The incredible rags to riches story of Bethpage Black continues at light speed. The once shabby, shoddy, ill-kept state-run public links has risen like a vengeful phoenix to become a part of America’s informal major golf championship rotation, if one can be said to exist.
First, the Black hosted two U.S. Opens (2002 and 2009, the former won by Tiger Woods, the latter by Lucas Glover), then the 2019 PGA Championship (won by 5-time major champion Brooks Koepka). And it was announced last week that the PGA Championship returns to the Black Course in 2033.
One huge reason is the Black’s architectural pedigree. A.W. Tillinghast is a titan of golf course design, spoken of in the same conversation as Alister Mackenzie, Charles Blair (C.B.) Macdonald, and Donald Ross as one of the founding fathers of the craft of golf course building in America. Tillie’s other greatest hits include such indisputable masterpieces as Winged Foot (both courses), San Francisco Golf Club, Baltusrol (both courses), Quaker Ridge, and Baltimore Country Club, all of which are private clubs and notoriously hard to access for ordinary golfers. Indeed, Bethpage is his only public-access course of similar caliber.
But for this week, Bethpage Black hosts the Ryder Cup, a team match play event, as opposed to a 72-hole stroke-play tourney. And while the Black proves a formidable test under stroke-play conditions, how will the drama play out over the swings of fortune of match play? And how much of a home-course advantage will the Americans have over their rivals from across the pond, if any?
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For 14 years, the Black was my home course; when you live in the same town as Spider-Man and Paul Simon, it’s just a 15-minute jaunt down the Grand Central Parkway to Bethpage State Park, so you play it as often as possible. And once you embrace the Black as your own, you learn every blade of grass. You steel yourself for brutish length and enormous inkblot-shaped bunkers. You remember there are six flat greens, six mildly sloped greens, and six wild greens with significant movement, including the sheer unadulterated terror of the rollercoaster 15th. And you prepare yourself for an all-hands-on-deck, five-alarm fire of an afternoon, from first tee shot through final putt, because unexploded triple bogeys (or worse) lay in wait everywhere.
Nevertheless, I’ve never imagined the Black to be much of a match-play course with so many long par 4s, only two par 5s, and more penal bunkering than strategic. But Rees Jones, the celebrated golf architect who renovated A.W. Tillinghast’s design in prep for both the ’02 and ’09 Opens (and who, along with former USGA President Mike Davis, rescued the golf course form the scrap heap of history), also knows every blade of grass at the Black because he planted all of them. And Rees thinks that the Black will prove a most dramatic Ryder Cup venue, and not just because of the American fans being ready to support their side full-throatedly.
“Bethpage Black has an ebb and flow to the golf course. Moreover, it does not favor any one type of player,” Jones explained, hinting that both Tillinghasts’s design and PGA of America course setup maven Kerry Haigh’s course prep will not exclusively favor bomb-and-gouge golf.
Jones finished: “It will not be set up for the big hitters except for 9-13 and 15. And the finish is equal opportunity for everyone,” and he’s right. Moreover, the incomparable pressure the Ryder Cup generates on every shot leads to the world’s best players making some of the most uncertain and ungainly swings, with correspondingly horrific golf shots as a result, usually at the worst possible time.
Still, there is a game plan to follow for a successful round on the Black. As Jones says, follow the ebb and flow, and, should you properly plan and execute, you too can tame the Black, at least for one round. After all, Brooks Koepka posted scores of 63-65 to open his successful PGA Championship title defense here, still to this day a record for lowest opening 36 holes of a major. In the right conditions, Bethpage can be made to yield. Here’s how to break down the infamous Black Course.
Holes 1-3
The first hole is an anomaly as its dictatorial 90-degree dogleg (around a stand of trees) is in stark contrast with the rest of the course. Will some players try to carry the trees? Is it worth the risk? As James Bond creator Ian Fleming wrote in Goldfinger, “It’s always too early to start losing.”
The second hole has always been a personal favorite. Curving like a scimitar and rising majestically uphill through the tall trees, the par-4 second is the genesis of the most interesting stretch of holes architecturally. Set at a diagonal angle and doglegging in an awkward place, No. 2 is a tough fairway to hit with no end of trouble for wayward drives.
Moreover, both holes 1 and 2 measure 400 yards or less. And while the par-3 3rd the longest on the course, can stretch to 245 yards, the Ryder Cup tee is expected to be placed around 210 yards each day.
“The first four holes look to be a birdie fest,” added Jones. “But it gets meaty after that.”
Goal: Play smart, careful golf. Length is not needed for birdies. Be at least at level par, possibly 1 under if you can.
Holes 4-6
Almost universally the most interesting and photogenic stretch of the golf course, the risk-reward par-5 fourth followed by the heroic, long par-4 fifth are two of the best back-to-back holes on the planet. The thrilling downhill approach to the sixth to its circular green surrounded by Rees’s inkblot bunkers is also a highlight of a golfer’s round. While No. 4 and potentially No. 6, with a wedge second shot for the longer hitters, should yield birdies, the 474-yard fifth is another matter. The tee shot is everything on five; getting yourself blocked out by the trees is the cardinal sin to avoid at all costs.
GOAL: 1 under is fine for these three holes.
Holes 7-9
“Seven through 12 are muscular holes,” Jones advised. “The longest run of holes on the Black, they can be set up for challenging pars.”
The only water hazard on the course appears at the par-3 eighth, and with the front of the green shaved down, front hole locations will lead to hero or zero shots. It proves a popular place to watch the golf, as do the fourth, fifth, and sixth greens.
Goal: Survival Mode has begun. Minimize mistakes and capitalize on the opponent’s. Again, 1 under is the target.
Holes 10-14
On any other golf course, except perhaps Royal Lytham in northwest England, the 1-2 combo of 10 and 11 would be the hardest back-to-back holes. But at the Black, Nos. 15 and 16 say, “Hold my beer!” Still both these par 4s are burly, brawny, and brutish. No. 10 is 502 yards, and No. 11 is a tough 435, with deep bunkers everywhere. Playing between massive shaggy dunes, tee shots must find the fairway or double bogey or worse are easily in play.
The 12th provides no relief at 496 yards and the 609-yard par-5 13th completes the Juggernaut Run of Bethpage Black. The par-3 14th is a lollipop, so don’t screw it up.
Goal: Play this stretch level par, and you’re smiling.
Holes 15-18
The 15th, with its four-club uphill approach and treacherous fall-offs on three sides will be, perhaps the most entertaining hole of the tournament. Arrive early if you want a seat for all the action, as those seats will be occupied fast.
“The 15th is such a hard hole that it will undoubtedly be the determining factor in any match that’s not a blowout,” Jones stated firmly. “The green speed is really quick, the fairway rough is 2.5 inches and the greenside rough is approximately 3.5 inches.” [Note: Anticipate stimp speeds of 14 on all greens with the possible exception of the 15th.]
According to Jones, the rest of the round is egalitarian: Just keep your tee shot left of the fairway on 16 for the best angle into the green on that downhill par 4, and then play to the safer, right side of the green on 17 for the best shot at a flat birdie putt.
Goal: 1 under for these holes. That’s a round of 4-under 66 overall, something I think every golfer in the field would take all five sessions. Now just execute.
“Finally, the USA will have the advantage because of the crowd and because of Keegan Bradley,” Jones stated. “Keegan played his college golf here at St. John’s, so he knows all the nuances of the course. He knows it like a local. And as for the locals, the fans, they will party harder than at most Ryder Cups, it is NYC after all, and they are boisterous,” Jones beamed, laughing at the recollection of his beloved New York fans. “Yes, the expensive tickets will mean some more genteel fans will be there too, but the crowd will help buoy the players all weekend long.”
Prediction: USA – 15, Europe- 13
