Bethpage Black Golf Course Review – Not for the faint hearted

Bethpage Black looks set to test for the 2009 US Open

As the only genuine municipal golf facility to host the US Open, Bethpage, and its Black Course, is a unique proposition which once again comes into sharp focus for America’s 2009 national championship. Opened in 1936, the concept underpinning Bethpage was to create a public access golf complex to rival New Jersey’s Pine Valley, considered to this day the finest course in the world, and while the Black Course in particular garnered praise in the latter half of the twentieth century, it was not until Rees Jones, the preeminent architect dubbed the ‘Open Doctor’, was recruited to tweak the Black to championship standards that Bethpage was truly elevated to the global stage.

The 2002 US Open, where Tiger Woods eventually emerged from an attritional mire of tournament play as the only player under par, will be remembered for two main reasons. The first is the course, which, as a result of the Jones treatment, was a brutal examination made all the more exacting by dreadful weather. The USGA setup, a contentious topic in the past decade, rendered some fairways unreachable for the shorter hitters, although this did not stop Nick Faldo from posting a course record 66 on his way to a tie for 5th. Bethpage State Park, located in Farmingdale, central Long Island, is within an hour of Manhattan by train, and as hordes of golf fans poured through the gates from the Metropolitan area, a remarkable atmosphere generated that was eventually described by many as being the most raucous professional tournament ever played. Bethpage is exempt from the staid, exclusive cloud that hangs over many of the golf clubs on the major tournament rotations, and this perceived accessibility helped to attract an unprecedented crowd of non-traditional golfing fans who together created an atmosphere more akin to a football match than a major championship.

The state operated Bethpage boasts five courses – the Red and Green are well worth experiencing – but it is the Black which is the backbone of the legend, although its origins have been fiercely debated. Many attribute the Black Course to A.W. Tillinghast, the legendary course architect whose portfolio includes Winged Foot, Quaker Ridge and Baltusrol, but more likely is that Tillinghast acted as a consultant to the State Park’s superintendent, Joseph H. Burbeck.

From the tips Bethpage weighs in at a hefty 7,460 yards (the professionals enjoy a less than generous par of 70), and suffice to say that every visitor faces a stern test. Demanding driving throughout is exacerbated by huge fairway bunkers, plus heavy rough during tournament years, while the greens are heavily contoured. The first tee is overlooked by a sign that reads, “The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers”, and this is not understating the fact; Bethpage is a remarkable venue and its Black Course is deserving of its position as one of the world’s elite tournament layouts.

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