Harbor Links: A touch of class in North Hempstead

Mark Herrmann

July 24, 2008

When the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce scheduled a function last month to promote business during the 2009 U.S. Open, it chose to hold it at Harbor Links in Port Washington. The location was both practical and symbolic.

Harbor Links is fairly convenient, a couple of miles north of the Long Island Expressway, and has a new, 13,600-square foot, $6 million clubhouse. It also represents a win for the local golf industry, which is mostly struggling as hard as someone trying to turn a slice into a hook.

A 10-year-old municipal course, Harbor Links has been a conspicuous success for the Town of North Hempstead, which owns it, and the private firm, Arnold Palmer Golf Management, which runs it.

Money magazine cited it last week as one reason why North Hempstead was the only Long Island community named among the 100 best places to live in the United States.

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The 18-hole course is picturesque, framed by wood covered bluffs and decorated with natural grasses including fescues. It also has brought in the more traditional business form of green to the town. General manager Donald Zauner said the full-length course hosts about 42,000 rounds a year and the par-3 course gets about 40,000 rounds.

"It pays off, how great we make this place," Zauner said. "You read a lot of stuff about the economic downturn of golf courses, how there are not enough golfers for the inventory. We don't see that. If you create great golf course conditions, you see a lot of people come to your facility."

They come even though the prices are higher than the greens fees at courses such as Bethpage State Park, which will host the 2009 Open, and Eisenhower Park. The weekend rate, with a cart, for a nonresident is $106, for a resident it is $72. On weekdays, the rates are $89 and $64 for residents and nonresidents. But after 5 p.m., those go down to $52 and $42, and after 6 p.m., the rate is $29 for everybody.

The clubhouse, which was finished two years ago, is another draw. "We get business meetings, retirement dinners," Zauner said. "It enhanced the place."

Everything about the property is dramatically different from what it used to look like. Harbor Links succeeded a scruffy old mining facility, from which sand was shipped by barge to Manhattan to help build skyscrapers.

Now, the place is part of Audubon International's Signature Program. Course builders brought back native plants that attracted native bird species. Wetlands were restored, habitat boxes for birds were built. To this day, environmental areas within the course are out of bounds.

How does a facility like this thrive at a time when golf analysts point out that the number of golfers has stopped growing? It doesn't hurt to be in a large population area, where people have spending power.

Money magazine's survey said that median home prices and property taxes in North Hempstead are more than double the average of the other top 100 towns in the U.S.

It also helps when the course catches the eye. Superintendent Pete Cash, who used to work at Bethpage Black, has cultivated fescues and other insect resistant grasses. Harbor Links has some strategic appeal, too, such as the split level fairways on Nos. 5 and 6, and the semi-island green on No. 17 that requires a carry of 160 yards. This municipal course commands respect.

"A lot of people here," one employee said on a busy late afternoon this week, "treat it like it's a private club."

Today's tip

"One of the hottest clubs to come on the market the past few years is the hybrid wood. There are benefits to using this club instead of a long iron or fairway wood. With the heat of summer and harder turf, the hybrid is easier to hit off the ground. The smaller heads are also much easier to hit off a tight lie or from the rough. Equipment makers offer varying lengths and lofts. By playing the ball in the middle of your stance, you will find the hybrid a great alternative."

Janice Metzler

PGA teaching professional

The Woodmere Club

Aces