Adventures in Golf – Bethpage Black

A Gators fan asked UteHub prior to the Florida game about where to golf in Utah, and based on responses it seems like there’s quite a few folks here who like to play. The stars aligned for me yesterday and I got to play Bethpage Black, and I thought I’d share. Tony, I apologize if this should be posted elsewhere but I didn’t quite know where to put it.

Before I get into The Black, please feel free to share your favorite courses. I travel a lot and I always like to play new places. Also, if you’ve played The Black too, please share! I’d love to hear what you thought.

Anyhoo, onto Bethpage Black:

The Good – the course is everything you’d expect from a place that has hosted multiple majors and is about to host the Ryder Cup. Immaculate fairways and greens, even after a full season of play. And that’s not just The Black; the other four courses there all looked spectacular too. The Park in general is just a great place to play; there’s no houses, buildings, or structures to take away the feeling that golf can and should be an escape from urban congestion (if you can’t tell, I HATE courses that have houses built ten feet off the fairway). The difficulty is apparent but also, dare I say, more legend than reality. Yes, there are some ridiculously challenging tee shots and the whole course is brutally punishing from the rough, but otherwise the difficulty can be described as simply “tough but fair,” though if I’m being perfectly honest, it’s one of only two courses I’ve ever played where absolutely no one – not even the biggest braggarts – dared challenge the tips, and I think that says a lot. Also, I was extremely fortunate weather-wise; perfectly sunny but cool, and not a breath of wind. The greens are especially fair; no insane undulations or pin positions. Overall, I don’t think I stopped smiling once during the entire round. One more thing – at $140, the greens fees are a downright bargain, if not a steal. I’d honestly expect to play triple that for a course of this quality.

The tolerable – the course lacked a bit of variety in some spots. Purists will probably kill me for this but there were two times on the course where I felt like I was playing a hole I had already played all over again. Also – and I think this is related to the legendary difficulty of the course and the idea that The Black is a true mental and physical endurance test of golf – but the walking only policy is a bit silly. Especially given that you are perfectly free to ride on any of the other four Bethpage courses.

The less good – services are non-existent on the course. Whatever you will need in terms of food and (especially) drink better be in your bag when you tee off at 1 because you won’t be back for 5 hours. This is especially annoying since you are required to walk. Even water fountains are scarce. The turn does not find you back at the clubhouse and there is no halfway house (even though there definitely is room for one between 9 and 10). Oddly, the only food on the course is a snack shack between 5 and 6, which you never return to unless you want to stop for a snack smack in the middle of playing 13.

The Bad – the tee time reservation policy is just silly. NY residents can book seven days in advance; everyone else gets five days. This means that unless you are a resident, chances are remote that you can find a tee time during peak season unless you want to start your round on a Wednesday 3 hours before the sun goes down. And yes, you have to prove to the system that you are a NY resident in order to register as one. Also, they check your ID at check in and the starter checks it again at the first tee (to make sure you didn’t buy someone else’s tee time). The only other way to get on is to sleep in the parking lot overnight (yes, you read that right); the course leaves a few slots open everyday for dedicated (desperate?) golfers who are willing to do that.

Overall – an incredible experience that I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to do. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who loves golf. Just ignore the sign on the first tee that warns you that The Black is for expert golfers only. I’m a high handicapper and, while the difficulty always meant that I wasn’t going to have my best day scoring, it wasn’t so hard that I couldn’t have a blast. And I definitely did.

I’m going to Missouri for Thanksgiving and hoping to play a few rounds at Big Cedar (definitely Ozarks and probably Payne’s Valley); if people dig this thread I’ll do another one for that.

Thanks y’all; hit ‘em straight!