NYC Groups

[WillMK5]

FYI Black is scheduled to open April 14th @ 9:00 am. At the bottom of the 2017 tee sheet.

 

Thanks for the info, how did you find out?

[moadhia]

Any interest in getting out for a round this weekend?

[PThomas]

FYI Black is scheduled to open April 14th @ 9:00 am. At the bottom of the 2017 tee sheet.

 

Thanks for the info, how did you find out?

 

2017 tee sheet. It's a PDF posted on the website.

[WillMK5]

FYI Black is scheduled to open April 14th @ 9:00 am. At the bottom of the 2017 tee sheet.

 

Thanks for the info, how did you find out?

 

2017 tee sheet. It's a PDF posted on the website.

 

I see it now. Never knew they posted all those times. Thanks for the heads up.

[benzenbe]

Received an email from Crystal Springs today, here's their openings:

• Black Bear = March 30
  
• Wild Turkey & Crystal Springs = April 2
  
• Ballyowen = April 6
  

Can't play this weekend, maybe Sunday if I'm lucky, but definitely will be getting out there next week

[MaitriMike]

Played Pine Hills today. Greens were super fast even with all the rain fall from night before. $45 with cart. Can't go wrong.

[WillMK5]

I've never played Pine Hills. Is it a nice course?

[MaitriMike]

I've never played Pine Hills. Is it a nice course?

 

It's a decent track. A few fun dog leg holes. Nothing really stands out but wide open fairways and trees, so hazards don't come into play too often. If your ball strays, you can still find it. It's fun with good conditions for this time of year. It is a far drive though. Exit 69 on LIE. Rock Hill and Swan Lake are right around there too, all good courses.

[AGolfingCigar]

Any interest in getting out for a round this weekend?

 

Hey where are you looking to play

[gaffs]

I'm up for a Saturday morning 4 ball his weekend? Anyone else?

 

We gotta get the NYC GolfWRX group going!

[benzenbe]

Hoping to get out Friday, but I'd be interested in a Saturday round. La Tourette ?

[PThomas]

Trying to gauge interest here. Have opportunity to bid for a foursome at NGLA but don't have any golfing buddies in NY. If anyone is interested in going in on it send me a pm.

[benzenbe]

Played Wild Turkey (at Crystal Springs) Friday, and it was beautiful. Only "complaint" was the sand bunkers needed some attention; the sand played more like baseball clay.

 

But on another note, has anyone played either Pelham Bay or Split Rock (https://www.pelhamsplitrock.com/)? Bit far out of the city, but having a chance to play 2 separate 18s might make the trip worth it.

[hed]

Played Wild Turkey (at Crystal Springs) Friday, and it was beautiful. Only "complaint" was the sand bunkers needed some attention; the sand played more like baseball clay.

 

But on another note, has anyone played either Pelham Bay or Split Rock (https://www.pelhamsplitrock.com/)? Bit far out of the city, but having a chance to play 2 separate 18s might make the trip worth it.

 

I've played both Pelham and Split Rock. It's been hit or miss here. Split Rock is narrower and a bit more challenging. Pelham is pretty wide open. Two times I've been out there, our group never had to wait on the tee and nobody was behind us. Pretty amazing considering I only golf on weekends.

I've also played during the fall where if you did not hit the fairway, the balls just disappeared under the leaves. You can guess how that round went.

I think it is worth the trip. They tend to do $45 rounds with a cart, lunch and beer every so often.

[WillMK5]

I've played both courses, very hit or miss. Probably the best city courses but if you're going to drive, there are much better options elsewhere.

[gaffs]

It was my privilege to play Bethpage Black on Sunday, for the first time. I had played the Green, Blue and Red before.

 

I booked the tee time for a friend and I the week before, via their antiquated phone booking system - (press 1 for this, press 2 for that, sorry, you have made an incorrect selection, goodbye). I managed to get a 12.30 tee time. Only $75 as I am an NY resident.

 

There have been many words written about "The Black" on this forum and others, so I wont go into too much detail, but I will say it is a fantastic course. A true test of golf, where you have to think your way around and choose your shots carefully, especially from the tee.

 

We played off the white tees (middle tees) as the other guys that we were paired with were not the best of golfers. Saying that, the whites where only a few yards in front of the blues on most holes. The tips were closed, so I guess they normally put the blues at the back, which would add another 600 yards+ to the course, according to the scorecard. Playing from our tees made the course around 6,700.

 

Even playing the middle tees, you have to clear around 200 yards on the majority of par 4's and 5's. That's not a problem for me, but where it does get a little tough is that normally after that 200 yards, you only get around 80 to 100 yards of fairway to play with if you take certain lines, until you have another set of bunkers or the dogleg. Many of the holes are dog legged. From the tee box, on most holes, its impossible to see where you need to land the ball. This is obviously down to great course design - it creates the optical illusion that the bunkers or thicket at the start of the holes, merge into the bunkers at the back, so you cant see your landing spot. If you play the course for the first time, you really need to buy a yardage book - I had mine, as well as my laser, out on pretty much every hole. I feel playing it a second time would be a huge advantage as you would have a far better picture of the holes in your mind, which takes out any uncertainly.

 

There is a huge amount of sand on the course. I had been looking at a yardage book as well as pictures of the holes online before playing, so I knew that most greens were elevated and protected by big, deepish bunkers. There are very few greens where you can just bump the ball up if you are short. If you do come up short, say by 50 yards, you have to pitch the ball up over the big bunkers, which would normally scare the s*** out of me, before i got my wedge game back on track. I'm not the best out of sand, so I went out there with the game plan of going long, rather than coming up short, on approaches between 140 and 200 yards. On the whole, this paid off for me as I only found 4 bunkers - two of those could have been avoided by playing smarter from around 220 yards. There are few holes that have sand at the back and most of the drop offs were not too severe. The only ones where I got punished were the par 3 third where I went over the green by what looked to be a few feet, but the ball went down a big drop off into the trees. Then the 10th, where I hit it over by a 30 yards with a 5 iron - I made double on both of these holes as I didn't make my first pitch back onto the green.

 

There was a notice in the clubhouse that said the greens had been aerated, though you would not have been able to tell. They were in really good condition, though probably not cut that morning, so not as fast as they may be when freshly cut and fully dried out. Most greens are quite flat, though the pins did seem to be in some tough spots. The par 3 17 comes to mind, which was in the front right corner, the smallest section of the green which has four bunkers protecting it and only 12 feet on each side of the hole to land the ball. I found the bunker just to the right, but saved par with my best sand shot I have played in years, a flop to 2 feet - a miracle for me!

 

With all that said, I did not find the course to quite live up to it's scary reputation. I can see how it would be a nightmare for someone who cant consistently clear the crap before the fairway, but for anyone who can drive the ball well, it is not all that tough. If you are slicing or hooking off the tee, or you hit thin shots from the fairway, it will be a long day. But if you are straight-ish of the tee and you can elevate your approaches, you will be fine.

 

There is one caveat here. The first cut of rough was probably around an inch and the second cut about 2, maybe 3 inches. That's enough to sink the ball down a little, but not enough for you to have to just chop it out. I'm not sure if it gets deeper as the year goes on, but if it does, it would be a very different animal. I had not played out of real rough for some time, so expected it to be a little harder to get out of. The ball seemed to fly out of there, which caused me to clear a couple of greens by a good 30 yards - it was also the first time in a long time i had played in 80 degree weather, so that may have been a factor too. On the par 4 fifth, my first shot out of the second cut in the round to a green elevated by around 20 feet, I managed to blast a 7 iron over the green and over the snack hut behind. Lucky, the lie was ok, so i played a lob straight over the snack hut, to fifteen feet - missed the putt though!

 

I'm sure that playing from the tips would also make if far more scary - those 200 yard clearances could suddenly become 230 to 250.

 

I shot 88. My handicap was 13 three years ago, but I have just got back into the game this year after moving from the UK to NYC. Not to be greedy, but I really think I could have taken a few shots off that - I took an 8 on the par 5 4th (complete mental meltdown after thinking it was the smart play to hit a 4 iron of the tee) and made a couple of three putts where I should have made pars.

 

There are some fantastic looking holes. Numbers 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 16 come to mind. All of the part 3's are nice looking holes - I don't think any were over 170 yards, which I like. If there is one criticism, it would be that some of the back 9 holes, where the land gets flat, are a little forgettable.

 

As I mentioned though, the course is just so well designed around the natural landscape. I feel it is fair test of Golf, for example, where the holes are long, the greens are a little larger without contours and where they are shorter, the greens seem to be smaller and even more bunkered. Most holes do not have an adjacent fairway, they are enclosed by trees, so there is no playing back from another fairway. If you push or pull one too far, you are hitting out of the deep trees.

 

Anyway, that's way more than I had planned to write. This is the NYC groups thread, so I will say that if any of you guys want to play Bethpage Black with me in the future, drop me a message. I don't have a rich selection of golf buddies in NY, so just happy to get out there. :golfer:

 

The (in)famous sign...

 

 

 

The Par 5 fourth. Probably the signature hole at "The Black"...

 

 

 

The 18th, back up the the clubhouse. Apologies for the Snapchat filter...

 

[socccer4life3]

Thanks for the writeup. I've never played the black as i am not good enough IMO but have played the others a bunch. Goal is to be good enough to play it the end of summer with me cousin (hes 16 and 6 hc)

[benzenbe]

Would definitely be interested in playing the Black, but probably in a couple weeks when I get everything back in tune. Thanks to everyone who chimed in about Pelham & Split Rock.

 

I've played both courses, very hit or miss. Probably the best city courses but if you're going to drive, there are much better options elsewhere.

Which ones? I've basically written off the Brooklyn courses after a few 6 hours rounds, Van Cortlandt was fun but nothing to brag about, and Ferry Point looks really nice but a bit pricey for a regular round. I'm interested in playing La Tourette (SI), Then of course there's also Bethpage, but that's bit outside the city (where I'd say it opens the conversation up to Ballyowen, Royce Brook, Pound Ridge, Patriot Hills, etc.). Not looking to challenge you, just always open to new places.

[socccer4life3]

Question re bethage in general hoping someone knows the answer. I am a NYS resident, but my license is now expired (as of today) and i will be going to bethpage tomorrow after work to play. Anybody know if they will give me a hard time about the license being expired?

[WillMK5]

Question re bethage in general hoping someone knows the answer. I am a NYS resident, but my license is now expired (as of today) and i will be going to bethpage tomorrow after work to play. Anybody know if they will give me a hard time about the license being expired?

 

They made my brother in law pay the non-resident fee when we played Black last year. His license was expired by a few weeks. In short, if they don't notice, you should be fine. If they do notice, they might make you pay the out of state fee if you're playing Black or Red.

[WillMK5]

Would definitely be interested in playing the Black, but probably in a couple weeks when I get everything back in tune. Thanks to everyone who chimed in about Pelham & Split Rock.

I've played both courses, very hit or miss. Probably the best city courses but if you're going to drive, there are much better options elsewhere.

Which ones? I've basically written off the Brooklyn courses after a few 6 hours rounds, Van Cortlandt was fun but nothing to brag about, and Ferry Point looks really nice but a bit pricey for a regular round. I'm interested in playing La Tourette (SI), Then of course there's also Bethpage, but that's bit outside the city (where I'd say it opens the conversation up to Ballyowen, Royce Brook, Pound Ridge, Patriot Hills, etc.). Not looking to challenge you, just always open to new places.

 

When I lived on the Upper East Side, I liked to play Patriot Hills and Mansion Ridge. Depending on the time I was leaving the city, I could make it to those courses in under an hour. I found the conditions of Pelham and Split Rock to be hit or miss. I never played any of those courses on the weekends, though. I think that Bethpage, Middle Bay, and Harbor Links are all solid options from NYC in about an hour, depending on traffic.

[benzenbe]

Was able to play yesterday at Bowling Green GC, was really surprised at the course -- everything was maintained very well, pace of play was great, and a few quality and technical holes. The guys I played with all talked up Patriot Hills and Mansion Ridge though, so hopefully will make a trip out there soon.

[MaitriMike]

Was able to play yesterday at Bowling Green GC, was really surprised at the course -- everything was maintained very well, pace of play was great, and a few quality and technical holes. The guys I played with all talked up Patriot Hills and Mansion Ridge though, so hopefully will make a trip out there soon.

 

Mansion Ridge is a nice course. A lot of holes that require 200+ carry. I enjoy it even if i'm shooting like crap. Not much room for bailout / error. Patriot Hills, I played once, tough also and very scenic with a few elevated tee's. Definitely play bothwhen you can.

 

Has anyone played Bethpage Red lately? I'm playing Sunday and just wondering on the conditions. I know it was aerated early April. Haven't played red since last year.

[PThomas]

Was able to play yesterday at Bowling Green GC, was really surprised at the course -- everything was maintained very well, pace of play was great, and a few quality and technical holes. The guys I played with all talked up Patriot Hills and Mansion Ridge though, so hopefully will make a trip out there soon.

 

Mansion Ridge is a nice course. A lot of holes that require 200+ carry. I enjoy it even if i'm shooting like crap. Not much room for bailout / error. Patriot Hills, I played once, tough also and very scenic with a few elevated tee's. Definitely play bothwhen you can.Has anyone played Bethpage Red lately? I'm playing Sunday and just wondering on the conditions. I know it was aerated early April. Haven't played red since last year.

 

Playing Red on Friday bright and early, will let you know.

[gregkeller]

 

Mansion Ridge is a nice course. A lot of holes that require 200+ carry. I enjoy it even if i'm shooting like crap. Not much room for bailout / error. Patriot Hills, I played once, tough also and very scenic with a few elevated tee's. Definitely play bothwhen you can.

 

 

 

I played Mansion Ridge yesterday. It is a nice layout, a good mix of holes. Decent forced carries on a couple holes. One thing I noticed though is the greens seemed to be diseased or something. after the first hole or so, there were some very sketchy greens. Not sure what it was, but the practice green was nice, smooth and 15-16 of the greens were subpar. Only paid $50 to play, so not expecting perfection, but just thought I would throw this out there. Played Patriot Hills a few weeks prior and their greens were really good.

[PThomas]

Was able to play yesterday at Bowling Green GC, was really surprised at the course -- everything was maintained very well, pace of play was great, and a few quality and technical holes. The guys I played with all talked up Patriot Hills and Mansion Ridge though, so hopefully will make a trip out there soon.

 

Mansion Ridge is a nice course. A lot of holes that require 200+ carry. I enjoy it even if i'm shooting like crap. Not much room for bailout / error. Patriot Hills, I played once, tough also and very scenic with a few elevated tee's. Definitely play bothwhen you can.Has anyone played Bethpage Red lately? I'm playing Sunday and just wondering on the conditions. I know it was aerated early April. Haven't played red since last year.

 

Playing Red on Friday bright and early, will let you know.

 

Red is in fantastic shape as expected. Greens are running true.

[MaitriMike]

Yup, I agree. Red was amazing Sunday. Great weather and great golf.. though I had a few holes i just wanted to break my clubs... But that's another story.

 

Play 14 holes at Black today. Had to leave for dinner. It was extremely slow. Was part of the 12:42 PM time. I didn't start until 12:50 PM. 3 hours and 50 minutes later, just got to hole 15. Conditions were great, but wind was in our face for most of the opening holes. Tough since I don't hit it that far. The rough was pretty rough, looks like they are trying to grow it out even more. Greens were great and bunkers had no issues, though I did have a serious issue with a bunker but that was because of me.. haha.

 

For anyone that plans to play black, enjoy it and don't beat yourself too much. The course will do that to you.

[benzenbe]

Anyone interested in getting in a round on Friday to make up for today's crummy weather? Thinking Ballyowen, Galloping Hill, Mansion Ridge, or Patriot Hills.

[AGolfingCigar]

I can do a Friday round at Ballyowen

[benzenbe]

I can do a Friday round at Ballyowen

 

Any particular time work?