Golfadelphia

6,938 yards, 127 from the Green tees

Context is always important. A slew of public courses have recently been reviewed and what has become self evident is that public golf allows the game to thrive in many different contexts. Mind you, private courses do as well but much differently. Public golf is an emphasis on community most of the time, although there are exceptions for resorts or courses that seek to provide something closer to the private club experience. The sense of community is one of the formidable aspects of the game and really, trace back to the earliest golf in the U.K. where the course and club were intertwined with the town. A corollary to this is environmental enhancement. It doesn’t get discussed nearly enough but golf courses are an excellent use of reclaimed land. Superfund sites, landfills or undesirable property for one reason or another, golf courses have an enormous capacity to resuscitate areas and renew/create pockets of energetic community.

Harbor Links is in northeastern Long Island in Port Washington and is built on a reclaimed sand and gravel mine. Hurdzan and Fry design the course, which opened in 1998. There’s an executive nine hole course and miniature golf course that attract families and casual golfers. The reclaimed mine area is set against a bluff that was stabilized and fairways are allowed to split up to, down from and across it. There are wetlands and fescue interspersed throughout as well, which were worked around for the most part but add to the ambiance. Indeed, the course now enjoys its own natural ecological system, to the benefit of golfer and Long Islander alike. With respect to structure of play, Hurdzan and Fry evince a modern style that is rooted in lots of simplistic strategic elements throughout. The split fairways provide different options on occasion while the course accounts for the wind and terrain movement off the bluff. It’s a nice play that many will really like and the locals I played with knew the course well and liked it as well as they knew it. It’s distinct enough that it’s worth playing if one is in the area.

I was in town to play elsewhere but had time for the extra round. The power was out when I arrived, so went to a Smashburger to waste some time. After the round, I retired to the hotel, did some work, then found a nice Mexican place for dinner, which I went to after checking out the bourbon selection at a nearby wine store. It just doesn’t get any more exciting.

The First is a 524 yard par 5 (from the Greens). “Bon Voyage.” The gentle par 5 opener it is. We see a lot of more of this side of the property on the back nine but here, we move out in the general direction of the back on relatively flat terrain. Two fairway bunkers on either side at the same point, then two on either side at the entry point of the green. The green has some nice back to front diagonal movement as well.

The Second is a 437 yard par 4. “Hidden Instinct.” A dog leg right near the green, the golfer needs to figure out the right tee shot for a clear second shot into the green. Most of the room is at the turn and of course, the golfer needs to mind going through the fairway to the left, which is among the worst places for the second shot. The wise man does well here.

The Third is a 180 yard par 3. “Serenity.” A mini-loop and now we’re facing the clubhouse. The elevated tee shot is to a nice sized green. Bunkers are on either side and frame the hole well, as any shot beyond the outside edge of either bunker is most certainly lost forever.

The Fourth is a 396 yard par 4. “Turning Point.” We start to head to the side of the property where most of the front nine resides. The hole dog legs left around a pond, the tee shot needs to move past the water in some fashion while not overdoing it and ending up in one of the bunkers on the right. The further right one goes, however, the more direct the approach and more available the ground is for shots in that way. The green is deep with the pond along its left side.

The Fifth is a 367 yard par 4. “Imagination.” The first of the split fairways is here as the green is uphill to the left. The lower right fairway is in view from the tee and thus the easier of the two to land on. That of course makes the approach the blind, more difficult shot, as we need to move uphill at some point. For those opting for the blind uphill shot off the tee, the fairway gets narrower as it moves closer to the green but if pulled off, makes for a green light approach. Or just split the baby and hit the tee shot on the hill of rough and slash out from there.

The Sixth is a 521 yard par 5. “Risk Reward.” We’re on a roll so why not; another split fairway. The hillside falls from right to left while a center bunker defines each side of the fairway. The right fairway gives the best view of the green and approach and of course, is the tougher of the two tee shots. The bunker placement here is well done. There is a second fairway that’s more of a landing area for the third shot. It starts at the lower left, then turns and rises up to the higher right side. The green is at the high right and all approaches must be aerial since it sits above everything. I enjoyed the hole a lot. Just a lot of placement options and fun.

The Seventh is a 419 yard par 4. “Seventh Heaven.” What could have been a straight, flat, relatively benign hole is spiced up with a well-sized mound of the left that can be used off the tee to project the ball closer to the hole while the right side remains open for those not up for the risk. The green lies perpendicular to the fairway with a bunker guarding the front off to the right.

The Eighth is a 220 yard par 3. “Devil’s Revenge.” For the life of me, I can’t figure out this hole name. The devil is getting revenge with this hole? Why would it be this one? Doesn’t his revenge thing have something to do with damning souls or whatever, not a long par 3? Who knows, but it sounds ominous. With the wind whipping through, this hole can get on the tougher side but there’s enough room short to play with if need be.

The Ninth is a 447 yard par 4. “The Blue Heron.” Back to the clubhouse with a tee shot to a wide fairway. That width is sorely needed when the wind comes in. The fairway indeed narrows closer to the green and mind the water off to the left of the green. The green is on the smaller side and again with the wind, the water can come into play much quicker than one may initially believe.

The front nine has a nice cadence to it and does well to make sure each hole has some idiosyncrasy or two to keep things lively. I would rank them 6, 5, 9, 2, 4, 7, 8, 1, 3.

The back nine starts with the 440 yard par 4 Tenth. “Deception.” A slight double dog leg that starts off to the left initially then arcs to the right around marsh land on that side. Tee shots that are on the right will be blind to the green and will need to carry the marsh while those on the left might have a better view of the green but will likely be further away. It’s a wily start to the back that focuses on placement strategy.

The Eleventh is a 335 yard par 4. “Nature’s Way.” The marsh and water are on the right and more visible than they were on the hole prior and the fairway is much wider, heading straight out from the tee. The green is set off to the right, perpendicular to the fairway and of moderate size. Placement strategy once again is the name of the game starting out on the back, with harsher degrees of penalty for those out of position.

The Twelfth is a 172 yard par 3. “Arizona.” Another hole name I can’t figure out. There’s an outside chance it’s because the green is in similar shape to Arizona but that’s a reach. Uphill from the tee, there’s left to right movement that makes the bunkers on the left come into play more than the player hopes. Favoring the left side ensures the ball settles closer to center. Missing short is much better than missing long.

The Thirteenth is a 501 yard par 5. “The Dunes.” Hurdzan and Fry take advantage of the par 5’s and use a lot of land and expanse to create options and grand scale that contrasts nicely with the par 3’s and 4’s. Here, the tee shot is in the hills and above the fairway below, which moves at a left to right angle towards the green. The second shot is to a split fairway, the narrower right side is in front of the green while the larger left is is offset to the green, forcing the golfer to carry back to it. The green is on the larger side with some right to left movement. Those in my group watched in anticipation as I had an eagle putt here. I remember I didn’t make it and to be honest, friends, let’s just it was not a putting display on this hole.

The Fourteenth is a 400 yard par 4. “Sunken Treasure.” The tee is on the bluff and makes for an elevated shot with to a canted fairway moving left to right. The fairway once again narrows as it gets closer to the green and the green is below grade, which explains the hole name in this instance. The green moves front to back, another injection of variety here.

The Fifteenth is a 377 yard par 4. “Stone’s Throw.” Another tee shot on the bluff moving down to the dog leg right. The golfer should favor the left side off the tee but those feeling frisky can try to take on the right side bunkers for a much shorter approach. The entry point to the green is more on the left as it sits in perpendicular fashion once again, short and right of it being very unfavorable. When in doubt, stay left, is the mantra here.

The Sixteenth is a 540 yard par 5. “Never Lay Up.” The most direct and slender of the par 5’s, the tee shot is slightly elevated to the fairway that moves straightaway throughout. The first fairway bunker on the left signifies a pinch point of the fairway where the golfer would be wise to either lay up or move well past. The green is surprisingly small and slightly above the fairway with a bunker short of it left, then closer on the right. Instead of split fairways, the golfer must decide on where he wants to hit his second and third shots from with respect to the trio of bunkers on the left.

The Seventeenth is a 208 yard par 3. “Oasis.” The tee shot looms above the peninsula green. There are a few different tee locations surrounding the green, so it depends on which are set for the day but most are set front and center of the green while a few others are off to the left, which creates more of a forced carry shot. There is bail out room short of the green but otherwise, you either hit the green or you’re dropping a shot. Time to hit a golf shot.

The Eighteenth is a 454 yard par 4. “Final Passage.” A dog leg left around the hillside with marsh and fescue on the right. Getting the the shot around the turn is paramount, which opens up the fairway and approach. The green complex is one of the better of the course with its contouring that’s nice and deep, darting behind the right side bunker. There is a smaller bunker at the back left one should be mindful of as well. A nice finisher that is more challenging than it may appear at first glance.

The back nine does a good job shifting between scales and creates nice juxtapositional flow as a result. The par 3’s and 5’s stood out for me. Ranking them, I would go 13, 11, 12, 14, 18, 17, 16, 15, 10.

Generally, Harbor Links makes a point to stay varied in several ways, including split fairways and degrees of scale. The tee to green provides a lot of the fun and excitement while the short game shots were more standard fare but the range of shots asked from the golfer into the greens kept things engaging. The course accounts for wind, which certainly can shake up the structure of play and play much tougher than its stated rating. It’s a substantial course, designed and built with much more thought and creativity than most municipal or public courses out there, if anything demonstrating how to rely on fundamental architectural tenets to provide good golf to the community without overcomplicating.

Clubhouse/Pro Shop: Well stocked and ample places to hang out before or after the round.

Practice area: There’s a double-sided range, short game area and putting green.