The golf course will be a supporting character in perhaps the most highly anticipated Ryder Cup in recent memory next week, but Bethpage Black is used to being the main attraction. Commonly known as the “People’s Country Club,” the host site of the 2025 biennial team competition represents the heart and soul of elite public golf in the United States.
One of the five courses at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York, Bethpage Black is a place where anyone and everyone can tee it up. Will all of those people have the desire to play it again, once they find out what they’ve gotten themselves into? Probably not.
If you’re into that sort of thing, the Black Course is a brutal test — one of the hardest in the world. It eats you up, spits you out and then does that all over again, whether you like it or not. There can be hundreds of yards of dry land in front of you, but there is no shot at Bethpage Black that feels completely comfortable. The course features just one water hazard, but eight acres worth of bunkers. For amateur golfers, it’s an accomplishment in itself just to get to the green.
“WARNING The Black Course is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers,” reads a sign fastened to the metal gate separating the clubhouse patio from the first tee. It’s not joking.
At the 2016 Barclays tournament, Jordan Spieth had a suggestion for an edit to the infamous posting: “(It) should say: ‘It’s a risk, even for really good players. The course I’ve played the last two days is up there with the hardest, probably top-5 courses I’ve ever played in my life.”
So, ahead of the 45th Ryder Cup, let’s break down some background info about one of the toughest venues in golf — the site of next week’s looming battle between Team Europe and Team USA.
Past professional tournaments at Bethpage
The course has hosted three majors: the 2002 U.S. Open, the 2009 U.S. Open and the 2019 PGA Championship, in addition to two PGA Tour playoff events, the 2012 and 2016 Barclays tournaments. Now the Ryder Cup comes to the legendary New York venue, and more events will return to the infamous site in the future: The 2028 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2033 PGA Championship. Bethpage’s major legacy continues.
Brooks Koepka won the 2019 PGA by three shots over Dustin Johnson at 8 under par. Only seven golfers finished at even par or better by the end of the week. Nine rounds of 80 or worse were posted at the major championship, with the course playing at 7,459 yards. In the 2002 U.S. Open, Tiger Woods, the eventual winner, was the only man under par, and at the 2009 U.S. Open, champion Lucas Glover was only joined by four other men below par. Woods won at 3 under, and Glover at 4 under.
The 2025 Ryder Cup will not be a birdie fest — that’s simply not in Bethpage Black’s DNA.
Bethpage Black will host hundreds of thousands of spectators next week for the Ryder Cup. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)The course history
The rugged public course known for its treacherous bunkering, long routing and impossibly thick rough was founded in 1936 during the throes of the Great Depression.
The expansive 1,368-acre plot of land that Bethpage Black sits on was previously owned by the heirs of a Texas railroad magnate, Benjamin Yoakum. But the Long Island State Park Commission, run by the larger-than-life New York urban planner Robert Moses, purchased it in 1931. And there was already a golf course on the property at the time: Lenox Hills Country Club.
The number of courses expanded when a Works Progress Administration project to create jobs during the Depression gave way to the construction of three more. Lenox Hills became the Green Course, open for play for $2 a day in 1932. The Red, Blue and Black opened shortly thereafter. These days, there are five courses on the property — the Yellow Course opened in 1958.
The design history of the Black Course is murky. Famed architect A.W. Tillinghast is credited with designing the course, but the longtime superintendent of Bethpage State Park, Joseph H. Burbeck, also played a significant role in creating the monster. It remains a mystery which man completed the majority of the design work, although the consensus is that Burbeck served as the primary architect and Tillinghast consulted. Burbeck’s son told Golf Digest that his mother instructed him to avoid mentioning the Tillinghast name in their house.
Rees Jones — known as “The Open Doctor” for helping courses transform into major-ready venues — came in for a restoration prior to the U.S. Open, altering a dozen holes.
Tee times can be had to play Bethpage’s five courses. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)How can I play, and what’s it like?
New York State residents can play Bethpage Black for $70 on weekdays and $80 on weekends. Out-of-state golfers pay $140 on weekdays and $160 on weekends. The rate is the easy part, though. Securing a tee time at the major venue is a sort of rite of passage process for golf sickos around the world.
Tee times become available on Bethpage Black’s website for booking seven days in advance, but they fill up almost instantly. Flexible solo golfers might get lucky by refreshing the next-day tee time the evening before their desired date to play and sneaking out for an incomplete twilight round. Last year, Kevin Van Valkenburg, now of the Fried Egg, uncovered a nefarious scheme in which internet bots were snatching up available tee times before golfers could even log on to the Bethpage Black website. The discovery led to Bethpage changing its cancellation policies and charging a new $5 reservation fee, but the updates haven’t totally solved the issue.
So if you really want to guarantee a spot at Bethpage Black, you’re going to have to set an early alarm and pack a sleeping bag and pillow.
The Bethpage starter officially takes count of the walk-up line at around 4:30 a.m., but golfers line up with their cars in the parking lot long before then to secure a spot. There are approximately 20 tee times reserved each day for walk-ons, so the earlier you arrive, the more likely you’ll get your tee time of choice.
Due to the Ryder Cup, Bethpage Black closed on August 18, but the course transitioned to walk-ups only on July 7, with no tee times after 1:30 p.m. on weekends to limit play. Golfers were lining up in their cars as early as 7 a.m. the day before.
Imagine getting pummeled by the Black Course’s dense rough, compact fairways and elevated greens while also running on minimal hours of sleep and stiff joints from makeshift mattresses. That’s exactly what die-hards line up to do at Bethpage, and if anything, they know they will remember it forever.
(Top photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
