Tallgrass Golf Club

Go spend your money elsewhere. There are multiple other courses in the area where they treat the patrons like human beings. Played here in early August, headed to the range to warm up. I first noticed that there is a huge grass range but for some reason they wanted people to hit off the mats. As I made my way through my bag I realized that there weren’t any tees in any of the mats. At this point the two other guys who were on the range had left and it was just me and my playing partner. So I pull out my driver and try to put a wooden tee into the mat, they have the spongy mats and I thought that might work, but this was unsuccessful. So the logical thing to do is to move forward and put the tee into the regular grass. After hitting a few drivers one of the rangers rips up in his golf cart and starts giving me a hard time about using the tee in the grass. In my attempt to explain to him my reasoning he cut me off and began making sarcastic remarks. He referenced other golfers seeing what I was doing and then copying me. At this point I looked down the range and the only customers there were me and my partner. The ranger made another snide comment and watched me put my driver back in my bag before taking off. About fifteen minutes later I was minding my business on the practice green waiting for my group to be called when that same ranger pulled up again. For some reason he felt that it was appropriate to make another snide comment directed toward me asking if I was ok now that I was no longer on the range. The course staff here have been anything but courteous to customers for many years. The golf course isn’t anything special when you consider Rock Hill, Pine Hills, MICC, Cherry Creek, Great Rock, Pine Ridge, and Willow Creek. I’d much rather spend my money at a place where they appreciate my patronage.

Heard a lot of great things about this course so invited my client (from NJ) all the way into Long Island to play here.
We had a reservation for 9AM and it was pretty emtpy. It was a nice day to hit a round but this course made all of us absolutely mad.
First of all, the greens were in terrible shape. I understand they were aerifying the greens but they should have let me know when I made the reservation. But I understand they need to do what they need to do to keep the greens in good shape for the 2^nd half of the season. But the course just seemed like they were either missing a lot of staff or just not cared for. All the water coolers were empty and abandoned. Ball washers had no water in them and dried out.
All in all, had a terrible day at the course and I was quite embarrassed that I made my client drive 2 hours from Jersey for this course.

Nice course, generous layout. Greens as of late = very very impressive. Staff however is lacking in ability and friendliness. Starter seems highly unaware of his role and old man managing golf cart distribution/​service has absolutely zero people skills– he’s actually quite unpleasant and would be better off away from paying customers. It’s a shame that such a nice course has to be penalized in terms of its reputation by the behavior of the staff.

Love playing out here. Course is in fairly good condition, some interesting holes, friendly staff. Bunkers are generally rocky but during the week the course tends to be empty. Me and my buddy finished the course in about 3.5 hrs. I tend to only come out here when I can find a sub $ 40 tee time but at that price it is worth the trip from western LI

My wife and I have played this course over 75 times over the last 10 years and have always enjoyed it very much! this year however is totally different! You can tell that they have stopped putting $$ into the course. The fairways are very hard and full of weeds. It never had any before. The greens, they have lost as they were very spotty and also very hard. The ball washers are either broken or have NO WATER! This was Memorial DAY WEEKEND! The cart paths are now a mess and the overall Look of the place has dropped to new lows! We are finished here! If you want to enjoy yourself on Eastern LI, definitely play Cherry Creek Woods and Links! THEY CARE!

Driving to Tallgrass from Queens is no chip shot. The suggestion of playing here came to me by a golf course architect writer friend, who gave it a strong recommendation and joined our foursome to play 18.
The day was cold and the wind was up, so even though I’d been playing well I knew it would be a grinding day. My playing partners were falling apart like a chinese motorcycle as the junk money was coming my way and I remained hovering around even par through nine, finishing up a few over for the day.
At Tallgrass you have to be smart enough to examine the risk/​reward potential of all your shots and either way, identify the bail out areas to miss. Missing a green on the wrong side can prove to be highly penal and deflate moral very quickly. One has to think like a golf course architect and find that one path from tee to green that offers the least resistance and try to implement it. Even as a relatively skilled player, it still took a high level of concentration over every single shot as to not get buried by bogies. The key is to remain calm, not get flustered by a poor shot and ready yourself for the recovery shot and to hit it with confidence.
Playing from the championship tees made the day physically exhausting as I pounded two irons into what felt like a prevailing wind into us all day. The occasional cross breezes were not to be ignored, gusting up to 15 mph. So spraying the driver around the course was never in my plan and I never strayed from it, opting to hood five and six irons off the fairways into the longer par fours. It beats hitting eights and nines from three inches of rough, however trees and other natural obstructions are not present.
Tallgrass is a well designed course that will test players of all skill levels. If you decide to go out and play it, my advice is to avoid cold and windy days.

Tall Grass is a beautiful linx style GC. Played here this past weekend without having to wait on any group in front of us. What a pleasure. The fast greens will either make you feel like a Pro if you do well or in awe of the Pros should you falter. Either way this golf course is well worth a trip to the North Shore of LI.

I’ve played a wide variety of courses over the past couple years, and have been trying to read more and more on architecture. I also had the joy of caddying at one of America’s best courses (Chicago Golf Club), for several years. I like to think that I’m somewhat knowledgeable on what makes a great golf course.
This course opened in 1998 and was designed by Gil Hanse, an architect who has become more and more famous over the past several years. ‘Golf Magazine’ named him its ‘Architect of the Year’ in 2009, and in the past few years, he was selected to design the Olympic Golf Course for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Design-​wise, this course is great. Plenty generous off of the tee, and unlike a parkland course (where you often have to punch out back into the fairway), at Tallgrass, you have a much better opportunity to hit a recovery shot. A decent or good player will have no trouble with the tee shots or with the length, and they’ll feel like their approach shots are easy. But boy oh boy, these green complexes are fascinating. Fast greens, some small, small large, some quite narrow, some quite wade. Many with fascinating bunker complexes. Gil did a phenomenal job at making these holes ‘risk-​reward’. Nearly every green offers a ‘bailout area’ for a poorly hit (or conservatively planned shot); for the player trying to get to the ideal spot on the green, the level of difficulty is much higher, and the resulting penalty will be much greater should the shot not be struck ideally.
The greens were very fast, but quite spotty visually. That ‘visual spottiness’ did not affect the pliability. Fairways and greens were in good condition. Many fairways, especially by the greens, were overwatered, which made a traditional links «run-​up pitch» a lot less of a possibility. Hopefully the staff will let this course dry out a little more, and have it playing more like a real links.
The course is definitely located in an isolated, fairly rural location. Cell phone reception can be spotty, especially on the drive in. Give a little extra time in case you get lost on the winding country roads.
There’s a small locker room with showers, a fully stocked bar with a good burger and TVs. The woman working the bar this past Saturday was extremely hard-​working.
There’s also space to host a wedding reception, etc.
More than anything else, given the slightly higher price ($ 85 w/​cart), given the famous architect, I really thought that it would be a more luxurious experience.
It is not.
There’s no one at the bag drop to put your clubs on a cart. The pro shop is minuscule. The restaurant grill menu is simplistic. The locker room was quite small. The carts didn’t have GPS, and there were very few yardage markers on the course.
Many other reviewers (both here and on Golf Now) have had complaints about the ‘friendliness’ of the staff. I didn’t have any major problems (apart from a cigarette-​smoking starter who had an a-​hole attitude), but my need to be treated like royalty was not fulfilled.
I’m not in any particular hurry to return. Still wanna play the Bethpages and Montauk Downs, still wanna try some others. It’s not cheap and definitely a healthy drive from Manhattan, and, playing as a single, the 19^th hole bar doesn’t have the liveliest atmosphere, especially compared to the bar at a course like Marine Park in Brooklyn.
But it absolutely is one of the most well-​designed public courses in the state of New York. That is undeniable.

Borderline 3 or 4 stars.
Pros — fun course. Easy course if you hit the fairways but can be brutally difficult if you hit it in the wrong spots. One day you can birdie a hole and then next round its triple bogey. Greens roll true and are pretty fast for a public course.
— drinks are pretty cheap and service at bar is good. Decent food.
Cons — My major gripe with this place is that it is understaffed. Twice my cart died in the middle of the round and when I was given another cart… it died too. No one in the clubhouse really cared.
I have also seen people just walk on to the course from their car without paying. It is so understaffed you can do this quite easily. Not good for pace of play.
Good course but staffing is pretty weak.

Decent course with friendly staff and usually have good rates. I don’t think it’s as good as it’s been ranked (#2 public course on LI) as there are at least ten public courses that I would rather play. However, I do think it’s a nice course with some fun holes.
They ruined the 6^th hole by turning it into a fun and strategic par 4 into a boring and tough par 3 (with a green not meant for a long iron approach).

This looks like it plays fairly easy… Wrong! This is a challenging course for every golfer no matter the skill level. Started playing here in a few Tournaments which were run nicely, but the food was just OK. Course is always in great condition, hats off to the grounds crew. Greens are really tough to read. Always an enjoyable round even when I just show up as a single. Been paired with some good and not so good golfers just like most other golf experiences. Go and play this course, you will be happy you played it!

Played Tallgrass — it’s supposed to be one of Long Islands best courses — guess what — it is — it is a very flat course — some up hills — lots of tall grass and tricky bunkers — you will lose balls if you are not good with your driver — my group of 4 was done in 4 hours — started at 7:50 over by 12 — the greens are wicked fast even when wet — which I am not used to from the Muni courses I play at — control your putts or you will find your 10 foot downhill turn to a five footer up hill even with the gentlest of strokes — I imagine its the same speed the PGA pros play — wind is also a challenge but can also help with distance at certain holes. No trees and a lot of challenging bunkers — you will get practice in the bunkers — you will lose balls in the high grass — tiny pro shop but very friendly staff and friendly golfers — small bar area clean with a few tables — has locker room too but I didn’t check it out — not sure if that’s open to public — wish it was closer to queens — bring tick spray if you want to search for your balls — I just dropped and took the penalty — not worth getting a tick somewhere — even if you lost a PRO-​V1.

Consistently ranked by golf periodicals as among the best on Long Island for publicly-​accessible golf, along with Montauk Downs and Bethpage Black with good reason, Tallgrass is a flat, links-​style course in Eastern, Suffolk County. Due to location, it’s pretty quiet here on weekdays, enabling you to easily get around in 4 hours.
The course measures 6,600 yards from the furthest tees, but requires accurate, low-​hitting, characteristic of windy, links-​style courses. Off-​target shots will be punished, either in one of the many bunkers, or in the course’s namesake, which are pretty much a one-​stroke penalty. Even if you find your ball in the tallgrass, you’ll be lucky to punch out much further than a drop. As with many links courses, there are no trees and there is just one water hazard on the course. Be prepared for many shots out of bunkers, which are as close to the greens as I’ve ever seen. I give the course designer further credit for having a knack for placing fairway bunkers exactly at the location of the average driver miss, blind/​tricky shots on a flat course and otherwise forcing risk/​reward decisions on nearly every hole. Greens are undulating and smooth, but not too fast. A flat putt without break is a rarity, but your scorecard won’t blow up on the dance floor.
The staff overall is pretty friendly. There’s a pretty good range where you can hit off grass tees generally Fridays and weekends. Otherwise, they’ll ask you to use matts.