Tee time turf war at North Hempstead's Harbor Links Golf Course

The new director of the Town of North Hempstead's public golf course and some of its most fervent patrons are locked in a dispute centered around the integrity of the course's tee time booking system, which officials are toughening in the new year.

Golfers say bookings in recent months at Harbor Links Golf Course already have been harder to make than in the past. They blame the course for holding what they say was an excessive number of private outings last fall, blocking them from access.

But Kelley Brooke, a professional golfer who took over the course in 2025 and implemented nearly $2 million in improvements, told Newsday the real issue is a group of golfers who for decades had "gamed the system" to turn the course into their "private country club."

In an effort to clear the course for themselves, Brooke said, groups of players had mass- booked tee times for particular days, weeks in advance. They would then cancel all but a few tee times before a 48-hour penalty period, lowering the chances of other golfers playing on the course at the same time as them.

Brooke said there were more than 32,000 cancellations in 2025, with 46,000 rounds of golf played. "They don't need these tee times, because it's the same group of guys playing together," she said.

She said that "a select few" golfers are unhappy, "but the reason they are not happy is because they're not getting special treatment anymore."

Golfers sound off

But some golfers are speaking out about what they see as a lack of availability lately.

Charlene Prounis, 70, of Manhasset, a retired pharmaceutical advertising executive, said in an interview she got to play at the course about two times per week over the summer, but after Labor Day, things changed. When she would go online to book, there were hardly any tee times available, she said.

Prounis, who says she had no connection to the mass cancelers, said she counted about 30 private outings held at Harbor Links hosted by various community groups in September and October. 

"As a public golf course, it should be available to the people of the Town of North Hempstead," Prounis said. "How can we get our public golf course in the hands of the public?"

Steven Greif, of Port Washington, said during a Nov. 18 town board meeting that he had trouble reserving tee times in the fall.

"I've been playing golf for 50 years," he said. "I try to play golf on Tuesday, a Friday, maybe a Saturday, I can't get these times after Labor Day. ... It's been very frustrating this year, for me particularly, as an avid golfer, to go online seven days in advance and find that I can't get a tee time."

Brooke, who is also the director of golf of the famed Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, pushed back on that claim. She told Newsday the course held 23 outings in September and October, with all but two "hosted by not-for-profits, schools, churches, unions or fire departments or [police unions]."

Town spokesman Umberto Mignardi said in a statement "a public golf course should benefit an entire community, including the organizations that serve the community."

"Many of those who would access a public course individually are the very same people participating in these outings," Mignardi said. "They're your neighbors — the police and volunteer and firefighters, local nonprofits, even the hospital workers who serve us."

Brooke noted that outings are typically held in afternoons, meaning that early mornings are often available for residents on those days — though Prounis told Newsday when she has tried to book for mornings of outings, there have been no tee times available. 

Tougher rules ahead

The real reason some golfers are complaining, Brooke said, is because the town is cracking down on the phony bookings.

"I think the outing thing is made up to distract people from what's really going on," she said. 

So the rules are getting tougher starting in January: Harbor Links currently does not charge residents for cancellations made 48 hours in advance, with a $20 penalty for cancellations made inside the window. Starting in 2026, Brooke said, the course will implement a deterrent cost: Golfers will be charged a nonrefundable $5 fee upon making a reservation; in the past, golfers would pay $5 upon arriving at the course.

In addition, those who cancel more than three times in one month will be temporarily blocked from the system, Brooke said, and required to explain to the operator the reason for their cancellations. 

Prounis suggested Brooke was grasping for a "defense for them not making tee times available." 

Brooke said, "Part of my job, when I got here, was to ensure that all residents of the town had fair, easy access to tee times." 

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.