Golf on Long Island

A half-century in East Rock: Nassau muni Bay Park in the midst of its 50th-anniversary season

It's a special season at Bay Park Golf Course, though you won't find any milestones announced on a banner billowing over the park entrance or stretched across the facade of the course's faceless, utilitarian brick clubhouse.  There are no anniversary logos printed on hats and polos, no leather-bound books to chronicle the course's half-century beside the bay in East Rockaway.  No turn-back-the-clock green-fee specials with yesteryear pricing, for sure.  And if even a small handful of local golfers are aware that Bay Park made its debut the same year as Joe Namath's guarantee and the Miracle Mets, it likely won't come up in conversation. 

What you can bank on though is a scanned Leisure Pass, a point in the direction of the first tee and another day of basic nine-hole golf with local youngsters, seniors and all the groups of novices in between.

Bay Park has quietly gone about its business serving Nassau golfers since 1969, making this its 50th-anniversary season.  Tucked away at the southern edge of a recently rejuvenated Bay Park complex that's just about unrecognizable to even the longest of longtime visitors, the golf course itself remains a familiar throwback, its hilltop first and second greens standing tall behind a chain-link fence, leading golfers toward the bay.

With the golf world slowly readjusting its focus more toward accessible public and municipal golf for all, there's a certain charm to functional Bay Park and its Nassau County Parks brethren at North Woodmere, Cantiague and Christopher Morley.  Bay Park is free of pizzazz.  There are no dramatic, stylishly shadowed photos of its greens, few travel more than a couple of minutes to play it, and those who do swing by don't record their visit with pristinely filtered social-media tales.  It's simply golf pared down to its core -- grandkids learning the game with grandfathers, little sister swinging alongside big brother, groups of young friends and groups of seniors, all playing nine holes over 1,900-plus mostly flat yards at the neighborhood golf course.

Bay Park opened for play in 1969 on the site of a former dump with green fees of $1.25 on weekdays and $2 on weekends.  The course's debut wasn't without some Long Island-style political drama -- in December 1968, it was announced that Bay Park's spring opening would be postponed due to budget cuts.  So that spring and summer, with the course already built and prepared for play, it sat empty except for a crew completing the clubhouse building and a single greenskeeper tending to the grass.  Meanwhile, local residents and community groups bombarded the office of Nassau County Executive Eugene Nickerson with complaints, per Newsday.

When a reworked budget "found" some money to cover operating costs, the golf course opened in late summer.  Unlike today's course, the 1969 version was equipped with light stanchions that would allow for night play.  "I used to hit those poles all the time," says William Kienke, who lived near the course on Rhame Avenue.  "Big wooden poles like the ones on the way to Jones Beach.  Great ricochet."

Another East Rockaway resident at the time recalls how it was impossible to track the flight of the ball once it went above the lights during nighttime rounds.  Night golf at Bay Park, however, was very short-lived -- due to issues with water pressure, soil moisture and wiring, the lights rarely worked as designed.  "The lights were terrible and didn't last too long," he says.  "After they took the lights down, they left the poles up for years, which made bad shots even worse."

The course has seen its highs and lows over the half century.  It opened near the tail end of the 1960s/early-1970s Long Island golf growth spurt that introduced dozens of modern public and private courses and nearly all of today's county municipal layouts.  Long Island began to shed courses through the 1980s, but once the Tiger Woods era boomed in the late '90s, Bay Park, like most other courses, was jammed.  As Tiger took the golf world by storm, waits to get on Bay Park's 299-yard opening par-4 were often measured in hours. 

Valley Stream native Matt Krantweiss played Bay Park in between two-a-day soccer practices nearby at Valley Stream South High School in the late summers of 1997 and 1998.  "After morning practices we'd go over to Bay Park to get nine holes in before we had to be back in the afternoon," he says.  "The wait was so long, with so many groups waiting to tee off on each hole, we rarely could finish nine holes."

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy took down trees on the course and littered it with debris from boats docked nearby, along with other courses on the south shore that were submerged by ocean and bay waters.

Today, just about everything about the park has changed, including the access road that leads visitors down toward the course, though once on the fairways and greens, there's not much to tip off whether it's 1969 or 2019 -- save for the lack of light poles, of course.

For more on Bay Park, check out the course flyover.

Original Lido Club featured on Golf Channel, golf history podcast

Amid its wall-to-wall PGA Championship coverage at Bethpage Black earlier this week, the Golf Channel aired a short but fascinating six-minute feature on a lesser-known Long Island golf powerhouse, one that's long gone but certainly not forgotten by followers of golf history.

The segment covered the original Lido Club (1914-1942) with insight provided by Connor Lewis of the Society of Golf Historians and golf architect Jim Urbina, both of whom have extensively researched the C.B. Macdonald classic, a course considered by many during its brief peak to be among the greatest golf courses ever built.  Last year, Lewis walked the routing of the original club, tracing the locations of its famous holes that are now buried beneath Lido Beach homes and schools or part of Lido West Town Park.  Lewis even teed up a few shots on the site of the oceanfront par-3 eighth, now a public beach.  Lewis and Urbina walk through some of these locations in the segment.

Bringing all the black-and-white historical imagery to life are incredibly detailed computer renderings of the Lido produced by Peter Flory, a Michigan-based golfer with an appreciation for lost golf courses.  His work on the Lido has spanned hundreds of hours recreating the course using available photos, models and aerial images.  Much of his work to date has been published on the Golf Club Atlas discussion forum.

View the feature on the Golf Channel website.

This weekend, Lewis and Urbina went into deeper detail on Rod Morri's TalkinGolf History podcast:

In the podcast, Lewis, Urbina and Morri discuss the history of Lido as well as their exploration of the current site, efforts to recreate the course elsewhere, and the search for long-lost course photos taken by the family owners right before its WWII-era demise.

For additional info on the group's work, visit the Society of Golf Historians Twitter page.

And be sure to check out Golf On Long Island's previous coverage of the Lido Club:

A brief look back at the original Lido Golf Club in its "centennial" season
Street Names: The Ghosts of Long Island Golf's Past, Part 2 (Lido Club)
Newsday slideshow features 11 places that were formerly golf courses
Closer Look: Lido Golf Club #16

Also, the Lido Club is prominently featured in the photo-history book "Images of America: Long Island Golf" by GOLI's Phil Carlucci.  Follow the preceding link for more info or click the book image at the top of the page.

Golfing Magazine's 2019 Free Golf Program covers rounds at ten courses

We're inching closer toward peak golf season on Long Island, and while peak rates are starting to kick in, you can still pay like it's December thanks to another season of "free golf" courtesy of Golfing Magazine.

Golfing Mag announced this past week that ten Long Island golf courses are taking part in the 2019 "Free Golf Program," an annual discount promotion that allows subscribers to pay nothing in green fees for rounds at select courses around the Island.  Eight of this year's layouts are holdovers from last season.  Two courses are new to the program in 2019 -- Peninsula Golf Club in Massapequa and Pine Ridge Golf Club in Coram.

In addition to that twosome, Free Golf certificates cover rounds at Brentwood Country Club, Gull Haven Golf Course in Central Islip, Harbor Links Executive Course in Port Washington, Holbrook Country Club, Island's End Golf & Country Club in Greenport, Mill Pond in Medford, Rolling Oaks in Miller Place and The Golf Club at Middle Bay in Oceanside.

Also included is one hour of simulator time at Simplay in Hauppauge, plus a one-year subscription (five issues) to Golfing Magazine.

Subscribers will soon receive their Free Golf certificate in the mail.  Taking advantage of the promotion is simple -- bring the 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 $49.  Certificates are valid until December 31, 2019.  To subscribe, contact Golfing Magazine at (516) 822-5446 or visit online at www.GolfingMagLI.com.  And for descriptions of the participating Long Island courses, click the links above to read the course flyovers.

Bethpage State Park golf courses to close for PGA Championship on May 6

Bethpage Black has already closed in advance of this month's 2019 PGA Championship, and its four sibling courses at Bethpage State Park will soon follow suit.

The Blue, Green and Red courses will all close to the public on Monday, May 6 to make way for tournament prep and play.  (Yellow will be aerated on May 2 and remain closed thereafter.)  All courses, including the Black, are tentatively scheduled to reopen for play on Saturday, May 25.

After the tournament clears out, temporary tees will remain in use on Green #1 and #18, Red #1 and #5, and Blue #1.  The Yellow Course will continue to be available only for nine-hole rounds, as well.

Call the park office or visit the NYS Bethpage reservation website for updated information.

2019 Summer Golf Camps on Long Island

Young and old will join together this week to watch the game's greats compete at The Masters, and for many prospective junior golfers, the action at Augusta might serve as inspiration to pick up a golf club for the first time.  For those youngsters already with a few rounds under their belts, it might serve as a boost to work on improving their game and taking it to new heights.

The best way to do that, of course, is with some professional guidance, and having a qualified teaching pro help put the building blocks in place, especially at an early age, is vital to a lifetime of memorable on-course experiences.

On Long Island, in addition to the many outlets the casual or advanced golfer can turn to for instruction, summer golf programs for junior players -- some open to kids as young as 5 -- are designed to transform the youngster, whether new to the sport or experienced, into a skilled golfer for life.

Many public courses in Nassau and Suffolk feature summer camp programs that school young players in golf's key fundamentals, the various types of swings and strokes, as well as rules, etiquette and course safety.  Kids work closely with teaching pros on the course, in the range and around practice greens and bunkers; in some cases, the pros working with your young golfer have been recognized nationally for their work as junior instructors.  Campers leave each session with skills and knowledge in place for years of enjoyment on the course.

The following is a general overview of 2019 summer golf camps available and open for registration at various public courses around Long Island.  For more information, follow the links below to the course websites and junior camp pages. 

(Please note this list only includes camp programs hosted at public golf courses.  This does not include golf programs held at general summer camps or any type of private instruction.)

Bethpage State Park (Farmingdale):  Bethpage's Junior Golf Development Program is open to players of all skill levels.  Juniors are split into five teams based on age, ability and experience, and participate in a combination of practice, fitness training and on-course play, including tournaments.  Amount of practice and live play varies by team.  Full-day and half-day programs meet five days a week for an entire month.  Weekly sessions are also available.  Register for full day/monthly ($750), half day/monthly ($500) and weekly sessions ($400) at the Bethpage website or call (516) 249-4040 for more details.

Cedars Golf Club (Cutchogue):  The Cutchogue course offers two separate four-week sessions with start dates of July 8 and August 5.  Campers meet Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with times varied by age group.  Juniors age 10 and under benefit from group instruction and on-course play, and also receive prizes, pizza lunches and a ten-round Cedars Junior Pass.  Those in the 11-to-15 group receive 30 minutes of private instruction each week in addition to on-course play, group work and a full-season Junior Pass.  Cost is $570 per four-week session (10 and under); $600 per four-week session (11 and over).  Extended instruction is available for additional cost.  Call (631) 734-6363 or e-mail ken@cedarsgolfclub.com to register or for full details.

Cherry Creek (Riverhead):  Cherry Creek typically offers several camp sessions in July and August.  Each session covers swing basics, course etiquette and more.  Instruction takes place at both the Links and Woods courses.  Dates, cost and additional details will be announced later this spring.  Contact the Woods pro shop at (631) 506-0777 or e-mail head pro Michael Springer at mikespringer1@yahoo.com for info.

Eisenhower Park (East Meadow): PGA Junior Golf operates a series of camps for all ability levels, including advanced camps for competitive juniors.  The program includes full-day camps for players age 11 to 17, modified full-day camps for experienced players age 8 to 12, and half-day camps for beginners and intermediates age 7 to 11.  There is also a special 90-minute session for "Wee Ones" age 5 to 8.  All regular camps include hours of hands-on instruction led by certified PGA professionals.  Full-day camps include on-course play and teaching.  Weekly sessions for all programs begin July 8.  Visit the PGA Junior Golf Camp site for full information on pricing, session dates and available discounts.

Glen Cove Golf Club:  Weekly sessions for kids age 6 to 16 begin on June 17 and are offered through the end of August.  Camps meet Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and cover the full swing, pitching, chipping, putting, rules and etiquette.  Cost is $400 per weekly session.  Call (516) 671-0033 or visit the Glen Cove camp site for additional details.

Harbor Links Golf Course (Port Washington):  Harbor Links offers a wide variety of programs led by teachers all named U.S. Kids Golf Certified Instructors.  Camps begin the week of June 24, with sessions available through August.  Weekly programs for kids age 6 to 9 run Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and include games and drills that help develop important skills and fundamentals, in addition to a skills competition and gift packet.  Separate programs for teens age 10 to 16 are split into four-hour AM and PM sessions and run Monday to Friday.  These cover the full swing, short game, course management, rules and etiquette, and conclude with a two-day "Junior Scramble" team tournament.  Rates vary based on age group and time of sign-up.  For all program information, schedules and registration forms, visit the Harbor Links website.

Indian Island Country Club (Riverhead):  Indian Island's 18th annual golf camp consists of week-long sessions that include lessons, lunch, prizes, golf gear, skills contests and on-course competition.  Camps are open to boys and girls of all skill levels between the ages of 7 and 16.  Fees are $525 per week, per camper, with family, returnee and multi-week discounts available.  Week-long sessions begin June 24 and continue through the end of August.  See the Indian Island camp brochure for all details.

Island's End Golf & Country Club (Greenport):  Junior clinics are offered on select days in the summer, open to boys and girls age 5 and up.  Camp info will be available later in the spring.  Visit the Island's End website for more information.

Long Island Golf Camps / Mike Reilly Golf Academy (Massapequa, Babylon, Hauppauge):  Long Island Golf Camps runs programs at three public courses -- Peninsula Golf Club (Massapequa), Sumpwams Creek/E. Donald Conroy Golf Course (Babylon) and Wind Watch Golf & Country Club (Hauppauge).  The Peninsula and Wind Watch camps are week-long, full-day programs (9:00/9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) with sessions beginning in late June.  They include instruction on different aspects of the swing, on-course play and daily lunch.  Babylon camps run Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; afternoon sessions might be available based on demand.  Instruction takes place on the course and in the short-game area.  Enrollment is $595 for Peninsula, $625 for Wind Watch and $269 for Babylon.  For schedules and registration, and for information on a fourth camp program held at the private Colonial Springs Golf Club in East Farmingdale, visit the Long Island Golf Camps website.

Middle Bay (Oceanside):  Six full-week sessions begin on July 8.  Camps meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday and include instruction on the course, practice green, in the driving range and the short-game area.  Snack, beverages and lunch are also included.  Family and multiple-week discounts are available.  Call (516) 766-1880 for pricing and additional details.

Mill Pond (Medford):  Camps are available in 3-day and 5-day sessions.  Shorter programs are geared more toward beginners with a focus on swing fundamentals, rules and etiquette.  Juniors with some playing experience will also receive instruction on course management.  Week-long programs are designed for experienced juniors, with on-course instruction and play held at Rolling Oaks Golf Course in Miller Place.  High school development camps are also available for experienced golfers age 12 to 17 looking to advance their game on a competitive level.  Discounts for Town of Brookhaven residents are offered.  Visit the Mill Pond website or call (631) 732-8249 for info on registration, pricing, schedules and program format.

Pine Ridge Golf Club (Coram):  Full-week sessions are available for beginners and intermediate players.  Camps are full-day and focus on fundamentals to build the foundation of a proper swing, with on-course play included.  The $299 camp fee covers daily lunch and a goodie bag.  Visit the Pine Ridge website for session dates and online registration.

Poxabogue Golf Center (Sagaponack):  A total of ten sessions run from the week of June 24 to the week of August 26.  Sessions are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, and are open to boys and girls from age 7 to 16.  Campers will learn basics of the full swing, short game, course management, rules and etiquette, and will receive golf gear, snacks and giveaways.  Cost is $529 per session, with family and multi-week discounts available.  Visit the Poxabogue website for info and registration.

Smithtown Landing Country Club (Smithtown):  Smithtown Landing hosts camp programs led by PGA professional and Hall of Famer Michael Hebron.  Instruction covers grip, swing, putting, chipping, pitching, rules and etiquette.  Beginning July 1, separate programs meet once a week on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  A three-day camp (June 26-28) and four-day camp (August 6-9) are also available.  Call (631) 979-6534 or visit the Smithtown Landing site for 2019 pricing, schedules and registration forms.

Spring Lake Golf Club (Middle Island):  Spring Lake is running weekly junior clinics in lieu of formal camp programs in 2019.  Juniors will meet each Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. for group instruction.  Contact Spring Lake pro Cristy Jurgens at (631) 924-5115 for info.

Stonebridge Golf Links (Hauppauge):  Starting July 15, full- and half-day programs are available for beginners through intermediate players.  Half-day sessions (9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.) are geared to beginners age 6 to 10 and focus on fundamentals, rules, etiquette and course/club basics.  Full-day camps (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) help experienced players age 10 and up improve on skills and knowledge through on-course play and instruction.  Cost is $215 for half day and $379 for full day.  All campers receive a Nike backpack and glove.  Discounts available for siblings and multiple sessions.  Call (631) 724-7500 or visit the Stonebridge website for session schedules and registration info.

Sunken Meadow (Kings Park):  PGA Junior Golf operates half-day camps for players of all skill levels from age 7 to 16.  Beginners and intermediate players are split into groups and receive hands-on instruction led by certified PGA professionals.  Weekly sessions meet Tuesday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, beginning July 9.  Cost is $299 per session.  Visit the PGA Junior Golf Camp site for full information.

Town of Oyster Bay Golf Course (Woodbury):  Full-day camps for boys and girls age 10 to 16, and half-day camps for boys and girls age 6 to 10, are available starting the week of June 25.  Camps meet Tuesday through Friday.  Teaching pros cover chipping, putting, rules and etiquette, and instruction takes place on and off the course.  Full-day camp is $600; half-day camp is $425.  Referral discounts are available.  Call (516) 364-3600 or visit TOB's Lucas Golf Center website for information and registration.

West Sayville Golf Course (West Sayville):  West Sayville is offering seven week-long programs (Tuesday to Saturday, four hours per day) beginning the week of July 9.  Campers receive instruction on and off the course, with lessons concentrating on all aspects of the swing, including grip, stance and alignment.  Cost is $425 per session, with multi-week discounts available.  Visit the West Sayville website for a registration form and schedule information.

Eisenhower Park's Red Course to open April 13

The Red Course at Eisenhower Park will open for the 2019 season on Saturday, April 13.  Until then, golfers with the Masters itch can continue to play the Blue and White courses, which have been open all year.

Eisenhower Red, the Devereux Emmet course known as Salisbury #4 back when it hosted the 1926 PGA Championship, has been plagued by turf issues, specifically on its greens, over the past two seasons.  No word yet on current conditions.

For more on Eisenhower Red, visit the Golf On Long Island flyover.

Bethpage Black in "fine shape" as PGA Championship approaches, plus aeration and non-Black updates

Golfers returning to Bethpage State Park for early-spring golf have been treated to some uncommon scenery as the PGA Championship, formerly of August, looms just weeks away in May.  For one, a look deep into the distance at the first green on the Red Course includes a view past roughly 300 yards of tents sitting atop the Red's opening fairway next to Black's 18th.  Over on the Green Course, the opening and closing fairways are barely visible beneath more structures.

All eyes will be on the Black Course come mid-May, of course, and thanks to a rather uneventful winter, conditions for the first northeast-in-spring PGA will be ideal, barring any surprises.  "The turf made it through the winter in fine shape," says Andrew Wilson, Bethpage's director of agronomy.  "We have sodded many typical wear areas on the Black Course and plugged out thousands of ball marks on the greens.  Now we are checking sand depths in bunkers and cleaning up debris all over the course."

Today the Black still looks a bit like a course in winter, though it should green up with leaves emerging on the trees by the time golfers are invited back for a brief two-week stint from April 13 to 28.  The course will be open for walk-ups only on an abbreviated daily schedule.  Needless to say, spots on tee will be in ultra-high demand.

Combined with the renovations made last winter -- most notably, modification of the bunker complex on #18 and a green extension on #11 -- the early-season nature of this year's PGA ensures the professionals will see a different course than the one they've challenged in summer conditions during past U.S. Opens and Barclays events.  Change will be evident from the very first shot -- a handful of elm trees were moved from the left to the right of #1 fairway last offseason with this year's PGA in mind.

Besides housing the many pavilions, merchandise shops and hospitality tents for the tournament, the other four courses at Bethpage are getting their own tweaks as well.  "On the Green Course, we rebuilt the bunker on #3 and cleared some of the woodline on #7 of vines and invasive species," Wilson says.  A new forward tee is going in on Red #5, which for now will be the main tee as PGA construction occupies the back-tee area.  Sand is being added to bunkers where needed around the complex.

Amid the rest of the PGA prep, the non-Black courses are scheduled for spring aeration later this month.  The Red Course will be first to go on April 30, followed by Blue on May 1, Yellow on May 2 and Green on May 3.

Players can expect to be reminded of the PGA's presence throughout most of the 2019 season.  The Black is slated to resume normal operations on May 25, though Wilson says it will take several months for all the structures to come down and for the courses to be restored to familiar conditions.  Current temporary tees will remain in place for a while on #1 of the Red, Green and Blue courses, plus Green #18.  Yellow will continue to play as a modified nine-hole course skipping around to avoid tourney construction.

"Our crew will work as hard as we can to produce conditions our golfers appreciate," Wilson says.

View photos of the offseason and ongoing PGA prep by visiting Wilson's and Bethpage Golf's Twitter pages at @Greensideup17 and @BethpageGolf.

View photos of the offseason and ongoing PGA prep by visiting Wilson's and Bethpage Golf's Twitter pages at @Greensideup17 and @BethpageGolf.

Town of Oyster Bay Golf Course set to ring in its 30th-anniversary season

It was still far short of sunrise in the early-morning hours of April 18, 1989, yet a line of cars stretched near the gates of what had long been a leafy, bucolic private estate at Jericho Turnpike and Southwoods Road in Woodbury.  Inside those cars, dozens of local golfers sat waiting to secure a spot on tee at the first Long Island golf course built in a decade.

Once the sun brightened the sky over northern Nassau, the Town of Oyster Bay Golf Course officially joined the Long Island golf landscape, welcomed by hundreds of golfers -- nearly 300, per a Newsday recap the following day -- who gave the Tom Fazio design rave reviews.  This year is the municipal course's 30th anniversary.  Opening day is Tuesday, April 2.

This year's golfers will find some subtle differences around the course from when they last left it in the fall.  Cart paths have been added or repaved throughout the course, and dozens of trees were trimmed or removed to open up areas of play. 

"The goal of the trimming project was to make the course more player-friendly, less difficult for the average player and to provide more sunlight exposure on the course to achieve better grass growth," according to Oyster Bay town supervisor Joseph Saladino.  "The Town also purchased new golf carts and implemented a plan to purchase ten new golf carts annually to replenish the fleet.  Additional projects planned for the near future include improving tee boxes and bunkers, and refining areas near and around the course's water features."

Saladino said all improvement projects are being performed under the expertise of the course's new greenskeeper, Greg Kolodinsky, and new consultant Steve Matuza.

Despite heavy play, its name designer and a variety of truly impressive holes, Oyster Bay carries on in relative anonymity among outsiders, rarely spoken of in conversations about Long Island's best publics.  Perhaps it's due to past restrictions on advance tee times and what used to be a convoluted tangle of green fees and membership rates that ultimately made a trip to Woodbury cost-prohibitive for the curious one- or two-time visitor.  Or maybe its location just five miles north of one of the most recognizable public golf facilities in the nation at Bethpage leaves it overshadowed.  Town government seems eager to draw a more rightful amount of attention to its course -- Newsday reported in March that the town will run advertisements in New York Mets game programs at Citi Field during the 2019 season.  And for the first time in the course's history, tee times can now be booked online and are available for both members (30 days in advance) and non-members (seven days).

Those who do know the course are aware of its hilly, challenging layout that includes one of Long Island's most daunting par-4s.  The fourth doglegs to a blind landing area on the right before marching dead uphill to an obscured, triple-tiered green (pictured left).  The hill itself is covered in rough-length grass and features a long, snaking bunker.  Later, the 16th makes a harder dogleg turn to the right, this time leaving golfers with a full, unobstructed view on the approach, which features an elevated green cut into a rolling hillside (pictured below).  Oyster Bay's par-3s all feature either dramatically sloped greens, notable elevation changes or intrusive bunkering, if not some combination of the three.   

Part of what made the debut of the Oyster Bay course so highly anticipated 30 years ago was the era in which it came to be.  Locally, the 1980s was associated only with course closures, not openings.  The historic Links Club in Roslyn, an exclusive 1919 C.B. Macdonald course, was sold that decade with development of condos in the plans.  The failed, celebrity-boasting "superclub" experiment at Muttontown's Charter Oaks in the late 1960s ended quietly in 1982 as a course called Fox Run.  The course-building resurgence of the 1960s and early '70s -- which introduced many of Long Island's current municipal facilities -- had slowed by the time Swan Lake Golf Course arrived in Manorville in 1979.  In the years that followed, the climate was simply not conducive to golf development.  Even a decade later, Oyster Bay's early success was viewed merely as a one-off.  In his recap of Oyster Bay's opening day, Newsday's Mark Herrmann cautioned that Long Island's shiny new course was "perhaps its last for a long time."  Of course, few could have predicted the Tiger-fueled building craze that would arrive soon after.

Adding to the excitement was the history of the grounds.  Like many other post-1950s golf courses on Long Island -- especially those around Nassau's "Gold Coast" -- Oyster Bay's fairways and greens sprung from a repurposed private estate.  "Woodlands" was built in 1918 and designed by noted architect William Adams Delano.  In 1928 it was sold to industrialist, philanthropist and politician Andrew Mellon, who gifted the 121-acre estate to his daughter, Ailsa, as a wedding present.  Ailsa, a philanthropist described by the New York Times in her 1969 obituary as the "richest woman in the U.S.," married diplomat David Bruce and remained there until her death.  Oyster Bay Town bought the Bruce estate in 1979.  According to Newsday, supervisor Joseph Colby -- whose name was added to the course in 2013 -- first visualized using the grounds for golf during a visit to Woodlands.

Players don't venture into the estate house -- now a wedding and event venue called The Mansion at Oyster Bay -- during their visits, though they do get a brief taste of old estate life late in their round.  The par-3 12th tees off directly in front of an elegant brick patio at the rear of the mansion.  The tiny 117-yard hole is not as easy as it seems, with a bunker in front and a green that slopes to a hidden rear water hazard, plus the chance of cocktail-hour guests watching over the shot.

The Town of Oyster Bay Golf Course also includes the Lucas Golf Center, which operates the driving range, pro shop and private instruction and is already open for the season.  

For more on Oyster Bay, visit the Golf On Long Island course flyover.

Tentative opening dates announced for Bethpage State Park golf courses

This promises to be a spring unlike any other at Bethpage State Park, where work and preparation for this May's PGA Championship on the Black Course carried on through the winter and will soon continue amid the din of refreshed Long Island golfers.  Local players will have to make a few sacrifices, however, before play at the park returns to normal following the tournament.

New York State recently announced reopening dates at the park along with information on modified holes impacted by PGA infrastructure.  The Green Course will reopen on Saturday, March 16 with temporary tees on holes #1 and #18.  Also reopening on March 16 is the Yellow Course, which will be available only for nine-hole play.  Yellow is typically open all winter but closed in late fall for PGA prep.

Bethpage Red will reopen on Friday, March 29 with temporary tees on #1 and #5.

The Blue Course -- the only course to remain open this winter -- will have a temporary tee on #1.

As for the Black Course, the park plans to offer restricted walk-up play from Saturday, April 13 to Sunday, April 28, weather permitting.  Normal play is expected to resume on Saturday, May 25.

For more info, call the park at (516) 249-0700 or check the NYS reservation website.

2019 public golf course reopenings on Long Island

We're almost out of the winter free of blizzards, clear of long blocks of time with closed courses.  Offseason golfers have had plenty of days to tee it up while the rest stay put until spring.

Well, spring now appears on the horizon, and with March about to arrive, it's reopening season on Long Island.  The big reopening story in 2019, of course, is Bethpage State Park, which is hosting the PGA Championship in May.  That's great news for fans of professional golf's major tournaments, but a buzzkill for locals who'd rather have the Bethpage courses to themselves come spring.  There will be more on the reopening plan at Bethpage as the spring draws closer.

As for the rest, it's mostly reopen-for-business as usual.  Long Island's seasonal golf courses get back up to speed from mid-March through early April.  By the time The Masters whets everyone's golf appetite, most if not all area courses are typically open for play.

The following is a list of tentative 2019 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 February and 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:

• West Sayville -- March 12
• Timber Point -- March 15
• Bergen Point -- March 15
• Indian Island -- March 15
• Christopher Morley Park -- OPEN
• Bethpage Green -- March 16
• Bethpage Yellow -- March 16 (nine holes only)
• Brentwood CC -- March 16 
  
• Holbrook CC -- March 16
• Woods Course at Cherry Creek -- March 20
• Harbor Links - Championship/Executive -- March 23
• Bethpage Red -- March 29
• Glen Cove -- OPEN
• Island's End -- OPEN
• Town of Oyster Bay GC -- April 2
• The Golf Club at Middle Bay -- OPEN
• Poxabogue -- OPEN
• Bethpage Black -- April 13 (restricted play) / May 25 (normal play)
• Eisenhower Red -- April 13
• Bay Park -- April 15

[This post was updated on April 9, 2019.]