Gone are the days of pounding a bucket of balls. Now, you can sharpen every facet of your game on high-tech practice facilities on nearly all of Westchester’s private and public courses.
Short Game
GlenArbor Golf Club set the bar high when it opened its comprehensive short-game area nine years ago. More than just a practice green with a bunker, GlenArbor’s facility allows the player to work on absolutely every shot from 100 yards and in. One side of the expansive area is a dedicated wedge range with five tee boxes at different points of the compass surrounding four target greens, each with three pins. You can dial in distances from 10 to 100 yards to specific targets dealing with every possible wind direction. There’s also a fairway-style bunker in the configuration so you can practice the most difficult recovery in golf, the long bunker shot.
The other side of the practice area has two greens maintained at speeds and conditions identical to the greens on the course with plenty of room for chipping, pitching, and putting. For sand practice, there are three bunkers next to the two practice greens as well as a stacked-face bunker like you’d find in Scotland.
Sunningdale Country Club took great care to create a practice green that enables players to work on putting skills they could apply on all the club’s wonderfully contoured greens. At nearly 19,000 sq. ft. with numerous humps and bumps both gentle and severe, there is plenty of room to work on your flatstick magic.
Westchester Country Club provides members and guests not only with an advanced learning center, extensive driving range, and comprehensive short game area, but a full nine-hole par-three course as well. The 1,095-yard track draws a lot of play from beginners (and others) looking for some fun and is a popular way for players to put their short-game skills into practice under game conditions where every swing affects their score.
Driving Range
When Hudson National Golf Club decided to upgrade their game-improvement offerings, they turned for advice to the man who designed the course, architect Tom Fazio. At his suggestion, the club bought 27 acres on a rocky ledge next to the third hole, then spent 82 days blasting rock and moving dirt to level the property. The result is a spectacular driving range 100 yards wide and over 300 yards long with four target greens and two practice bunkers.
What makes it really special, though is the Trackman radar system that plots the flight of every ball from wherever it’s hit. The data is relayed to the player’s phone or other device for immediate feed-back. In addition, there’s a two-story, three-bay indoor learning center for year-round use.
Bonnie Briar Country Club upgraded their range this year with the Trackman radar system as well. It goes with an all-new Performance Center including three bays that open to the range for year-round use. Among other technological marvels, every bay is equipped with video showing views of face-on and down-the-line swing.
Learning Centers
Club after club has opened year-round indoor/outdoor learning centers in recent years. The epitome of the popular club amenity may be the award-winning Apple Tree Performance Center at the Saint Andrew’s Golf Club. It features three hitting bays, each equipped with the most advanced teaching technology available including Foresight Golf Club Quad launch monitors, FlightScope with 3D doppler tracking radar, Boditrak Pressure Mats, and V1 Swing Analysis systems. Bays can be opened to the full range or used with simulators during inclement weather. There’s a separate putting instruction area that employs SAM PuttLab technology. The center has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Private Club golf training facilities in the U.S. by the Golf Range Association of America.
Quaker Ridge took the learning center concept a few steps farther to compensate for a geography dilemma. “Like many older clubs with limited land, we’ve always had to be creative about providing a range to warm up,” says head pro Mario Guerra. “Now, the three downstairs bays in the golf center serve that purpose. When members and guests make a tee time, we book time before that for them in the bays, so each person gets time to warm up.” The hitting bays also open onto the first fairway for use off season.
The second floor of the building houses three more simulator bays, along with an indoor putting green that moves to provide multiple contours and a computer system for measurement. All the simulators are powered by Trackman, and the club made an additional investment to have the Quaker Ridge golf course rendered on the system so you can see how your practice works out on the course. Also on the second floor is a spacious party room with pool table, bar, and lounge seating for practicing your 19th hole skills.
Public Practice Facilities
Game On Golf Center in White Plains gets better every year. Since it came under new ownership in 2017, the range has upgraded the grounds and added the latest technology and a full staff of teachers that provide instruction for players of all levels. Today, players can hit year-round from heated and covered bays and track their swing with Toptracer, the same technology used to show the shots the pros make on TV. The range is lighted as well.
Yorktown Golf & Baseball Center in Mohegan Lake has two tiers with 36 covered hitting bays (half of them heated). It offers Toptracer technology and an 18-hole minigolf course as well. It’s also the home of premier club fitter Steve Kurnit of DD Custom Golf.
The Links at Valley Field in Yorktown is a challenging par-three course that provides not only an enjoyable round for golfers of all levels but a great place to improve the precision of your short game on holes measuring from 100 to 170 yards.
You’ll find several public ranges in nearby communities outside the county, too. These include Griffith E Harris Golf Club, Greenwich, CT, Tappan Golf Center, Tappan, NY, Bally’s Golf Links, Bronx, NY, Mosholu Golf Club, Bronx, NY, Turtle Cove Golf Center, Bronx, NY.
Westchester County Courses
Dunwoodie Golf Course offers a full range that’s lighted at night along with two practice greens.
Mohansic Golf Course provides a range for shots up to 200 yards as well as a practice green.
Saxon Woods Golf Course has a short range and practice green.
Sprain Lake Golf Course has two practice greens and a 200-yard driving range.
Hudson Hills Golf Course and Maple Moor Golf Club have practice greens.
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