New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday that all non-essential businesses will be forced to close this coming Sunday in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus. Municipal golf courses at New York State parks, however, will remain open with social-distancing restrictions in place.
Beginning Sunday, the Blue, Green and Yellow courses at Bethpage State Park and the Red, Blue and Green courses at Sunken Meadow will be open to players with reservations only — no walk-up transactions will be available. Tee times will be spread out to lessen contact between groups. The parks also recommend that one person reserves a tee time for the entire playing group to further reduce transactions. The full breakdown can be found at the NYS Golf website.
At Montauk Downs, starting this weekend, visitors are asked to use credit cards when possible (no receipt signatures will be required). Cashiers will not touch NYS licenses during check-in — players will be asked to read off the relevant ID information. See the NYS Golf website for further details.
Some non-municipal courses have announced that they will close to comply with the governor's order:
- Pine Hills Golf and Country Club in Manorville announced by e-mail that it will close on Monday, March 23.
- Swan Lake Golf Course in Manorville posted on Facebook that golfers should confirm their Saturday tee times and listed Sunday's course status as "TBD."