Golf In New York City Blog

A United States Open Golf Course You Can Play

It is frigid outside and I am dreaming of playing a round on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park. This Golf Course will host the 2009 United States Open! Information on how you can play Bethpage Black!

In 2002, it was called the People’s Open. A U.S. Open that was played on a daily fee - affordable golf course. Bethpage Black is located just over an hour from Manhattan. It would remind you of hundreds of other municipal courses. Only walkers are permitted. Reservations can be made only a few days in advance through a telephone computer system.

Full Circle Sports of New York is a Golf Caddie Service that offers caddies at the Bethpage Black Golf Course. I strongly recommend a caddy for this golf course. Again, this golf course is walking only. A caddy can make your round much more enjoyable.

The caddy service is available every day the Black Course is open whether for public play or outings. The best way to obtain service is by reservation. This assures you of having professional golf caddie service for your round.

In order to play the Black Course you must obtain a Tee Time reservation. You can call 516-249-0700. The automated reservation line opens at 7pm nightly for a seven day advance reservation on the Black ( for NYS residents).

Or you can call any time to try to get someone’s cancellation for the next day.

After you have your tee time reservation call Full Circle Sports of New York at 1-877-465-3171 and make arrangements for your Caddy.

BLACK COURSE INFORMATION
Bethpage Black sports a course rating of 76.6 from the championship tees and a slope rating of 148. Probably this is why a warning sign posted on the first tee is not a joke. It reads, “Warning: The Black course is an extremely difficult course, which is recommended only for the highly skilled golfer.”

In the early 30s, the renowned architect A.W. Tillinghast was commissioned to design three courses at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, including Bethpage Black. By 1958, the fifth course at Bethpage was complete making it the largest public golfing facility in the world. The Black course is perhaps the most challenging of the famed Tillinghast, whose other designs include Winged Foot, Baltusrol and Quaker Ridge. Each hole is set apart from the others often surrounded by tall trees and dramatic bunkers. Playing at 7,295 yards, there are 10 par-4s more than 400 yards in length. There are no tricks on this course, just a succession of pure, unrelenting holes. There is water on just one hole, the eighth, a 220-yard downhill par-3, which has a greenside pond. Perhaps the most difficult par-3 is the 17th measuring 213 yards into an elevated green surrounded by deep bunkers and protected in the back by a dense group of trees. Among the many changes was the once benign 18th, now 40 yards longer as a 420-yard par-4 where the traps were enlarged and the green reduced almost in half.

“A lot of the bunkers were pretty far from the greens,” Jones said. “We wanted to bring those bunkers up to the putting surface, with swept faces - like at Winged Foot.” Jones, also known as the “Open Doctor” volunteered his services in the installation of new tees, traps and hazards, the expansion of some greens and an overall lengthening of the course. Tom Nieporte, the former Head Golf Professional at Winged Foot thinks the pros are in for a real treat at Bethpage. “I’m excited about the Open coming to Bethpage. I’ve played it many times.” Perhaps the tremendous amount of interest in Bethpage is because it is truly a public golf course hosting a world class event. “This is a public course that brings the public player into the major tournament of the year. They can play the same course as the best players in the game at a reasonable fee,” said Jones.

Being a public facility, Bethpage Black never had the leadership or motivation for change until a few years ago. The course was essentially the same as it was when it first opened in 1936. The only change to the original Tillinghast design had come from deterioration or lack of care. The bunkers have eroded and the tees needed to be redone. These problems, along with the burden of 300,000 rounds a year (on five golf courses) lead to a run down facility. After years of petitioning by Governor George Pataki and various other golf organizations, Bethpage Black was selected for the 2002 event. Eventually, Rees Jones was hired for the $2.7 million dollar restoration and work began in 1997 pledging to create a world-renowned course.

Why hasn’t the USGA used this marvelous facility before for an U.S. Open? With more than 48,000 rounds a year, which is what the Black course handles, it is impossible to maintain it at U.S. Open standards. It has taken great vision and cooperation between the USGA and New York State’s Department of Parks and Recreation to make this U.S. Open possible. David Fay, the Executive Director of the USGA, has always wanted to hold the Open on a pure public site. “Long after that Open leaves town,” said Jones, “that course will belong to the people of Long Island again.”