The towering grandstands surrounding Bethpage Black’s signature stretch of holes from No. 15 to 18 will be merely a memory by the time the first public golfers tee off Monday morning. That’s when the Black Course is schedule to re-open for daily-fee play despite the beating it took during U.S. Open week.
"Honestly, it’ll be all right," Superintendent of the Bethpage State Park golf course Craig Currier told New Jersey’s Star-Ledger. “We’re going to mow, we’ll put some holes in the green to get some air in them. Just give them a break for the week and keep the rollers off of them. Just let them dry out.”
I can attest that the course itself was still in fantastic shape as of Monday afternoon, but the areas outside of the ropes were another story. The spots that saw heavy foot traffic looked more like cow pastures and mud pits than well-conditioned golf course grounds.
"Obviously, I think outside the ropes is worse than it was in 2002," Currier said. "There are a lot of bad areas. But we weren't wet leading up to '02, like this week. And we really only had that Friday where it got beat up. It looks worse than it is. But I'm not too worried about it."
Originally, the Black Course was slated to re-open on Saturday, June 27 according to a release from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
The Black Course will now return to its traditional operating schedule, which follows the normal one per month tee reservation restriction. Prior to the U.S. Open, from April 11 until May 31, players were granted one tee time per customer to accommodate increased demand.
If you’re unfamiliar with the policy for acquiring tee times at Bethpage Black, here is a brief summary:
On any given day, the first hour of tee times are reserved for walk-up golfers (24) players. Thereafter, access to the Black Course will be limited to telephone reservations (96 players). Additional walk-up times may become available throughout the day if either a reservationist no shows or a canceled tee time has not been reserved.
At a random time each night, a supervisor will distribute numbered bracelets to patrons parked in the designated, numbered parking spaces located in our overflow parking lot. The bracelet will be issued to one person in each car. The vehicle or parking spot must be continually occupied. A one hour break is permitted; however, the parking space must continue to be occupied. If a vehicle is not occupied for more than one hour, the patron(s) will be asked to move to the end of the line.
The patron who was initially issued the bracelet must be present the following morning when bakery tickets are issued. At that time all individuals in each car will receive bracelets and bakery tickets. At no time will more than four bakery tickets or bracelets be issued per vehicle. This process will be followed for golfers in the first twenty cars. Thereafter, only bakery tickets will be issued.
Reservation holders and their fellow players will be braceleted at the cashier station. All patrons, whether playing on a reservation or as walk-up golfers, when registering with the starter must present an intact bracelet, and the bracelet must remain intact until the starter removes it just prior to play. It is essential for all golfers to recognize that if a determination is made by park staff that any bracelet has been tampered with, the player will forfeit his/her right to play the golf course that day.
In the case of reservation holders, if the bracelet of any member of the group has been tampered with, then the entire group will be disqualified from playing the course that day. Furthermore, neither rain checks nor refunds will be issued as a result of procedural violations.
Patrons who have a reservation on the Black Course are required to register with the cashier one hour prior to their tee time. Golfers who have purchased green fee tickets for the Black Course are required to check in with the starter at least twenty minutes prior to their tee time. Failure to follow these procedures will result in forfeiture of your tee time and will count as your one round of play during this restricted play period.
Both the Black and Red courses at Bethpage (there are five courses overall) have resident and non-resident rates. They are:
Black Course
Weekday Resident: $50
Weekday Non-Resident: $100
Weekend Resident: $60
Weekend Non-Resident: $120
Red Course
Weekday Resident: $41
Weekday Non-Resident: $82
Weekend Resident: $46
Weekend Non-Resident: $92
Prior to the USGA injecting millions into the Black Course so it could be upgraded to U.S. Open standards, the Red Course was the most popular layout at Bethpage State Park, while the poor conditions at the Black pushed the two-time national champioship venue to the bottom of the list.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation estimates that approximately 300,000 rounds are played annually on the five courses at Bethpage, all of which start from the Clubhouse area.
If you've ever wanted to test your golf game against a course set up for a U.S. Open, grab a few of your friends and spend a night sleeping in your car, because challenging the Black Course over the next few weeks is probably as close as you'll ever come.
For those lucky enough to score a tee time at the Black, rememeber that it will be nearly impossible to duplicate any of the shots you witnessed during last week's tournament.
"It's a brutal golf course," Currier said. "It's unfortunate that guys are out here and hitting it out of the rough and knocking it to a few feet. I mean, that doesn't happen a lot here."