Long Beach, NY Outdoor Activities

A Class-A PGA professional with more than 25 years of experience, Rick Nielsen applies his time-earned expertise to help golfers shave strokes during lessons at Randalls Island Golf Center, where he's been the head pro since 1998. Rick employs the latest technologies to aid in instruction, including The Golfing Machine system⎯which takes a geometric approach to swing mechanics⎯as well as digital-video analysis and FlightScope 3-D doppler radar launch monitor. These sensitive instruments measure each shot on a number of parameters, from club-head speed and launch angle to total distance and nougat ratio of the ball’s core. Meanwhile, Rick observes and isolates specific areas in need of improvement so that players can develop muscle memory and consistently repeat a successful swing motion. Ultimately, with Rick's pointers, players leave lessons equipped with the tools to reach their full potential on the course without temptation to modify their 9-iron into a bedazzled baton.

PacPlex dedicates its sprawling 200,000-square-foot facilities to sports, recreation, health, and education. At PacPlex, patrons can whip into shape in a TV-studded cardio-equipment area, on myriad weight machines, and throughout a schedule of fitness classes. The instructors lead kettlebell courses, Pilates core-strengthening workouts, and pool-aquatics classes, which help guests perfect their sea otter mating calls. Visitors flock to the vast grounds to work their bodies on racquetball courts, basketball courts, and an 18,000-square-foot indoor soccer field. At the two indoor and four outdoor swimming pools, guests can take a leisurely swim, play with water toys, and shoot down waterslides, or work on sculpting a chiseled bod by swimming laps.

Kids can take swimming lessons, and, for those who discover a hidden set of gills behind their ears, the staff also runs a junior swim league. When they're not splashing in the pool, kids can make new imaginary friends in preschool and daycare programs.

New York magazine reviewed New York Golf Center and named it a Critics' Pick.

Timothy Haskell is no stranger to scaring folks: The Daily Beast considers his Nightmare series "one of the most frightening haunted-house productions in New York City." But when he teamed up with haunted-house vet Steve Kopelman, Timothy didn't want to keep populating creepy corridors with imaginary ghouls. At Nightmare: Killers, the duo tap into the true terror inspired by historical and contemporary serial killers to explore the monstrosity of their actions and the celebrity and cultural obsession surrounding them. The New York Times lauds the attraction as “a taut, assured production that knows exactly what it wants to do (scare the hell out of you) and performs its task with ruthless, coldblooded precision."

In the lobby, a gallery of artwork, memorabilia, and items from or about famous serial killers primes guests on the haunted attraction's theme and provides a glimpse into the warped minds of the killers in question. At the front of the line, personnel can mark any willing visitor’s forehead with an optional scarlet X, which will grant the actors permission to interact with those victims for the next petrifying 20–25 minutes. Inside the haunt, rooms depict scenes based on Ted Bundy and the Zodiac killer, with the occasional cameo from pop culture’s most fearsome fictional figures. To heighten heart rates even more, visitors will also have to navigate twists and turns, fog, and uneven footing as they desperately try to avoid becoming each psychopath’s latest victim.

Rugged Maniac 5K Obstacle Race sends runners into an obstacle-filled odyssey of muddy endurance. The 5-kilometer course meanders through more than 20 obstacles, with participants undertaking such punishing feats as scaling 16- to 20-foot walls, crawling through mud-filled trenches, and preventing swinging tires from reforming into the Michelin Man. Waves of no more than 350 runners start every 15 minutes, keeping the track from developing human traffic jams. After the race, live music and cold beer invite triumphant runners to unwind. Those with excess energy can head over to even more kinetic activities such as mechanical bull riding, tug-of-war, and adult-sized bounce houses.

Climbers of all ages and skill levels scamper across roughly 22,000 square feet of climbable space inside Brooklyn Boulders's rock-climbing gym. A dedicated route-setting staff organizes color-coded problems on craggy, angled top-rope walls as well as bouldering walls that reach up to 15 feet, on which climbers scramble as nimbly as mountain goats or fall from safely onto 12-inch pads. To help visitors master these walls, seasoned instructors train them in three basic types of climbing: bouldering, top-rope climbing, or lead climbing—and also test them for a mandatory lead-climbing certification. They teach these skills through classes such as the peak-performance program, which combines seven courses in lead climbing, bouldering, and cross-training to accelerate students' learning. To ease stressed muscles and promote calm reflection, staffers also lead all-ages yoga lessons and monthly yoga workshops.

Brooklyn Boulders also injects creativity into its special events, which encourage visitors to climb in costume around Halloween and take part in competitions during which they pretend the floor has turned to lava. Staffers also invite local graffiti artists to display their murals inside, work to preserve regional climbing areas by partnering with Access Fund, and coordinate programs through its BKB Foundation—a nonprofit that introduces rock climbing to kids and adults.