Felt like sharing a little of my day yesterday...
On Tuesday I played a charity outing at Winged Foot. Long story short on that- gorgeous, gorgeous AW Tillinghast course with unreal hospitality and a clubhouse that was beautiful and yet understated. I played pretty good for me and I was grateful that I was there the entire time. When I got up yesterday I googled Tillinghast designs to see what other courses I could potentially play. His design, to me, is outstanding and I just love the way he built courses. They are breathtaking...So I came across Bethpage Black. I went to school for 4 years in New York and always wanted to register as a state resident and get out to the park, but never did. On a whim I called the course and was told that they were pretty much empty around twilight. In the next 20 minutes I was showered, ate, packed food, tons of cigars, my clubs and I was on the road. I left at the perfect time and avoided all traffic and made it in 2 hours flat. I called the course a couple of times to make sure that I could still get on and was reassured each time..."The Black course, right?" I said with disbelief. "yep" was the response. Tee times are not taken as is well known.
The park is very New York state- staff all completely down-to-earth, the surroundings beautiful and very well maintained, and nothing is done with pretense. I hit some balls, bought a 40% off discounted shirt, and stated getting nervous and excited as hell. I walked out to the famed first tee and saw no one around save a really cool retired NY firefighter and his great grandson. I shot the shit with them and relaxed. A few singles trickled to the tee box and slammed their drivers right down the fairway. We cheered for them after they hit and you could tell that they were relieved after getting that first one off. I then noticed some regular looking guys who turned out to be my partners. Very, very cool guys who, like me, were not all that good, but were grateful and extremely excited to be there.
Long story longer- I was shaking on the first tee and put one in the trees to the right. 8 iron over the trees, pitching wedge to the green. Made the putt. Bogeyed the next two and foolishly thought 'this isn't that tough....'
The fourth hole brought me to my knees, quickly. (carded a 9...)What a gorgeous, stunning tee shot that was....Unfortunately I found all of the bunkers and it is not exaggeration that the wall of bunkers guarding the landing area is 50 feet tall. The changes in topography were awe-inspiring and gave me the sense that the course was swallowing me whole...Being that this is a walking course, only, it beat the piss out of us physically as well...At every hole and approach we were laughing at how beautiful and challenging the shots were. Honestly we were like little giddy kids for the entire round. We had the distinct feeling that we were somehow getting away with something and that someone made a mistake by letting us on. We continued to have the time of our lives- truly- and it trumped my Winged Foot experience the day before by a long shot. They were two polar opposites in terms of access, for sure. New York (state), at its' heart, is truly a blue-collar, down-to-earth state that tells it like it is and isn't fancy about itself. Granted if I could join Winged Foot I would, but I don't have to (nor can I). World-class golf is available to those that can afford the greens fee ($78 twilight for out-of-state and $40 for in). The condition of Bethpage was equal to Winged Foot, if not better. It was so, so cool to be playing in a tee-shirt and shorts (no collar shirts required), on one of the worlds best, and most challenging courses on the planet and being with other regular guys. This experience was only matched by my round at Dooks Golf Club in southwest Ireland, on the sea. I had the time of my life on one of the most gorgeous nights that I can remember and I get to do it again if I want. And I sure as hell do.
I shot a 56/50 that could have easily been a 65/60- it was that tough. Now that I know the course a little I could get down in the 90's for sure. If you can, go. I am still swooning with amazing memories and I am playing it on wgt.com to remember all of it again.
On Tuesday I played a charity outing at Winged Foot. Long story short on that- gorgeous, gorgeous AW Tillinghast course with unreal hospitality and a clubhouse that was beautiful and yet understated. I played pretty good for me and I was grateful that I was there the entire time. When I got up yesterday I googled Tillinghast designs to see what other courses I could potentially play. His design, to me, is outstanding and I just love the way he built courses. They are breathtaking...So I came across Bethpage Black. I went to school for 4 years in New York and always wanted to register as a state resident and get out to the park, but never did. On a whim I called the course and was told that they were pretty much empty around twilight. In the next 20 minutes I was showered, ate, packed food, tons of cigars, my clubs and I was on the road. I left at the perfect time and avoided all traffic and made it in 2 hours flat. I called the course a couple of times to make sure that I could still get on and was reassured each time..."The Black course, right?" I said with disbelief. "yep" was the response. Tee times are not taken as is well known.
The park is very New York state- staff all completely down-to-earth, the surroundings beautiful and very well maintained, and nothing is done with pretense. I hit some balls, bought a 40% off discounted shirt, and stated getting nervous and excited as hell. I walked out to the famed first tee and saw no one around save a really cool retired NY firefighter and his great grandson. I shot the shit with them and relaxed. A few singles trickled to the tee box and slammed their drivers right down the fairway. We cheered for them after they hit and you could tell that they were relieved after getting that first one off. I then noticed some regular looking guys who turned out to be my partners. Very, very cool guys who, like me, were not all that good, but were grateful and extremely excited to be there.
Long story longer- I was shaking on the first tee and put one in the trees to the right. 8 iron over the trees, pitching wedge to the green. Made the putt. Bogeyed the next two and foolishly thought 'this isn't that tough....'
The fourth hole brought me to my knees, quickly. (carded a 9...)What a gorgeous, stunning tee shot that was....Unfortunately I found all of the bunkers and it is not exaggeration that the wall of bunkers guarding the landing area is 50 feet tall. The changes in topography were awe-inspiring and gave me the sense that the course was swallowing me whole...Being that this is a walking course, only, it beat the piss out of us physically as well...At every hole and approach we were laughing at how beautiful and challenging the shots were. Honestly we were like little giddy kids for the entire round. We had the distinct feeling that we were somehow getting away with something and that someone made a mistake by letting us on. We continued to have the time of our lives- truly- and it trumped my Winged Foot experience the day before by a long shot. They were two polar opposites in terms of access, for sure. New York (state), at its' heart, is truly a blue-collar, down-to-earth state that tells it like it is and isn't fancy about itself. Granted if I could join Winged Foot I would, but I don't have to (nor can I). World-class golf is available to those that can afford the greens fee ($78 twilight for out-of-state and $40 for in). The condition of Bethpage was equal to Winged Foot, if not better. It was so, so cool to be playing in a tee-shirt and shorts (no collar shirts required), on one of the worlds best, and most challenging courses on the planet and being with other regular guys. This experience was only matched by my round at Dooks Golf Club in southwest Ireland, on the sea. I had the time of my life on one of the most gorgeous nights that I can remember and I get to do it again if I want. And I sure as hell do.
I shot a 56/50 that could have easily been a 65/60- it was that tough. Now that I know the course a little I could get down in the 90's for sure. If you can, go. I am still swooning with amazing memories and I am playing it on wgt.com to remember all of it again.
