There are ways each year to keep Long Island's golf courses in mind even when the playing season is on its last legs and the golf clubs are slowly making their way into storage. One of them is to check in at the Long Island Press website to see which courses are finalists for "Best Golf Course" in the newspaper's annual "Best of LI" poll, presented by Bethpage Credit Union. This year is the tenth edition of the survey and includes a format twist — there will only be a first-place finisher, which is bad news for courses not named Bethpage.
Go to the Long Island Press website to vote for your favorite course as well as "Best Driving Range," "Best Golf Store" and a number of other "Bests" in different categories across Long Island. Each year the newspaper and its readers determine nominees across a variety of genres and ask Long Islanders to pick which ones are truly the finest. As in last year's poll, a dozen public courses and three private clubs in Nassau and Suffolk are finalists for the golf title. Not surprisingly, Bethpage State Park has dominated the poll in years past. Frequent runners-up Eisenhower Park and Rock Hill will need lots of reader help to knock off the king in this year's first-place-only tally. Voting closes on December 15.
This year's public-course nominees are:
- Bethpage State Park
- Eisenhower Park
- The Golf Club at Middle Bay (fka South Bay)
- Harbor Links
- Lido GC
- Rock Hill
- Smithtown Landing
- Stonebridge Golf Links
- Swan Lake
- Timber Point
- Town of Oyster Bay GC
- Willow Creek Golf & Country Club
Vote for the "Best Golf Course" of 2015 at www.LongIslandPress.com, and while you're there be sure to cast a vote for your favorite driving range and golf shop. Winners will be announced in January.