Driving down to Bethpage Black tonight to play tomorrow

[Husband]

A friend and I are heading down tonight right after work... This should be awesome! Anyone ever been? Tee time at 3:42pm, but we're trying to get into line so that we can get off earlier.

[jvincent]

I've been a couple of times.

Weekends are always crazy busy so the lot will probably be full when you get there. Since you are only two, check the board to see if there is an open slot for a twosome because of a cancellation.

If you are teeing off at 3:42 it is very unlikely that you will finish before dark. The Black is SLOOOOW because of the length/difficulty of the course.

Good luck and have a blast!

[Husband]

We will be arriving in the lot at 1-2am, so I'm almost certain that we'll be fine to get onto the course earlier than our tee time.

How would you recommend playing that one? Say we have a 3:42pm tee time and want to get out earlier? Or should we say nothing and just go, then once we're on the first tee call in to cancel our 3:42pm tee time?

Reading online, it seems that it's not as busy as it was when it was US Open season, although the Barclays are coming there in the Fall... I think we stand a decent chance to finish from 3:42pm. 5.5 hours brings us to 9:12pm, and I regularly finish rounds at that time at this time of the year.

[jsttaylor]

Sooooo Jealous!!!!
Have fun.

[jvincent]

I don't know if there would be a cancellation fee if you moved to an earlier time. If there were no fee, I would definitely do it so that you can play all 18 in day light.

Don't forget they are further south and the sun sets about 25 minutes earlier there than here. When I went last it was earlier in the year so there was less daylight so you might be OK, I just wanted to give you a head's up.

You can be almost certain of a 5.5 hour round. I checked the time stamps on my picture and from the first tee to the 18th tee it was 5 hours exactly.

[DecoyOctopus]

Yeah there is I think a $5 or $15 no show fee, easily payable if it means we play earlier in my opinion.

[Husband]

Don't forget they are further south and the sun sets about 25 minutes earlier there than here. When I went last it was earlier in the year so there was less daylight so you might be OK, I just wanted to give you a head's up.

Great info... I didn't figure there would be that much of a difference, but I guess we are talking several hundred km's south...

At any rate, I will be golfing that course tomorrow and I'm so stoked. Now to just convince DecoyOctopus to play the tips with me I'm a 12-15 hcp, so it will definitely be a challenge for me to break 100!!

[Sunny D]

I'm very jealous, have a great time take some pics... Would also love to hear about the round and how it all worked out getting on earlier.

[Husband]

Well... We're here. Only two cars in line. Looks like we'll be getting out early

[Husband]

4am now and there are 8 cars. I cant sleep! There is an aura to this place, or maybe its the raunchy bathroom... Im not sure hahaha

[Husband]

We are off at 7:09, the third group off... Now to get some breakfast! Im standing above the infamous sign now

Pic added:

[spackler]

Have a great round!

[Sunny D]

Wish I was there.... great play by play. Have a great day on the course...

[Husband]

Holy hell is this course hard! Some crazy thundershowers delayed play by 50 minutes, but its been sunny and hot all day. Im +21 through 13 and this course is beating me up. Hoping to break 100... Hope is fading

[jeffc]

Holy hell is this course hard! Some crazy thundershowers delayed play by 50 minutes, but its been sunny and hot all day. Im +21 through 13 and this course is beating me up. Hoping to break 100... Hope is fading

what's your index?

[Husband]

Wow. Speechless. What an amazing day, and we finished the round in about 4.5 hours. I BROKE 100 from the back tees ( playing about 7200 yards today) Although it was close. Im generally a 13-14 hcp

Bucket list is shorter today... You all have to play here! Golf is different here.

[jsttaylor]

Awesome. I sure hope to break 100 when I go. Any pics?

[Sunny D]

Sounds amazing... I'm a 16 hcp so 100 + sure sounds likely. I have told my wife next time she's going shopping to the factory outlets about an hour outside of NYC I'm hitting Bethpage Black.... Mind if I ask what highways you took?

[jvincent]

Wow, 4.5 hours including a rain delay is very good for the Black.

[Kilroy]

Bucket List item - Priceless.

Congrats!

[Husband]

Yes, I was impressed at how quickly the round went. We were the third group off and as some locals mentioned it's not generally the slowest golfers that are playing at the crack of dawn... The afternoon rounds might be slower than the morning ones maybe?

The rain delay pushed our tee off to 8am on the dot and we finished jIust before 12:30pm. It was very bareable. I only lost 3 balls!

I'm in the car, so I can't grab the pics off Decoy yet, but I took a couple with my celphone:





I'll link the album when I get it online next week

[DecoyOctopus]

https://picasaweb.google.com/1167775...eat=directlink

Here are the photo's I missed a couple of holes because I was to busy shooting myself in the foot by driving erratically.

Some notes to people who have never been looking for info:

Driving:

- It cost us about $100 round trip in my VW Golf. Gas is about 80 cents a liter down there which made it super cost effective.
- Bring and MP3 player or Satellite radio. We couldn't get a consistent radio station from Syracuse to Patterson, NJ and back. Really important when trying to stay awake.
- Don't trust your GPS, at least not a Garmin. 2 hours detouring through Manhattan.
- I have a GPS for sale if anyone needs one

Car Line/Parking:

- Bring pillows or something to sleep on. My car is pretty small but it's almost impossible to get comfortable in a car. I think a poor night sleep or lack thereof contributed to our poor play.
- When trying to find the 24/hr bathroom walk left across the parking lot. Or just piss on the tree like some jackass did in front of us. You may as well bring a portable ting your kids use cause they bathroom is gross and stinks like piss.
- I changed in the stall there trying to balance on my sandals so i didn't step in whatever was on the floor.
- Once they give you the wrist bands it's a race to the course to get your time secured or at least that's what they told me.

Pro Shop/clubhouse:

- Buy a yardage book, $9.95 in the pro shop...Sky Caddie wanted to charge me another $34.95 to download US courses.
- Don't get a caddie, they never even asked us and from what I hear it's a complete waste of money. I'm a bigger guy and I have no problems walking the course even if it was 100 F that day. It's no worse than Dragonfly/Calabogie and most of the tough walks are between holes.
- Great prices on shirts, towels and other Bethpage memorabilia. They really push the Black course and everything has Black Course written on it.
- They offer breakfast, bagels, bananas, coffee, cereal and stuff at 6:00am. Very reasonably priced.

Playing the course:

- I guess I can't really give advice cause i shot awful but you need to hit fairways. If you do not...you're making bogey or worse. Its just that simple, take your medicine and don't try any hero shots like Eric did before plugging his ball and taking triple.



No regrets making the trip. As Eric noted we left Ottawa at 5:30ish and pulled into the parking lot just before 2:00am. We left Bethpage at 1:40pm and got back to Ottawa at midnight no thanks to GPS.

[DecoyOctopus]

Sounds amazing... I'm a 16 hcp so 100 + sure sounds likely. I have told my wife next time she's going shopping to the factory outlets about an hour outside of NYC I'm hitting Bethpage Black.... Mind if I ask what highways you took?

This was out route down: http://www.mapquest.ca/?version=1.0&hk=2-cSUJCdtt

This was my GPS's way to killing me on route back: http://www.mapquest.ca/?version=1.0&hk=1-WcI4q2EA

I highly recommend getting into NYC late at night...there was little traffic at all except the GWB.

[Husband]

I love this pic. This about summarizes the round. Despite hitting a 300yd drive on #10 and having a 6i (in hidsight, probably a 5i lol) into the green, I missed it right and ended up with the worst lie of my life leading to a triple. This course won't let you have a good hole. lol

I hit it out with a 60deg wedge out left handed from above the ball. That was a new one.

[DecoyOctopus]

If anyone is reading this and wants to go....ping me anytime, I'll go back in a heartbeat and gladly split the costs/drive.

[kekchose12]

Thank you for sharing. Had a blast just reading and looking at the pictures

[imozzie]

Yes...thank you VERY much for the photos and info.

[Wilster]

Yeah thanks for the info , sounds like a fantastic experience . I'll still have to convince the missus i have to do this trip .

[Particle 44]

just a few questions: when you park in the lot, do you not get tee-times in the order you are parked in the lot?

Thanks

[DecoyOctopus]

just a few questions: when you park in the lot, do you not get tee-times in the order you are parked in the lot?

Thanks

In theory yes you should as the wristbands are numbered. However, it took us a few minutes to get into the lineup once inside the facility and the workers were *ing at us to hurry up and get inline or we would lose our spot. So I can't say for sure yes/no.