Shoreham's Tallgrass Golf Course is closed for good, ending a nearly two-decade run as not only one of New York State's most highly regarded public courses, but also as one consistently stalked by outside plans for development. The course will be converted into a 127-acre solar farm called Shoreham Solar Commons in the near future. (UPDATE: The solar farm is scheduled to break ground in April, per Newsday.)
Tallgrass persevered through years of development rumors, declaring it's "here to stay" as far back as 2008, and lingered for an unexpected 2016 season as plans for the solar farm took shape. Last fall, the course was operating on a "month-to-month basis."
Gil Hanse completed Tallgrass in 2000 in the midst of Long Island's most recent golf-course boom that also introduced new courses like Long Island National (now private), The Links at Shirley (closed), Stonebridge Golf Links and Great Rock, among others. Hanse, whose recent work includes the 2016 Olympic course in Brazil, designed the course on a former sod farm. Golfweek ranked Tallgrass as one of the "Best Courses You Can Play" in New York State every year since 2009.
For a review of the twists and turns in the two-year saga between Tallgrass and the Shoreham solar development that ultimately led to the course's closure, look back at this spring 2016 post.