Golfers who use the driving range at Mosholu Golf Course will have to practice their swings elsewhere for the foreseeable future.

Despite promises by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that the golf course and temporary driving range would remain open during construction of the Croton water filtration plant, the driving range is now closed to the public.

A sign posted at the golf course indicates that golf balls were flying into the filtration plant construction site, despite a 75-foot mesh fence between the golf course and the construction site.  

"It seems to me if they can protect our water supply from terrorists, they can protect their heads from golf balls," said Jane Sokolow, a board member of Friends of Van Cortlandt Park. "If you look at Chelsea Piers, they have a very high net for the driving range, so I don’t know why they can’t do that here."

First Tee, the youth golf organization that runs the golf course for the city parks department, said its board decided to limit access to the driving range because of safety and liability issues. The workers at the filtration recently moved closer to the end of the site that adjoins the driving range, said First Tee Director Barry McLaughlin.

First Tee is still using the driving range for its summer youth camps, and McLaughlin said adults who are taking a training class are also permitted to use the range.

"The only thing we’ve had to suspend is the [unsupervised] hitting of range balls as a warmup or in practice," he said.

According to McLaughlin, his organization is looking for a solution to open it back up, but couldn’t give a timeline.

"If we can come up with a resolution, we will do it," he said. "And we need DEP to help fund it."

Several calls to the DEP requesting comment were not returned. Because of several setbacks, the filtration plant is not expected to be completed until 2012.

In a "Statement of Findings," then-DEP Commissioner Chris Ward in the Environmental Impact Statement for the Project, said that the driving range, which was originally closer to Jerome Avenue, and golf course "would be replaced on a temporary basis during construction and on a permanent basis after construction."   

Sokolow was disappointed that there were no public hearings or meetings with the community to discuss how to solve the problem without closing down that portion of the golf course.

"They said they’d keep things open, that it wouldn’t impact on the golfers," she said. "It’s incredible that it’s shut down."