Bethpage Black Baby!

[jvincent]

So, I've got a meeting next week out on Long Island with a company whose office is just around the corner from Bethpage State Park.

I mention to the wife that it would be cool if I could stay an extra day and try to get onto the Black. She says go for it.

I exchange some emails with a guy on the GEA forums and bingo, he's going to get a tee time for next Friday and we're playing.

Yesssssss!!!!!

I am so going to get my ass kicked playing with rental clubs, on April 13 (my second round of the year), on arguably one of the toughest US Open courses in recent memory. But I don't really care.

I'll try to take pictures.

[MusicMan]

Awesome J! take some high res desktop pictures for me

[Ginker]

Very nice... We always talk about going down and never do it.. Should be a great time, enjoy yourself.

[Timothy.Reeve]

Excellent decision. I only hope that Friday the 13th doesn't live up to its reputation.
Cheers,
Tim

[mcgoo]

Why not take your clubs. I'll lend you a golf travel bag.

[jvincent]

Thanks. I've got a travel bag. For just the one round I'm not going to go through the hassle. Plus we're going straight to a meeting on Thursday so waiting for my clubs, carting them around, etc. isn't going to fly with the others I'm travelling with.

[langille5]

Great course. Looking forward to the pictures.

[jeffc]

bring your shoes, glove, tees, balls, etc. so you don't have to buy all them...

[Kilroy]

Bethpage on Friday the 13th. Sounds perfect! Enjoy!

[jvincent]

bring your shoes, glove, tees, balls, etc. so you don't have to buy all them...

That's the plan. I'm going to have the weirdest carry-on for a business trip.

[jvincent]

OK gents, I am back. Here's the report.

First off, I was EXTREMELY lucky with the weather. I flew out on Thursday AM and got to NY over 90 minutes late because of snow here and torrential rain in NY. It rained all day in NY. They actually broke some single day rainfall records depending on where you were. Most places had more than 1.5" and some almost 2".

The good news is that it stopped at about 4PM on Thursday and the forecast was for no rain on Friday. Yeah! My contact at managed to get us a secured tee time for 10AM, which was pretty much perfect.

Let me start by saying that anybody considering a trip to play Bethpage Black should take the message on this sign seriously.



Weather for Friday was about 7C at tee-off time and got as high as maybe 9C. That wasn't too bad, but the kicker was the wind. According to the news they were steady between 20KM/H and 40 KM/H with gusts to 50KM/H. It was really, really windy.

Given those conditions, masochist that I am, I decided to play the blue tees. "Official" yardage from the Blues is 7297 (76.6 rating, 148 slope) but they had most of them up a bit so I would say it was playing just over 7000 but there was no roll in the fairways because of the rain. The good thing was that there were no puddles or standing water at all.

The Black course is a "classic" design. It's very nice to look at in that off the tee there are no "tricks" or blind shots. Obviously from the back you need to be able to hit it far but being able to shape your drive is also beneficial. My natural draw helped my out on several holes. That being said it's relatively easy off the tee at this time of year because the rough is down but you need to be in the right part of the fairway to give yourself a good shot at the green. They also don't have the fairways at US Open width either.

Where the Black gets you, aside from the length, is on your approaches into the green. The greens are relatively small and VERY well bunkered. You'll see when you look at the pictures. I managed to play out of the sand on 10 of 18 holes. The greens themselves are no picnic either. While not overly contoured, they have their share of slopes and in the summer they are apparently very fast according to my local guide.

Since you are all wondering, I shot what I consider a very solid 93 considering the conditions and where I played from. Given the conditions, the Blues was not the right tee box, but I figured what the hell, I had a good time anyway. I actually had more trouble around the greens (37 putts) and in the sand because of the bumpy greens and generally rusty short game than anything else. Tee to green was pretty solid. Lots of long irons and a few fairway woods into par 4s.

For out of state people the Black costs $104 US on weekdays. I think it was $125 for weekends. The other courses are cheaper, with the Red being the next best.

If anyone here is considering doing the drive and waiting to play, April or early May on weekdays are apparently pretty easy to get tee times since the weather is often too "cold" for most of the natives. When we were there they had plenty of free tee-times showing on the computer monitors at the check-in. They have a pretty good system of assigning tee-times for the five courses with each course having a monitor showing the next few hours of available times for foursomes/threesomes/etc.

I have attached the link to my web album with photos. I tried to take a picture of each green as seen from the fairway plus any interesting tee shots. They are in sequence after the first couple of pictures. Unfortunately is was so cold that my brand new camera batteries gave it up after the 16th green because of the cold. . I managed to get a look back down 18 before I teed off so I'm only missing 17, which is unfortunate because it is one of the more wickedly bunkered holes.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jevincentjr/Bethpage

I'll single out one hole for you to consider. Remember the long par 4 12th (499 yards) at the open where they had to hit a 300 yard tee shot over some bunkers? It was playing dead into the wind for us.

Here's what the tee shot looks like:


Here's what I had for my approach to the green after hitting a driver dead center on the clubface with one of my best swings of the day:



Driver, 3W, SW into a par 4. Nice.

If anyone has any specific questions, post them here and I'll try and answer.

I would definitely go back.

[Txxxxxxx]

Very nice pictures John. I'll try to post some of the same from the courses in Arizona when I get back on the 28th.

That course looks like it has some VERY tough bunker placements. It looks like you would be punished big time if you ended up in one of them. Besides that, the course looks in great shape for this time of the year and the odd weather they've been having on the East Coast.

[jvincent]

Thanks.

Yep, the bunkers are nasty. I was "lucky" in that I was never up against a lip. You definitely don't want to get cute trying to get out of them or you will be hitting from the bunker again. And again.

[MusicMan]

awesome JV!

anyone wanna go to play the black couse in 2 weeks? ill drive

[LBH]

Awesome pics JV - I would love to go!!!

[The Saint]

I'd love to play there. What a great looking course. Thanks for the pics John.

[fireice]

Thanks for sharing definitely a must play.

[Ginker]

Way to go partner.. Great write up.. I hope to get up there to play some day.

[MusicMan]

Awesome pics JV - I would love to go!!!

I'd love to play there. What a great looking course. Thanks for the pics John.

Way to go partner.. Great write up.. I hope to get up there to play some day.

lets go. ill drive

[Andy4Par]

They have anything closer than ladies tees? How about wuss tees? Great pics. Definately a must see/play.

[langille5]

Thanks for sharing the pictures of the course. Sounds like a must trip to play

[jvincent]

They have anything closer than ladies tees? How about wuss tees? Great pics. Definately a must see/play.

I just checked, it's 6223 from the Reds with a rating of 78.9 for the ladies. Ouch!

I couldn't find a rating for men playing from the red tees online. I'll check the scorecard when I get home but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have one.

Remember what the sign at the first tee said.

[Chieflongtee]

John. Is he your student? He sets up just like you do.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jevinc...54244298333426

[jvincent]

I thought the same thing for a second on the first tee.

But before he takes it back for his swing he moves it in towards the ball a little more. Still towards the toe, but not quite to my degree.

[mberube]

Great pics john.

The lineup must be crazy to try to get a tee off in July!! Did you get any feedback from the locals on the lineups? Is it almost impossible? Do you have to sleep in your car?

The course looks insane. It makes you realize how good Tiger and Phil were at the UPOPEN in 2002 when they were both charging. These guys are really good…

You are one lucky B. Banded Dunes and now BPB. What else do you have on your résumé?

Mike

[jvincent]

Great pics john.

The lineup must be crazy to try to get a tee off in July!! Did you get any feedback from the locals on the lineups? Is it almost impossible? Do you have to sleep in your car?

The numbered car park slots go into the 70's. According to the guy I played with in the summer people start showing up at 3 or 4 PM for the next day's tee times. The protocol is that you have to stay with your car so yes, you need to sleep in your car. Apparently it's kind of a tailgate/party atmosphere.

You are one lucky B. Banded Dunes and now BPB. What else do you have on your résumé?

There was a short lived thread about courses from the Golf Digest top 100. I'm up to 11 now.

#2: Pacific Dunes
#3: Pinehurst #2
#5: Bethpage Black
#7: Bandon Dunes
#11: Spyglass Hill
#21: Bandon Trails
#30: Pasatiempo
#48: Pinehurst #4
#55: Pinehurst #8
#70: Links at Spanish Bay
#90: Torrey Pines South

[mberube]

Awesome!!! I wish I was rich like you!!!

Great stuff. One day, maybe...

[jeffc]

The numbered car park slots go into the 70's. According to the guy I played with in the summer people start showing up at 3 or 4 PM for the next day's tee times. The protocol is that you have to stay with your car so yes, you need to sleep in your car. Apparently it's kind of a tailgate/party atmosphere.

that would be an ideal time to have one of those old school van's. with the fold down bed in the back or a VW Camper wagon....can't imagine doing that in a regular car.

[Hacker]

Now that is the stuff that Long Lasting Memories are made of - Awesome!!

[mberube]

Let’s drive down, 5-10 cars and have a huge OttawaGolf tailgate party and then hope we get tee-offs….