This week is unlike anything Kelley Brooke has experienced in four decades in the golf industry.
The LPGA golf pro and businesswoman is in awe of the major transformation at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y. The world-renowned public course is hosting the 45th Ryder Cup competition between the United States and Europe, and the biennial men’s golf event is projected to have one of its largest turnouts since it was founded in 1927.
And the course has geared up for the event, with robust stadium seating and expanded concession stands, part of a multimillion-dollar investment by PGA of America.
“This is the biggest Ryder Cup, period,” Brooke, who attended the previous event in Italy two years ago, said in a phone interview. “It’s living up to be what the hype was.”
More than 250,000 fans are expected to arrive to Bethpage Black for the Ryder Cup. This is welcome news for Brooke, whose golf management company, Brooke Holdings, has Bethpage Black as one of five golf facilities in its portfolio.
“It has built credibility for me that I could never have gotten otherwise,” Brooke added. “I’m winning other golf courses as a result of the credibility and owning Bethpage concessions.”
Brooke Holdings runs the pro shop, driving range, carts and instruction classes at Bethpage, and pro shop sales have doubled since last year when golf fans started to buy Ryder Cup apparel. But there’s a catch.
While the exposure is great, Brooke won’t be sharing the profits from this week’s extravaganza. The PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe have taken over the course for the last two weeks.
The Iowa native and ex-Golf Channel personality says she made about $800,000 in gross sales during the same three weeks last year, money that’s now out of her hands since the event operators control sales on the ground.
Brooke Holdings closed the Bethpage pro shop two weeks ago as PGA of America took over and now is using that space as a dining room to serve guests. It’s similar to how the NFL operates and oversees the Super Bowl, a league event, despite it being hosted by one of the franchises every year.
“Unfortunately, for me, it does take a little bit of a chunk out of my bottom line,” Brooke, who won the Bethpage contract in 2018, said. “But I’m not complaining, because I’m getting it on the shoulders. I’ve been getting it for a year and a half, with people coming to see the park and buying my merchandise. And I’m hoping deep into next year people will still have the Ryder Cup fever.”
Brooke isn’t sweating the temporary loss, because she believes she’ll make up for it at her other courses, including Harbor Links Golf Course in North Hempstead, N.Y. That publicly owned club on Long Island is reaping the ancillary benefits of the tens of thousands of fans who are arriving in New York City for the event as they seek to play golf nearby. Harbor Links has been sold out for almost two months as a result, Brooke said.
While her company’s operations are on hold for the duration of the Ryder Cup, she is poised to reap some of the upgrade benefits of the PGA of America’s investment into the club. This includes new flooring, roof shingles, ceilings and bathrooms.
It’s the first time in 30 years that the event has been held in New York. And while some fans have been upset about high ticket prices, with prices running over $1,000 a piece on the secondary market, it’s one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year.
Brooke hopes it will spur more fan interest, which has seen a surge of younger and female golfers since the post-pandemic boost. Those fans will have more chances to see big events—and perhaps stop by her pro shop—in the next few years, as Bethpage was recently selected to be the host of KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2028, and the men’s PGA Championship will be played there in 2033.
