Love Letter To: Bethpage Black

I don't think there's a more intimidating opening hole set up in golf.

The dauntingly tight left-to-right dog leg, lined with rough thicker than you can even image accompanied by a few trees that don't feel like they'd impede your shot, but have a hidden magnetic force field ready to take your ball captive.

Oh, and then there's that damn warning sign. Yeah, an actual caution sign announcing to anyone walking up that this is not for the faint of heart—if you want to tackle this course you need to know ball.

Bethpage, coined the people's club (and for good reason), is a track that could only exist in New York. Because only in this state can you have a major championship and Ryder Cup venue that's fully open to the public. It also feels quintessentially like a Long Island golf course—kind of links-y, fescue, shockingly difficult rough, and a course layout that feels like a maze because out on the island there's just never enough space but someone just decides that they're packing in holes like sardines in a can anyways!

I got the opportunity to play the infamous Black Course at Bethpage State Park last July, with some special guests: Hall of Famer and former NY Yankee, CC Sabathia and former NY Giant Victor Cruz and his adorable daughter Kennedy—who is a stick in the making.

What a flex amirite? But I must confess that it's the Black Course of it all that is forever etched into my brain matter.

Images courtesy of Collin Hughes/J.Lindeberg.

I had heard about its difficulty, but until you actually face the beast you'll never fully understand it. This golf course is hard...as fuck. Excuse my French, but sometimes you need the extra emphasis that comes with such a word.

This course humbles you immediately. The first three holes are like the iceberg that sank the Titanic—unassuming but priming you for what's to come. After the opening par-4, you walk under a bridge to the second hole, and that's it, for the next 17 holes you're at the mercy of Bethpage Black.

At the start of our round together, the vibes were incredibly high in our group. Both Cruz and Sabathia have hacked it together many times before, and they so graciously welcomed me into their established banter.

I can still hear the sound of CC hitting the living hell out of his ball ringing in my ears. Victor's swing is one that gradually picks up tempo, and the guy has finesse—a lot like him on the field.

But the fun and games were instantly put on pause once we approached the fourth hole. Yeah...that hole.

The massive par-5 plays a lot like a par-6 if you're anything higher and a 2 handicap. Our caddies were quick to chime in and tell us that we'd need three to four shots just to hack it up to the green, even if we hit the fairway.

It's one of those holes that you just look at and quiver a little. The bunkering is insane. Visually you're already rattled, that massive trap in the middle of the fairway is practically waiting to suck you in. And even if you absolutely obliterate your tee shot, you still have every bit of 250+ yards to the green. You can't miss left, but you don't want to go right either. It's one of the most mentally challenging holes I've ever played. You can't brute force your way around it, it requires thought and execution. It was designed to punish you, because if you don't play it right—you're walking off with a snowman...or worse.

And that's just the thing about the Black Course. There are so many holes just like the fourth, that demand incredible ball striking, shot placement, and a whole lot of praying, just hoping you get lucky with a bounce or two.

The entire experience of it is a real treat though. It's a golfer's golf course. Walking only—you're either carrying your bag or enlisting a caddie. The undulation will surprise you, you don't really think about it or see it until you're there. And the rough, oh the rough. It'll make you hit shots so horrendously, as if the ball just dies after contact. My game was reduced to pitiful at best, more often than not.

And that's exactly what makes the anticipation for what's to come later this week that much more exciting. Having played the course (terribly), I now get to witness the world's best tackle it. Cutting corners like only they can. Shaping shots that defy gravity. And have a fighting chance to carve out balls buried in the rough in a way us mere mortals can't.

I was just happy to walk away, barely breaking 90 (through 12 holes...). Bethpage made me feel things about my game that no course had in quite a long time, which is exactly why I loved it so much.

It's notoriously difficult, but not impossible. Rewarding you just enough to bait you in, and devastate you on the very next hole. Every masochist's dream.

So here's my ode to Bethpage Black. You're disgustingly beautiful, and the perfect venue for one of the most coveted championships in our game. And my eyes will be locked in come Friday at 7:20am—at the Skratch Clubhouse, of course.