Bethpage Background Information

[BCGolf]

Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, will host the 2009 U.S. Open Golf Championship.

Prior to the 2002 Open at Bethpage Black, all U.S. Opens had been staged at private golf or country clubs or at privately owned resorts that, while open to the public, were very expensive for the public to play, with greens fees of several hundred dollars per round.

In 2002 he USGA's choice of Bethpage was seen as an egalitarian move. Bethpage Black's weekend price for 18 holes is $60 for New York State residents, and $120 for non-residents.

Tiger Woods won the 2002 Open at Bethpage and was the only player to shoot under par.

Bethpage Black is located just over an hour from Manhattan. It is one of the most difficult courses that the Open has ever been played on – 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.

Reese Jones, known as the “Open Doctor” volunteered his services before the 2002 Open and installed new tees, traps and hazards. He oversaw the expansion of some greens and an overall lengthening of the course. 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," Reese Jones said. "We wanted to bring those bunkers up to the putting surface, with swept faces - like at Winged Foot."

Perhaps the tremendous amount of interest in Bethpage is because it is truly a public golf course hosting a 2nd 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.

"Long after that Open leaves town," said Jones, "that course will belong to the people of Long Island again." The Open Championship at the Black Course at Bethpage State Park will truly belong to the people now and in the future.