Golf on Long Island

Kids play free at Spring Lake this summer

Spring Lake Golf Club is reaching out with a deal that offers two benefits in the pandemic summer of 2020 -- it gets the kids out of the house and you onto the golf course.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays in July and August, kids under the age of 14 play for free with one paying adult.  The special covers nine holes on Spring Lake's Sandpiper Course, home to the facility's namesake lake and signature hole.

Call the course at (631) 924-5115 for additional info and booking.  Presently, all rounds at Spring Lake must be booked in advance -- no walk-up tee times are available.  The pro shop and restaurant are open with masks required.

For more information on Spring Lake's Sandpiper Course, check out the course flyover.

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.

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.

Great Rock silent as Long Island's 2020 golf season revs up

After abruptly ending its 2019 playing season last October, Great Rock Golf Club spent the rest of the fall e-mailing and posting "See You Next Year!" messages to Long Island golfers, a cheery and optimistic retreat from a season littered with tales of weedy bunkers, scorched greens and barren facilities. 

Now, next year is here, and Great Rock is silent.

Long Island golf courses are packed with pandemic-weary golfers this spring, but no one is quite sure what is going on in Wading River, where Great Rock sits with a neglected 18, dormant social media and a disconnected phone line.  There are rumors of a 2019 sale and scant evidence that the course plans to open at all in 2020.

Once regarded for pristine grounds, most notably its ultra-fast greens, Great Rock fell into serious disrepair in 2019.  So poor were conditions that dozens of Long Island golfers posted reviews and photos on platforms like Golf Advisor detailing an essentially abandoned golf course with crabgrass-covered fairways and bunkers, bare greens and unmowed rough.  The recently renovated on-site bistro, Pure North Fork, did not reopen during the season.  A few days short of Halloween, Great Rock suddenly closed for the year with little notice.

As the season progressed, the course responded to online player complaints with canned apologies and vague promises of future improvements.  Then, following its closure, Great Rock started a heavy "See You Next Year!" marketing blitz on its Facebook page and mailing list.  All communications ceased in January.  Its most recent post on January 25 promoted leagues and outings in 2020.

If Great Rock is indeed closed for good, it would be yet another blow to the East End public golf scene.  Tallgrass is now covered from head to toe with solar panels, and Calverton Links -- the last course to close early amid sale rumors and never return -- is an overgrown playground for paintball and other outdoor sports.

[PICTURED: Great Rock's downhill ninth in brighter times.]

Coronavirus Update: More courses set to reopen May 1

By the end of this week all but a tiny handful of Long Island's public golf courses will be open for play with a variety of social-distancing measures in place.

This Friday, May 1, Island's End Golf Course in Greenport and the Town of Huntington municipal courses at Crab Meadow and Dix Hills Park will reopen.  All three had been open at times in March and April and closed based on the state's changing business guidelines.

The Town of Islip municipal courses at Brentwood CC, Holbrook CC and Gull Haven are scheduled to open for the first time this season.

Reservations must be booked online and social distancing must be followed.  Unlike the guidelines in place at most other area courses, Brentwood and Holbrook posted that they will be allowing single-rider motor carts and on-site payment (credit cards only).

Coronavirus Update: Suffolk County munis reopening this week

A recent Newsday article indicated that Suffolk County would follow the lead of New York State when it came to making golf courses open again for play, and that's exactly how the county's golf relaunch is taking place.

Following the state's decision late last week to reopen its golf courses, Suffolk County announced that West Sayville and Indian Island will reopen for play tomorrow, April 27.  Timber Point will reopen on Wednesday, April 29.

Bergen Point, the other of the four Suffolk munis, already reopened on Saturday.

There will be no motor carts available and no walk-ups -- reservations must be made and prepaid online.  Tee times will be 15 minutes apart and social-distancing regulations are in effect.

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.