Among the most common and strong ties among golfers is shared they play courses, particularly those of iconic status and history. Regardless of whether you are a beginning golfer who plays mainly on a local municipal or an officer of The PGA of America, the thrill of finally hit a shot in one of his courses "wish list" is one of the great emotions of the game. Here's the Ted Bishop, Secretary of the PGA and its story of a recent round in such a place.
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman brought a lot of attention to the term "Bucket List," a movie that they co-starred in a few years ago. For those who don't know, a bucket list is a term that defines the things that an individual who wants to make before leaving this earth.
Golfers often talk about your own bucket list when it comes to courses that they want to play before you die. In my case, Augusta National, Pebble Beach and Prestwick in Scotland are courses that highlight my own personal bucket list. These are the places I've been lucky enough to play. There are many other places that I've been lucky enough to try, but until this week the three stood out.
Augusta National is every golfer's dream. Pebble Beach could be the most spectacular setting in the world. Prestwick was founded in 1851 and was the site of the first British Open Championships 12. It's hard to beat this programming, but later this week I will add a fourth to my bucket list. Bethpage Black on Long Island was the site of 2002 and 2009 United States opens. Tiger Woods won the first open in Bethpage and Lucas Glover prevailed when Bethpage made a quagmire after heavy rains from late June flooded the New York area last year.
The Bethpage Park complex is owned by the State of New York and is composed of five golf courses-the black, red, blue, yellow and green. While the black course receives the recognition of the modern day, the Green was built in 1923. Red and blue were opened in 1935, a year ahead of black. Tillinghast, the famed golf course architect, gets the credit for the design of courses at Bethpage.
Dave Catalano is the Director of Bethpage State Park. He served in that position since 1995. Catalano actually first began working in Bethpage, in 1967, while attending college. Once, he served as Superintendent of the golf course green. "My job is to keep everything coordinated, that is not an easy task, sometimes," Catalano says. "We have 50-80 employees, who are in charge of taking care of five golf courses, polo fields and picnic areas adjacent."
The experience of Bethpage is widely known in golf circles. Players line up the night before to precious insurance starting times. When I played the last Tuesday, the five courses of Bethpage entertained almost 1,700 rounds-that day!
"I would say that 1,700-1,800 a day is a bit busy," noted Catalano. "Our typical day this year is about 1,450. Play is down this year. We had perfect weather, so I would say that the economy had an impact. We raise our rates and that probably hurt too. "
The fees to play the black course, assuming you can get, are weekdays r 135 and r $ 155 on weekends. Residents can play for $ 70 and $ 80, respectively. Rates on the other four courses at Bethpage this week range $ 38 $ -43, weekends $ 43 -48, with the elderly, enjoying a 20% discount on weekdays only.
The only thing that makes highly original Bethpage is you see hikers with pull carts, people carrying their own bags, blue-collar types and executives of Manhattan. Golf carts are not allowed on the course. Parking extends over acres because it takes some space to accommodate vehicles for 1,800 people. The Club area is like the proverbial tingling with golfers crawling everywhere. It is difficult to find 20 feet of open space on the putting green and I intend to stand in line, if you want to hit a bucket of warm-up.
However, the whole buzz is left behind when you step onto the first tee at Bethpage Black. You are about to enter a quiet but brutal course that boasts some of the most difficult holes in the world. I have been fortunate to play Augusta National over the past two years. Can tell you that Bethpage Black compared the playing conditions as new site The Masters is known for.
My Quartet on Tuesday included my daughter, Ambry. We joined Doug sells lubricants and lives in The Hamptons. Packed your own bag. Our fourth player was Tom, an anesthesiologist from New Jersey, who appeared with a pull cart. Tom set the tone on the first tee, "well, we're here. We can also play it all the way. " Doug and I looked at each other and said, why not. So, we addressed the yard par 71 7,498 obstacles. As Doug would describe later game of Tom, "he hits it forever, but it has no zip code."
Pace of play for our back was five hours and 15 minutes. My highlight was making a birdie at no. 4. This is the signature hole for the black course. Is a difficult par 5 that plays more than the footage of 517 scorecard. Catalano, said best, "the diversity of our players at Bethpage is really unique. We have all races, all kinds of economy. To do this every day and the host UNITED STATES opens with the best players in the world is very special. "
The term Bethpage is a biblical reference to a strip of land that lies between Jericho and Jerusalem. According to Catalano, Nassau County historian Jesse Merritt encouraged Robert Moses to appoint this special place with that in mind. They did it with geographical implications in mind. After Tuesday, I would like to propose that, from the point of view of golf, the name is absolutely perfect. With all its beauty, serenity, madness, crowds, diversity, hackers, greedy players and the best golfers in the world-Bethpage black is somewhere between all in the sport of golf. Bethpage Black only landed directly on my bucket!