Colonial Springs spices it up

Erik Boland

April 12, 2007

It wasn't that Steve Locke believed he had a bad golf course at Colonial Springs, it was just that the club president decided he had one that needed work. Especially after Locke determined several years ago he wanted to take the 27-hole layout private.

Superintendent Mark Chant put it another way.

"Basically we took a good picture and put it in a better frame," Chant said.

That they did.

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The $4.5 million renovation, done by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., started in 2004 and will be completed in late May as work finishes on the Pines Course. The grand opening is scheduled for June 1.

No new holes were built on the grounds, but most were tweaked - some more dramatically than others. Sixty-five bunkers were added among the three courses and two new greens were built. Fourteen fairways were reconstructed and 17 tee boxes are new.

"He spent a lot of time here," Locke said of Jones, Jr. whose brother, Rees, is known as the "Open Doctor" for his work on courses that have hosted U.S. Opens.

Colonial Springs, which began as a public course in 1995 and officially went private in 2006, doesn't have those kinds of ambitions, but Locke and club hierarchy wanted a better course for a membership that is currently at 300 and, Locke hopes, growing.

"We wanted to make the course more challenging for the low-handicapper without killing the little guy," Locke said.

For that reason each hole now has four tee boxes and the "little guy" will need the choices on some of the holes. One striking redesign was on the Pines' 540-yard - from the back tees - par-5 seventh hole. The tighter fairway winds to the left and back to the right, all leading to a large, sloped green guarded to the left by a bunker and to the right by water.

The second hole on the Pines, previously "flat and uninteresting," Locke said, is an uphill 394-yard par-4 and dull no longer. Players tee off from a valley [several tons of dirt were removed to create tees 30 feet below ground level] to a more narrow fairway with a large bunker added near what would be the landing area for most players. The majority of the renovations took place on the Pines Course but there are noticeable changes on all three courses.

From the back tees, the Lake Course now measures 3,378 yards, the Valley is at 3,488 yards and the Pines tops out at 3,442 yards. By current standards, any combination of the nines - for a full 18-hole round - isn't overly long. But the strategic bunkering and added length, along with the significant work around the greens and mounding throughout, gives Colonial Springs (colonialspringsgolf.com) a longer-than-it-looks feel.

"We were going private and we needed something to spice it up," said Locke, who added that membership plans start at $5,800, with no assessments, minimums or locker room fees. "We know we're not on the East End so we needed to do something to attract people. We wanted to do something special, and I hope we have."

Today's tip

Concentrate on your short game

"Start the season off by concentrating on your short game. With a 'chip shot,' the ball generally travels 70-80 percent of its total distance on the ground. With a 'pitch shot,' the ball generally travels 70-80 percent of its total distance in the air. Chipping can be done with most irons in your bag while pitching should be reserved for your most lofted iron. Early in the season, spend some time around the practice greens, working on controlling the trajectory of the ball with a variety of motions and clubs to get a feel for the necessary landing areas that create the best shots and best results."

Chris Carter,

PGA head professional

The Hamlet Golf & Country Club

Notebook

The popular "Swing Fore the Health of It," a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and Harbor Links Golf Course, is returning for a third straight year. The five-week program, which begins May 1 and runs on the following four Tuesdays, provides an opportunity for breast cancer survivors, who have had surgery in the last 18 months, to become active again through golf. Instruction is provided by Harbor Links pros and the program is limited to the first 40 participants. Those interested should call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345.

Around the Island

Three Islip Town golf courses - Brentwood Country Club, Gull Haven Golf Course and Holbrook Country Club - are available for golf outings for parties of 100 or more players. Outings can be held Mondays at Brentwood and Tuesdays at Holbrook. The courses are available for outings from May through September. Call 631-224-5413 for more information ... St. Anthony's High School's 18th Annual Golf Classic is May 7 at Old Westbury CC and Tam O'Shanter CC. The cost for the day, which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, is $395. Call Denise (631-724-5251) for more information ... The Southampton Lions Annual Golf Tournament, which benefits the sight impaired by providing guide dogs and large print books, is May 23 at Noyac Golf Club. Call Ken Moffa (631-283-3943) or Bob Grisnik (631-283-1506) for information.

About this page

Items should be directed to Erik Boland in the Newsday sports department. Send faxes to his attention at 631-454-6892, call 631-843-2103 or send email to erik.boland@newsday.com.

Competition: Golf organizations should direct their releases and tournament results to Boland's attention.

Outings: Organizers for charitable golf outings should submit their information not later than three weeks prior to the event.

Aces returning

Holes in one and other scoring accomplishments - e.g. double eagles - again will be listed on this page. For phone messages, include the following data: date, course, hole number, length of the hole and club used. Please leave a phone number and spell all names. Aces occurring in the offseason can be submitted.