Golf on Long Island

Winter Golf On Long Island: 2018-19 Edition

The winter of 2018-19 has arrived with buckets of rain that will keep Long Island's offseason golfers away from the course for a saturated day or two, though it could always be worse.  Drop the temperature by 20 degrees or so and turn that rain into snow and you have a dreaded December blizzard potent enough to wipe a winter golf season right off the calendar. 

Scrutinizing the snow forecasts is as common to local winter golfers as frost delays, hand warmers and jamming tees (unsuccessfully) into frozen turf.  For those who can bear the brisk breezes, the wide-open fairways and green-fee discounts are worth the slight discomfort. 

Winter golf on Long Island isn't for everyone -- most Long Island golfers call it a season long before Thanksgiving -- but it's nothing to sneeze at (the sneezing might begin a day or two later, though).  Ground conditions usually hold up until the first prolonged snow cover, and the empty tee sheets mean you can play in peace or bring a newcomer to the course to get a first taste of live play with no pressure from trailing groups.  Rounds are cheaper, too.

The winter scene is slightly different this year.  With the PGA Championship coming up at Bethpage State Park in May, only one course -- the Blue -- will remain open full time over the winter.  The Yellow Course, typically Bethpage's other winter option, is undergoing PGA-related preparation that will keep it either closed or shortened to nine holes. 

See also: Winter Golf on Long Island overview

Elsewhere, the handful of seasonal golf courses have already closed or are preparing to shut down for the winter.  Most of them will reopen in March.  The rest keep the tees open year-round.  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.

In addition, as Long Island golf courses very slowly begin to dip their toes in the social-media pool, a few have made life a little easier for winter customers.  Munis like Bethpage (@BethpageGolf on Twitter) and Sunken Meadow State Park (@TheMeadowsPGA on Facebook) regularly post updates on frost delays, opening times and course conditions.  Other public courses send rate updates and open tee times by e-mail blast.  

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.

Bethpage in Winter: One course open, walk-ups only

The 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black is five months away but its presence is already impacting the way golfers utilize the park golf courses this winter season.

Only the Blue Course will be open for play for at least the early portion of the 2018-19 winter season, according to a statement posted on the New York State Parks website.  The Yellow Course, typically the other of Bethpage's two courses to remain open through the offseason, will be open "if needed," and for nine holes only.

Bethpage's Andrew Wilson says the temporary closure of the Yellow Course is related to the PGA's installation of access roads and gravel pads on areas of the course, which is set to begin this week.  Once this work is complete, the construction of tournament tents, gates and other facilities will shut down a number of holes on the Yellow, leaving only half the course available for winter play, if necessary.

In addition, all golf at Bethpage this winter will be walk-up only.  The NYS Parks website is no longer accepting reservations, and the phone service for park tee times was previously discontinued.

Bethpage's Andrew Wilson chats about the 2019 PGA on "Around the Met" podcast

Bethpage State Park's director of agronomy Andrew Wilson joined A.J. Voelpel on the Metropolitan Golf Association's "Around the Met" podcast earlier this month to discuss the park and its preparation for next May's PGA Championship.

Wilson and Voelpel chatted about ideal winter conditions leading up to the event, which will tee off in May for the first time rather than its traditional August slot.  They also discussed recent tweaks to the Black Course, how the PGA will impact Bethpage's other courses and more about the crew's efforts around the park.  Listen to the podcast on SoundCloud at the Met Golf website.

Wilson has also contributed annual updates on conditions and park renovations here for Golf On Long Island.  For a refresher on changes and renovations made ahead of this past playing season, see Wilson's 2018 Bethpage update.

You can also view photos of ongoing renovations by visiting Wilson's and Bethpage Golf's Twitter pages at @Greensideup17 and @BethpageGolf.

Buffet of holiday golf events planned around Long Island this Thanksgiving

Only a handful of golfers, outside the most frost-hardy Long Island players, associate Thanksgiving -- the holiday of turkey and football -- with November golf -- the sport of turtlenecks and foot-warmers.

However, golf comes with all the trimmings on Thanksgiving -- tournaments, prizes, open bars and sometimes an actual turkey.  It's the last call of the Long Island golf season before the winter players set their sight on frozen fairways and the rest head indoors until The Masters.  

The 2018 Thanksgiving slate is another smorgasbord of holiday tournaments, shotgun starts and other outings.  All are designed to get you home to the family with enough time to sneak appetizers.  Some tee off before or after Turkey Day.  Listed below are most of this year's outings, presented in alphabetical order (all outings are on Thanksgiving unless otherwise noted):

Brentwood Country Club is a typically early riser on Thanksgiving.  Shotgun tee time is scheduled for 7:30 a.m.  Rates are $42 for 18 holes and cart ($38 for seniors).  Complimentary roll and coffee included.  Call (631) 436-6060 to reserve a spot.

Cherry Creek Links is offering golf, cart and continental breakfast for $50.  Breakfast will be served at 8:00 a.m., with shotgun start following at 9:00.  Call (631) 369-6500 to reserve.

Harbor Links will host its 12th annual holiday Turkey Shoot.  Registration and breakfast begin at 8:00 a.m., followed by a 9:00 shotgun tee time.  Golf, cart and breakfast are $65 for Town of North Hempstead residents; $75 for non-residents.  Call (516) 767-4816.

Mill Pond (pictured above) will kick off its 12th annual Thanksgiving Turkey Shootout at 8 a.m.  The event almost always sells out fast.  Click the preceding link for full info.  [UPDATE: This event has been canceled due to weather.]

Pine Hills Golf & Country Club saves its annual holiday outing for Black Friday, November 23.  Shotgun tee time is 9:30 a.m.  The $65 entry fee includes cart, range, raffles, contests and a sleeve of golf balls.  Call (631) 878-7103 to sign up.

Pine Ridge Golf Club will celebrate Thanksgiving early with a golf and dinner party on Saturday, November 17.  For $65, golfers enjoy 18 holes with range access, followed by a holiday dinner and party with beer, wine, raffles and prizes.  Tee time is 11 a.m.  Register online at the Pine Ridge website.

Spring Lake Golf Club will again host its annual holiday scramble, which includes a hot breakfast buffet at 7 a.m. and an 8:00 tee time.  Call (631) 924-5115 for a spot.

Timber Point Golf Course is hosting a nine-hole scramble complete with prizes for "nearest to the pilgrim" (pin) and "longest turkey" (driving contest).  Bagels, coffee and juice are included along with cart and range balls for $55 per player.  Tee time is 9:30 a.m.  Register by Tuesday, November 20 either online or at the Timber Point pro shop.

Harbor Links hosting annual Turkey Shoot outing on Thanksgiving morning

Harbor Links will host its 12th annual Turkey Shoot holiday outing on Thanksgiving morning, November 22.

Shotgun start is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. after registration and breakfast.  Cost for Town of North Hempstead residents is $65 with cart and breakfast included; $75 for non-residents.  Call (516) 767-4816 to sign up.

Winter rates are now in effect on the Harbor Links Championship Course.  Resident rates are $70 on weekends, $65 on weekdays and $32 for twilight rounds (after 12 noon).  Add $10 to all rates for non-residents.

For more on Harbor Links, check out the Championship Course and Executive Course flyovers.

Bethpage Black to close for the season on November 11

The 2018 season is coming to a close on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park.  The last day to play the Black is Sunday, November 11.

While the Black's season will end in its usual mid-November slot, its reopening next spring is not quite as predictable.  Old Man Winter will decide how much golf Long Islanders get to play on the Black in early 2019 as the park prepares for May's PGA Championship.

The best-case scenario, according to Andrew Wilson, Bethpage's director of agronomy, is a two-week opening in the second half of April with limited rounds and conservative treatment of the course amid cold, wet conditions.  Currently park crews are concentrating on fixing ball marks and sodding worn areas so the course slips into winter in optimal shape.

Bethpage Red typically closes for the season around the end of November.  Blue and Yellow remain open through the offseason.

Golf and the "Long Island Express," 80 years ago this weekend

Fall arrived on Long Island this weekend carrying with it bright sunshine and comfortable temperatures -- ideal conditions for the start of autumn golf season.  Eighty years ago this weekend, however, in the first days of the new fall season, Long Islanders on the East End ventured outside not to play golf, but to survey the damage left behind by one of the most vicious storms in local history. 

On September 21, 1938, a storm so fast-moving that it would come to be known as the "Long Island Express" crashed ashore near Bellport as a category 3 hurricane.  Its uncommon speed left Long Island unprepared, weather forecasters flummoxed and areas east of the storm's eye in ruins.  In the days that followed, East End residents picked up the pieces of homes and businesses and first witnessed a newly changed landscape, as the Island's south shore geography changed in a flash.

The Express took its toll on the Long Island golf landscape as well, already struggling through the turmoil of the Depression era.  The Maidstone Club in East Hampton was "battered to pieces," wrote the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, with remnants of the club's cabanas strewn across the beach amid other damage.  The club's 36-hole layout, feared lost at first, was reduced to its current 27 due to storm damage.  A source described the state of the course for the Daily Eagle in the storm's aftermath:

The worst damage was done on the ninth.  There the wind tore through the big protective dunes, swept away the tee and carried on through the tenth.  The ninth fairway is under about three feet of water.  The 15th tee is gone and, freakishly, the waters knifed off the back of the 14th green.  Plenty of mud lies on the 17th, while the holes across the pond, the third and 16th, got a severe salt bath.  Both bridges were tossed almost across the road.

Westhampton, just east of the storm's landfall, was leveled by the storm.  More than two dozen people were killed in Westhampton alone.  At the Westhampton Country Club, the clubhouse was temporarily repurposed as a morgue.  On the course itself, debris littered the fairways, and a boat thrown ashore by the storm was left with its anchor resting in a bunker.

Just to the east in Quogue, two bridges connecting the beach to the mainland were destroyed.  The Quogue Field Club itself was spared in the short term, but the rerouting of an access road through the heart of the course to a new beach bridge eventually caused the club to downsize from 18 holes to nine.

Montauk Downs, like the rest of the Montauk area, was stranded at sea as the Atlantic surged over land and reached Napeague Bay, temporarily turning Montauk into an island.

Meanwhile, to the west, many of the Island's courses were spared lasting damage from what the Daily Eagle described as, at least in some areas, merely "one big rain."  The Lido Club suffered $100,000 in damage along the shoreline.  Stately trees fell at Rockville Links, Hempstead, Garden City and Wheatley Hills.  Fresh Meadow (then in Queens) flooded and lost several trees, though Ralph Trost of the Daily Eagle viewed it as a positive. 

"Two were meant to go," Trost wrote.  "They always cast too much shadow on the 14th green.  But until the wind did the job, no one had the heart to cut 'em down."

[Photos courtesy of East Hampton Library and Westhampton Beach Historical Society.]

Late-season aeration on the schedule at Bethpage

Bethpage State Park's fall schedule of course aeration will begin the week of Labor Day this season, though most of the maintenance work will take place in October.

First up is the Yellow Course on September 5 and 6, followed in the first week of October by the Black Course (October 1-2) and Green Course (October 4-5). 

The Blue Course will be aerated on October 15-16, then the Red Course on October 17-18.

Remember the Black Course typically closes for the season in the middle of November, followed by the Red and Green toward the end of the month.

Keep tabs on course availability by following the Bethpage golf courses on Facebook and Twitter.

Newsday: Long Island towns lowering fees, counting on promotions to attract golfers to muni courses

Two Long Island towns and one village have turned to reduced green fees and new or popular promotions to fill tee times at their municipal golf courses, according to Newsday's David Reich-Hale.

The Town of Huntington adjusted its green fees earlier this season at the municipal Crab Meadow Golf Course to make non-resident rates equal to discounted resident fees at off-peak playing times.  Huntington, which operates both Crab Meadow and the nine-hole Dix Hills Park course, cut non-resident rates by nearly 40% -- from $46 to $29 -- under what it calls a "demand-based pricing" schedule.  Fees at high-volume playing times like weekends and early mornings have not changed.

Huntington is trying to rebound from a decline in total rounds played in 2017, largely due to the brief lack of a golf-cart contract, per Newsday.

In a June press release, Huntington Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci said demand-based pricing is "one of several creative revenue-producing measures the Town is working on that will allow us to continue to provide new and existing services to our residents without increasing the tax burden.”

In the Town of North Hempstead, the Championship Course at Harbor Links, among Long Island's priciest golf destinations for local non-residents, last season had its highest total of rounds played since 2013, in addition to a slight increase over 2016 on the nine-hole Executive Course.  Harbor Links general manager James Viras told Newsday part of the success is due to the course's weekday Golf & Grub promotion, a staple at the course for several seasons.

"It's driven a lot of people to the course," Viras told Newsday.

Harbor Links, however, does not promote the special on its website or on social media, and asks interested golfers to call the course for details.

Newsday also points to Port Jefferson Village, where membership has declined in the past decade at its municipal course, the private Port Jefferson Country Club at Harbor Hills.  The village hopes attractive packages will help boost attendance as well as a partnership with local schools to introduce more kids to the sport at the club.

Town of Hempstead examining ways to restrict development of golf course properties

With an ongoing moratorium on development of The Woodmere Club golf course set to expire in August, the Town of Hempstead is now looking to utilize zoning changes to prevent its golf course properties from being overrun by residential building, according to Newsday.

Hempstead is currently exploring its options at The Woodmere Club, a century-old private golf facility in the Five Towns area that has been at the center of a debate among club owners and local residents since the club was sold last year.  Area homeowners have spoken out in opposition to developmental plans that could include several hundred new homes in addition to related traffic and environmental issues.  Meanwhile, the developers filed a lawsuit against the town in May in response to the moratorium.

While no specific building plans have been announced, the developers said they plan to keep the course open until 2022.

One option Hempstead is considering is the creation of a "golf course coastal residence district" that would restrict residential development due to environmental issues like flooding and impact on area wetlands.  This district would also cover two other coastal golf courses -- the private Inwood Country Club and the privately owned Golf Club at Middle Bay in Oceanside.  Among other options are the creation of a park district to keep much of the club as open space, or purchase of the club for conversion to a municipal golf facility.

The Town of Hempstead is not the first Long Island municipality to turn to zoning to protect golf properties.  Last year, the Town of Brookhaven created a zoning designation called "golf course district" in order to prevent residential, office or retail development on course sites.  Three municipal and privately owned golf courses are currently zoned under the new category.

[PICTURED: The Golf Club at Middle Bay, located on the water in Oceanside, would be included in Hempstead Town's proposed golf course coastal residence district.]