Bethpage Black Exceeded My Expectations

While living in New York City for four years during my tenure on Pardon My Take, there was no place I would go to more frequently to play golf than Bethpage State Park. The fully public facility is home to five courses, and while I was a NY resident, I played the Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow tracks probably a total of 20-30 times. But never the iconic Bethpage Black course.

That changed last week.

Challenging is an understatement. And it the course doesn't make it a secret. It all starts with The Sign at the first tee box...

It's impossible to miss if you're playing the course. And it was certainly engraved in my mind as I stepped onto the first tee box on this beautiful track. I had a decent tee shot to begin this memorable round, but the biggest shot was my approach on 1. As you can see in the video above, I just hooked it around those trees, it rolled onto the green, and I drained the 15 footer for BIRDIE to open on Bethpage Black! Memorable to say the least.

As the Front 9 continued, things came back to Earth for me, but the driver and putter allowed me to score well for my standards (16.5 handicap). I have been emphasizing the putting practice this year, as it was by far my weakest point in 2023. The improvement has been very noticeable, and man, does it feel good. Full Front 9 card below:

Going into the round, I was realistically expecting something in the 105-110 range. But a 44 at the turn?! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that was possible. 

Other takeaways from the Front 9 of Bethpage Black…

- Standing on that first tee box is such a cool feeling. That iconic dogleg right fairway is so hard to hit.

- The view of the 4th hole from the 3rd green is one of the best in all of golf

- If your driver misses, you're basically screwed. The rough is so thick and hard to judge. It's not the greens that are hard at Bethpage, it's getting on the dance floor. According to my great caddy, Stevie, the rough peaks in height in August.

How will things go on the Back 9? Can I actually break 90 on THIS course? Find out next week on 9 holes in 90 seconds.