Golf on Long Island

Fall aeration underway around Long Island

We're at the height of fall aeration season on Long Island's public courses.  Fall maintenance is underway or recently completed at many local courses, so be aware of potentially sandy greens and fairways when booking tee times this month.

The Red Course at Eisenhower Park is currently closed for aeration and will reopen for play on Friday, September 18.  The White will be aerated starting Monday 9/21; Blue on Monday 9/28. 

Bethpage Blue will be closed today and tomorrow 9/16, followed by Yellow, Red and Black later this month.  (See the previous Bethpage aeration post for dates.)  The Green Course was aerated earlier this month.

Timber Point will close one of its nine-hole courses over the next three days, beginning with the Red Course today, Blue tomorrow and White on Thursday.

Sunken Meadow is currently aerating its Red nine, followed by the Green nine next week.  The Blue nine was aerated last week.

The Town of Oyster Bay municipal course will complete two days of aeration this afternoon and reopen for play tomorrow.

Glen Cove's municipal course is closed through tomorrow and will reopen for play on Thursday 9/17.

At Cherry Creek in Riverhead, the Woods Course will close for aeration tomorrow 9/16, followed by the Links Course next Wednesday 9/23.

Pine Hills in Manorville is aerating today and tomorrow 9/16; all tee times must be made directly through the pro shop.

Island's End in Greenport was aerated on September 14.

For information on other aeration/maintenance dates, special rates and more, contact the courses directly.

Fall aeration starts next week at Bethpage

The calendar turns to September next week and Bethpage State Park is wasting no time beginning fall aeration across its five golf courses.

The Green Course will be the first Bethpage 18 to temporarily close for seasonal maintenance.  Green will be out of the rotation on September 2 and 3.

Bethpage's other four courses will close as follows:

• Blue Course: September 15-16
• Yellow Course: September 23-34
• Red Course: September 28-29
• Black Course: September 30-October 1

Be sure to call the park office at (516) 249-0700 for updates on course availability.

Bethpage still in recovery mode following Isaias

More than a week since Tropical Storm Isaias powered through the northeast, Bethpage State Park remains in recovery mode, with the Yellow Course and part of the Blue still shut due to extensive tree damage.

In the hours following last Tuesday's storm, fallen trees were a common sight across Long Island communities, a good indication that areas like Bethpage -- no stranger to post-storm tree damage -- would be heavily impacted.  The park slowly reopened its courses over the next few days, but Yellow and Blue were hardest hit.

"All tree damage and hanging branches," says Andrew Wilson, Bethpage's director of agronomy.  "We're working our way through the courses."

Slowing down the recovery process is regular maintenance and mowing that can't be interrupted even by a powerful storm.  "Grass doesn't get the hint, so we do have to keep up mowing," Wilson says.  "We can't let tees, fairways and greens go a week without it."

There is no update yet on when the Yellow and Blue front nine will reopen.  Stay tuned for news.

Several courses remain closed due to storm recovery

A handful of Long Island's public golf courses remain closed as a result of the widespread tree damage and power outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias, which blew through the area with powerful winds on Tuesday.

Most notably, the five courses at Bethpage State Park, which is prone to fallen trees amid tropical storms and hurricanes, are closed Thursday for cleanup. 

The following courses are closed Thursday or until further notice:

• Bethpage
• Brentwood Country Club
• Glen Cove
• Smithtown Landing
• Sunken Meadow
• Town of Oyster Bay

Swan Lake in Manorville is open despite loss of power.  Transactions are cash only and golf carts might not be available.

Contact courses directly for the latest updates or questions regarding canceled tee times.

Bethpage Black to close for NYS Open in late August

The annual New York State Open will be held at Bethpage State Park's Black Course next month after receiving the green light from state government to play the tournament amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, the Black Course will be closed to the public from Monday, August 24 through Thursday, August 27.  The course will reopen on Friday, August 28 unless tourney play is pushed back an extra day due to weather.

The other four courses will remain on a regular schedule.

Contact the park at (516) 249-0700 for schedule updates or changes.

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.]

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.

Coronavirus Update: State, county munis begin to reopen

New York State municipal golf courses on Long Island -- Bethpage, Montauk Downs and Sunken Meadow -- will reopen for play on Monday, April 27, with social-distancing guidelines in place.

Bethpage's Black Course will follow with its 2020 reopening on Friday, May 1.  Starting that day, four Bethpage courses will be open daily.

On the county level, Nassau County announced that the Eisenhower Park golf courses and driving range, plus the nine-hole courses at Cantiague Park, Christopher Morley Park and North Woodmere Park are currently open.  The Cantiague Park driving range is open as well.  No word on Bay Park.

The Suffolk County municipal course at Bergen Point reopened today.  Its fellow munis at Timber Point and West Sayville are still listed as closed; phone calls to Indian Island were not answered.

[EDIT: The other Suffolk munis will begin to reopen on April 27.]

As previously posted, the Town of Oyster Bay muni reopened on Friday.

State courses will have 16-minute intervals between tee times (18 on the Black) and there will be no motor carts or pull-cart rentals available.  All reservations must be made online and payments must be made over the phone prior to play. 

Full details can be found for each course on the NYS Parks website.