Golf on Long Island

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.

Coronavirus Update: Oyster Bay muni open, Cedars sells first tee time

While New York State, Nassau County and Suffolk County municipal golf courses remain closed, alogn with other city- and town-owned courses around Long Island, the Town of Oyster Bay will reopen its 18-hole muni in Woodbury today, weather permitting.

First tee time at Oyster Bay will be 7:00 a.m.; twilight rates will be offered from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. 

Cedars Golf Club, the little nine-hole course tucked away in a residential area of Cutchogue on the North Fork, will reopen Saturday.  Of note there is that in order to conform to the state's social-distancing regulations, Cedars is selling tee times for the first time in its 55-year history, according to co-owner Tim McManus.  The course opened in 1965, though some of the grounds have been a part of Cutchogue-area golf as far back as the 1920s.

As for the state and county munis, there are no reopening dates as of yet.  According to a recent Newsday article, Suffolk County is following the lead of New York State as far as reopening its courses.

Coronavirus Update: Public courses announce openings following NYS relaunch

The second leg of Long Island's spring golf season will soon be underway as public golf courses plan for reopenings following New York State's business revision that permits play during the "NYS on Pause" shutdown.

By early Sunday afternoon, a handful of local courses began to announce reopen dates, including Cherry Creek and Swan Lake, both of which will open tomorrow.  Sandy Pond, the nine-hole course in Riverhead already familiar with "honor system" green fees when the clubhouse is empty, posted Sunday afternoon that it is open effective immediately with under-the-door payments accepted.  Other reopening dates were announced by Peninsula (Wednesday) and Stonebridge (Thursday).

Even though play is permitted, golf is still designated as a non-essential business according to Empire State Development guidelines, meaning employees cannot be on site and facilities like clubhouses and locker rooms cannot open.  Maintenance and security personnel can be present, however, and security (in many cases a golf pro or starter) will be responsible for letting players onto the course and enforcing social-distancing measures.  No motor carts will be available, and tee times must be reserved and prepaid online.

Also today, an alert on the NYS Parks golf website was amended to say that "state parks will continue to evaluate the situation and will announce any change in status."  The alert previously read that all park courses were closed until May 15.  Expect the new date to be much sooner.

There will likely be a steady stream of reopening announcements.  Check back here for the latest updates.

Coronavirus Update: NYS says public and private courses can open

The wheel of New York State golf spun again on Saturday and this time it landed on a new spot -- private and public golf courses can reopen for play.

Following New York State's vague rewording of its non-essential designation for golf courses on Friday, which appeared to open the door for private clubs to allow member play while prohibiting public courses from doing the same, today came word that the new Empire State Development guidelines do in fact allow public courses to reopen.

That clarification was published Saturday in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle by government reporter Jon Campbell, who confirmed the status of both public and private courses with Dani Lever, communications director for Governor Andrew Cuomo.  Campbell then posted on Twitter that the information was rechecked with and confirmed by the state.

In order to reopen, courses and clubs cannot open their clubhouses, pro shops or locker rooms and cannot have employees on site except for maintenance and security.  Security personnel will be responsible for making sure players abide by social-distancing regulations.  Motor carts and caddies will not be available.

Meanwhile, as of Saturday night, the NYS Parks website still lists state golf courses as closed through May 15.