We thank all of you for your support this season and wish you the best for the holidays.

Golf Tip: The winter months are a perfect time to get your body in shape for the upcoming golf season. A good thought process is to do exercises that strengthen your core. Go to Golfdigest.com and put fitness into the search box. They have a few exercise programs and tips here that can help golfers of all levels improve their bodies to improve their game.

Holiday parties! We still have a few dates available for the upcoming holiday season. Let us know if we can help you out by contacting our events team.

Contact Events Team

We are holding our annual Toy Drive for the Anoka Christmas Committee! If you would like to help out you can drop off gifts anytime we are here or Santa will make an appearance at the clubhouse on December 16th between 1:00 and 3:00.

Gift Cards make a great holiday gift and you don’t need to drive anywhere to get them. Purchase a Northfork Golf Gift card on line by following this link.

Gift Cards

Join us on facebook at www.facebook.com/linksatnorthfork

Time is at a premium for everyone and the Links has the driving options to fit your time constraints. Choose from 3,6,9,12,18 or 21 holes. Our 3-hole practice loop is included in your round of golf and gives additional options to the time strapped person. If you’re looking for a little practice but have no time for the championship course the 3-hole loop is an affordable and quick way to get your golf fix. Nine-hole championship course options are available M-F and after noon on weekends and holidays.

Golf Tip of the Week: Putt aggressively – but not to the hole. To avoid three-putting, pick a spot on the long putts three feet short of the hole, and putt aggressively to that spot. You’ll rarely be short by more than three feet because you “charged” to that short target. If you do hit the putt too hard, It can roll five feet farther than your target, and you’ll have only two feet coming back. Jack Nicklaus, Golf Digest, March 2008.

Visit our website to book online by following the above links.

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Thank You!

The Staff at The Links at Northfork

Over the past 25 years golf outings have become a staple for raising money for charitable, fraternal or non-profit organizations. Due to this success, golf outings have provided a ready source of business for most courses.

During the past 3-4 years, golf outings have decreased about 10%-15%, while the number of golfers participating in events has declined by about 20%. The general thought is that the decline in outings and golfers is largely due to the economic downturn and recession. While that may be the case, the need for fund raising remains at an all-time high.

So what is the answer? Should organizations scale back on their fund raising goals when looking at the power of golf tournaments or should they drop them all together?

The simple answer is no. Golf outings have their place and they will remain a great way to raise funds. However, when looking at funding raising options organizations need to broaden their horizons. One excellent option is a golf mini-marathon.

A golf mini-marathon would consist of 36-45 holes and would have 16-20 golfers. To begin an organization should determine their funding goal. Based on that goal the organization should set a minimum amount that each player needs to raise in pledges (golf marathon is very much like a walk- a-thon). The minimum should be set at a higher enough level to make a difference in the fund raising process and to get only the committed golfers to participate. On the other end, an incentive prize should be set for the golfer that raises the most money.

The Links at Northfork has become a premier course to hold golf mini-marathons since it has 18 holes plus a 3-hole practice loop. Organizations that choose the Links will have complete access to play 18 holes in the morning. The group will then be served a box lunch while they play 9 holes on the 3-hole practice loop. In the afternoon the group will play another 18 holes on the regular course.

What is the advantage of the golf mini-marathon v. a traditional golf outing? The biggest advantage is the fact that it only takes 16-20 players to raise significant funds vs. 70-90 players. Over the years I’ve been involved in golf mini-marathons that have raised as much as $20K net for charity, with only 16 golfers participating.

If you are interested in learning more or would like to host a Golf mini-marathon please email Mike Tozier at ower@golfthelinks.com.

If you generally break 80 don’t read this blog, however, if you don’t I’ve got a challenge for you.

Do you think you could break 80 from the forward tees or from the next set of tees up from the one’s you usually play at your favorite course (The Links at Northfork)?

One of the biggest problems with golf is that too many golfers play from a set of tees that don’t allow them to get a scoring club in their hands for their approach shots. When a golfer is constantly hitting long iron approach shots scores rise and speed of play slows down.

In an effort to make golf more fun and timely, I challenge any golfer to leave their ego at the door and “Tee It Forward”.

The concept of “Tee it Forward” has been advanced by Barney Adams and Jack Nicklaus. The concept is simple – a golfer should pick the appropriate tee box so that they will end up with an approach shot that they can reach the green with no more than 7 iron on the majority of the holes. Barney has gone as far as saying that an amateur playing a 6,500 yard course with average drive of 220 yards is the equivalent of a touring pro playing an 8,200 yard course. The pros ability to hit a drive 60-80 yards farther and hit a 7 iron 20-30 yards farther than the average amateur makes his concept very valid.

So until you break 80 on a consistent basis move up on the box. You will have more fun hitting short irons into greens, working on shots around the green and mentally getting the mindset it takes to post low scores. After you break 80, move back one set of tees (and repeat).

Remember that 90% of golfers cannot break 90 so if you can shoot 80 or lower regardless of the tee box you used, you will be scoring in the upper 2-3% of all golfers in the world.

At the Links at Northfork we want you to “Enjoy Golf”. Because of that philosophy we have five sets of tees that measure 5,400, 5,850, 6,200, 6,500 and 7,000 yards. I challenge anyone to start at the forward tees and shoot 80. Once you accomplish that goal move back one set until you shot 80 again.

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