There are five 18-hole courses within Bethpage State Park: the Black, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow.
In order of difficulty they go in that order with the Black course the best known having held two US Opens, a PGA Championship and two Barclays.
Here one of the cleverest and most daunting signs in golf hangs behind the 1st tee.
‘WARNING. The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers.’
This helped hugely in the marketing of the 2002 US Open and then Tiger Woods won it with the only score in red figures, three clear of Phil Mickelson on level par. Also in the top 10 were Sergio Garcia, Nick Faldo, Padraig Harrington and Nick Price.
It was coined ‘The People’s Open’ as it was the first US Open to be staged on a true public course, books were written on Bethpage and the brute of a course, which was designed by Joseph Burbeck and assisted by the legendary AW Tillinghast, was on every golfer’s radar.
Hundreds of thousands will play across the five courses every year and golfers will think nothing of spending the night in the car park to secure a tee time.
To play here you will likely be very surprised by the green fees. Remember this is a public facility and run by New York State Parks. There is a subsidised green fee for residents of the state but visitors can also, if they can get on here, play here without breaking the bank.
Out of state
Weekdays: $140, twilight $88
Weekends: $160, twilight $100
New York state residents
Weekdays: $70, twilight $44
Weekends: $80, twilight $50
Seniors and juniors: $47, twilight $30
Compare this to the last few venues to stage a Ryder Cup on American soil. Whistling Straits, home to the 2021 matches, would cost around $700+ for 18 holes plus an additional fee of $85 for a caddy.
Hazeltine, the 2016 venue, doesn’t publish green fees and you would need to be a guest of a member while Medinah is also an invitation-only club.
For the Red Course at Bethpage 18 holes will set you back $90/100 if you aren’t a resident or $55/60 for a twilight round.
Then there is some incredible value (almost whatever level the courses are at) as 18 holes on the Green, Blue and Yellow is $38/43.
The sign has almost become a bit of a gimmick as nobody is going to be put off by playing a US Open course for $140 but it does rank in the top 10 of America’s toughest courses.
The most recent Major, the 2019 PGA Championship, is our most vivid memory of Bethpage Black and there we had narrow fairways, deep, thick rough, plateaued greens and several cavernous bunkers.
There, four players finished in red figures as Brooks Koepka held off Dustin Johnson.
Expect a scorecard of 7,459 yards but with a par of 70. There are only two par 5s, not that it matters in matchplay, and three of the four short holes measure over 200 yards.
Otherwise there are an abundance of tough par 4s which may or not be stiffened up by the traditional club-tangling rough.
You would expect, given this is the game’s showcase, that the rough would at least be less penal than usual.
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Article Link: How much does it cost to play at Bethpage Black? Not as much as you think!