the tenth hole said golfers and potential members have little interest in playing an executive-length course and advised the town board to take steps to protect Smithtown's golf courses, similar to recent zoning changes enacted in the Town of Brookhaven.  Several homeowners said the site is too compact as is, leading to property damage, overcrowding during clubhouse events and, in some cases, severe injuries to residents.

According to renderings, the current 17th hole would be eliminated by the new home sites and #18 would be shortened and reoriented.  Rumplick said other changes would be made to improve safety in general and reduce ball strikes on the existing homes.  The par-4 16th would be split into two par-3s, one of which would feature a newly built island green.  At #10, new tees would be built parallel to the line of homes in order to cut down on property strikes.  Same at #2, a long par-4 on the other side of the course that would be shortened with new tees relocated ahead of an existing pond.

There is no timetable for a decision by the planning board, but several attendees at the March 20 meeting urged the board to schedule a second public hearing given the number of people who were turned away due to capacity limits.

Stonebridge is unique among Long Island's public courses as it is comprised entirely of template holes made famous by renowned designers C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor and Charles Banks.  Macdonald biographer and historian George Bahto redesigned the previous Hauppauge Country Club course to include replicas of holes typically found at early-20th-century clubs.  The troubled 17th hole, for example, is modeled after  Macdonald's "Eden" par-3s.  Other replicas include the Redan at #4, Biarritz at #7 and Hog's Back green at #16.

For more on the course, see the Stonebridge flyover.

[PICTURED: The 16th hole, which would be split into two par-3s under a proposed course remodeling.]

Spy Ring Golf Club to open to the public May 6

[NOTE: Spy Ring GC is now open.  Read more about the course in the Spy Ring flyover.]

The wait is nearly over.  The slow and steady rollout of Spy Ring Golf Club, the first non-executive public golf course built on Long Island in nearly two decades, is moving ahead toward launch. 

Spy Ring will make its grand opening to Long Island's public golfers on Monday, May 6.  Designed by Tyler Rae, the modern nine-hole layout in Setauket replaces the former Heatherwood Golf Course with a boldly contoured, fun-forward course built from the ground up in the mold of other top-tier nine-holers around the country.  Reservations will be available starting in late April.

Optimism has been sky-high ever since Rae and a team of builders began shaping the course during the early days of the pandemic.  "This has a chance to be something special and unique for Long Island," said Heatherwood president Chris Capece during a 2022 course tour.  "I think this is going to be up on the same level with Sweetens Cove."

Given the course's forward-thinking design and lofty aspirations, Spy Ring is the most ambitious golf project on Long Island since Harbor Links was built in a reclaimed Port Washington sand mine in 1998.  When it opens next month it will be the first public course (excluding pitch-and-putts) to debut in the region since Coram's Pine Ridge in 2006.

Spy Ring is one of the first solo designs for Rae, whose resume includes many Golden Age restorations and renovations, with emphasis on Donald Ross courses.  Here Rae laid out a 3,100-yard par-36 that plays up and down a series of rolling holes.  The eye-candy hole is #7, a 145-yard par-3 with a Ross-inspired volcano green perched above the surrounding terrain and guarded by four large traps.  Rounds conclude on a 515-yard par-5 that runs downhill from the tee, then back uphill past bunkers to a massive green.  Many of the putting surfaces feature broad entrances that set up ground-game approaches.

It will also stand out among Long Island publics because of its sand-based construction and specially adapted turfgrass designed to allow balls to bound across fairways and over Rae's pronounced green contours.  The pandemic slowed construction overall but provided time for Rae and crew to strip off all the site's topsoil and mold the exposed sandy base to their precise specifications.  Rae said the setup and ground conditions create a "turnkey firm-and-fast course" for local players.

When designing Spy Ring, Rae considered the high standard for Long Island golf courses, especially in that corner of Suffolk County.  "Golf intellect is very high on Long Island," Rae told Golf On Long Island during grow-in.  "You can't just come in with Mickey Mouse bunkers and flat greens and expect to have success.  Especially with a course like St. George's right down the street."

Rae's greens feature internal contouring and funneling that set up fun putts without going over the top.  "There's a ton of variety in the greens, and plenty of pinnable space," he said.  "Each one can play really easy or really hard."

While the course's style is geared toward the present and future, Spy Ring is not shy about nodding to the past.  It is named for the Culper Ring, the famed network of colonial spies that operated in Setauket and along Suffolk County's north shore during the Revolutionary War.  Behind the pro-shop counter hangs a large black-and-white photo of opening day at the original Heatherwood course in the early 1960s.  In a LinkedIn post that revealed Spy Ring's official logo — a Setauket-area spy peering suspiciously from beneath a trifold hat — Capece called the opening a "special accomplishment" for a local, family-owned company with Long Island roots that go back nearly 75 years.

Next on the pre-opening agenda is the launch of a new Spy Ring website, likely sometime next week.  Local players will be able to make tee times beginning in late April.   

READ MORE:
Spy Ring Golf Club in Setauket working its way toward a soft opening this fall (2023)
Coming Soon: Heritage Spy Ring GC, Long Island's first shot at the Sweetens Cove model (2022)