Bethpage Black
Played Bethpage Black in 2012. Of course every blog or photo kicking around the web has the group about to play Black posing dopily in front of that sign. So of course we had to pose dopily in front of that sign too. There’s a great article on the origin of the sign here if you want to read more but let’s explore how tough Black really is.
Golf Digest in the latest list I could find (the toughest 20 from 2011) has it ranked fifth behind Kiawah Ocean (agree this is the hardest), Pine Valley (agree it is very hard), Oakmont (probably second toughest IMO), and Spyglass (a great comp for Bethpage and I agree a bit tougher). Then of the courses I’ve played after Bethpage, Sawgrass is #7 (I say it’s tougher than Bethpage), then Winged Foot (agreed top 20 but behind Black), Oakland Hills (agreed), Merion (agreed because of menacing out-of-bounds), and Pinehurst/Pebble/Torrey/Pac Dunes (tough but my first memory from any of them is not that they were “that” tough), Missing from this list but on plenty of others is Koolau in Hawaii (probably #3 IMO but recently closed) and the Blue Monster at Doral (if the rough is up like when we played this right before the Ford it is BRUTAL). Firestone was long and about even in toughness with Black, then Cal Club and Chambers Bay can also be put in the same toughness category as Black maybe slightly less but you’re splitting hairs.
One of the things that makes Black so tough is that they don’t give you a 6,000 to 6,300 yard distance option. Well they do but the 6,200 yard option is the ladies tees – sorry Politically Correct red or forward tees. No God-fearing man is going to play from there. The whites here are 6,700. They probably do this to add to the mystique of the toughness. Of course it adds another hour to your Saturday afternoon round too. The courses I rank tougher than Bethpage all are tougher from the 6,000 to 6,300 yardage range. I think they should change the markers, make the red, white and add a new set of 5,800 or so red tees. But of course then I wouldn’t be spending three paragraphs on Black’s toughness.
To the course. There’s always a group of impatient golfers waiting and watching you tee off on one. During our wait we saw at least two golfers in front of us flat out shank their drives. We were prepping for a good six-hour round (though they did okay after the first tee from my memory). I also remember getting off a decent enough drive but the hole is 430 yards with a sharp dogleg right. I didn’t make the dogleg on the drive so laid up to about 100 in. A wedge, one putt and par later, I was on my way – “only for skilled players my ass.”
Actually the first three holes are definitely easier than the rest of the course. Two is short but a pretty severe uphill approach over a bunker and three is a downhill par-3 that is okay if you don’t get all of your 7-iron as long as you keep it straight. It’s got a nice little apron in front of the green. Then there is four. It looks like a short par five on the card but it is a complete nut buster. Penal sand and rough exactly where your ball wants to be. Any hopes of breaking 90 on Black were vanquished on this hole. All in all I played okay, I hit a smooth 91 which for me on a 6,700 yard course is a good score.
There are a lot of good blog sites out there but as I oft complain herein, they are written by pros or scratch golfers for other pros or scratch golfers. One of the ones I like is breakingeighty.com. He’s a lower handicap than me (hell I’m happy breaking 90) but he does some pretty good, in-depth course reviews for less skilled golfers. His Black write-up is here (seems he had the same fun adventure as me on four).
I don’t remember how long our round was – I do know we played it on a Saturday in June – but since it’s not still gnawing at me it must not have been like the Chinese March of Death. Now Eisenhower Red on Long Island? Yes that was specifically like the Chinese March of Death – so much so that over 15 years later I remember us actually walking off the course since we couldn’t take the pain anymore. Early on the ranger came out and told us he had already given a warning to a group of phlegmatic Asiatics about pace but he was not to be seen again and the pace never sped up. BTW I had to look up phlegmatic and Asiatic. The former means “having or showing a slow and stolid temperament” okay and the latter I guess is a slur for Asians – sorry I didn’t know though I am okay being called a Pollock as long as I am never called phlegmatic.
Golf Scrapbook 