Rub of the Green

(Photo courtesy Bethlehem Town Parks and Recreation)

Fall is my favorite time of year!

I can jump in my car without wilting from a hot dashboard. I can catch a flick at the art house without worrying it'll be a flop. I can walk my Geritol dog at a faster clip without risking a panting melt-down. I can hike, bike, climb and sprint through the woods without a bunch of pesky bugs sucking down my perspiration.

But with a bright blue sky by day and yellow harvest moon by night, Mutti and I opted for an easy day of 3-par golf. Neither of us can play with any continuity; sometimes we slam the ball onto the green in 1 stroke, other times it takes us 10.

Fortunately, there's no rush at Colonial Acres in Glenmont, NY. The flat and fast golf course, established in 1964, is both a certified Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary and a less-than-competitive place for beginners or, in our case, golfers who only play once or twice a year.

Thanks to a Super who has a passion for all things 'green,' the 9-hole course receives accolades every year for its environmentally sensitive practices. Pat Blum is the Superintendent and even though I haven't talked to him in years, he's always making the local paper for mowing flag designs into the fairways on July 4th and preserving the 1,262 yards from encroaching development.

The rates for 4 hours of 18 holes (you need to revisit the first 9 to complete an entire game) are unexpectedly low. Only $13 on weekdays and $15 on weekends with no silly rules governing golfers from sharing clubs.

The course holds special habitats to enjoy when your game suffers from mulligans, like mine always do.

There are fleshy manicured beach grass and flowering plants that dot the sand traps. There are man-made wooden feeders that attract rare endangered birds and thrive. A deep-green bog fortified with nutrient-rich algae helps bullfrogs, field crickets and gaggles of geese declare the place home. But, beware of loosing a stroke when you sink your last shot.

And, finally, this is the best part, Pat uses organic and biological products to control moles and groundhogs, reducing the amount of synthetic pesticides and petroleum-based products on the greens.

It's a heavenly place to replace divots, just be careful not to clock the biodiversity teeing-off.