Bethpage Black: For U.S. Open titlists and weekend hackers

June 23, 2009

One of the unique connections between PGA Tour players and their fans is that they can share golf course experiences — sort of. Recreation league basketball players don’t play pick-up games in the Staples Center in Los Angeles or Madison Square Garden in New York. And you can’t meet friends for a Sunday morning flag football game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

But you can play golf at Bethpage State Park in New York. Its five layouts, including the Black Course, are open to the general public, and the Black Course is the same course where Lucas Glover just won the U.S. Open.

It was the second time in eight years, the 7,400-yard par 70 layout about 30 miles east of New York City in Farmingdale, New York, was host to the country’s national championship. The Black Course is among the longest and most difficult layouts used in the U.S. Open rotation.

It’s not often a golf course is deemed so difficult that its pending players are warned. On the first tee of the Black Course, a sign reads: “Warning. The Black Course is an extremely difficult course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers.” While certainly the course has been “tweaked” in accordance with United States Golf Association (USGA) specifications, it’s the same course where the public can play weekdays and weekends with green fees (no carts) ranging from $50 to $120.

Designed by golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast, the Black Course was opened in 1936. It first served as the site of the 102nd U.S. Open Championship in 2002, and it was the first time the USGA began to include public courses into the U.S. Open rotation. Previously the U.S. Open featured exclusive country clubs like Shinnecock Hills, Oakmont, Congressional and Merion.

Last year in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines (another public course) in San Diego, California, Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate competed for 91 holes before Woods prevailed in what is now considered one of the greatest rounds of golf ever televised.

Next year the U.S. Open will be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Chambers Bay, just outside of Tacoma, Washington, will be the site of the 2015 U.S. Open and Erin Hill in Wisconsin is expected to be selected as a U.S. Open host course within the next decade. All are open to the public.

The Black Course at Bethpage (there are also the red, green, blue and yellow courses), like other U.S. Open courses, features narrow fairways, high rough and well-placed bunkers. And just like other U.S. Open courses, the winner rarely accumulates a regulation total score better than a few under par.

What separates Bethpage from other U.S. Open courses by most accounts is the architect’s vision of what bunkers represent. Players who hit shots into the large, nearly omnipresent bunkers will likely be penalized. Some of the bunkers are located only 10 yards from the fringes of greens and only 20 yards from the hole.

That equation makes for difficult shots for amateurs and pros alike. And as such, it gives pros and amateurs something else to potentially share. If the opportunity arises maybe they can commiserate.

Posted in Global Golf News, PGA Tour