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.