Easily
the 3rd Best at Bethpage, which is a pretty good compliment give the
quality of the Red and Black courses. It's not far behind the Red in
terms of quality and far, far superior to the Blue or Green courses.
The first hole is very wide off the tee and has a centerline bunker
about 200 yards from the tee. I'd almost call this a Bottle hole, but
the preferred angle to the green is from the wider side of the
fairway rather than the narrow, more difficult side. The 5th hole is
also very interesting in that the fairway slopes sharply from right
to left at about 200 yards from the tee and then the green is
elevated about 20 feet above the fairway. The 11th hole is a very
cool short par 3, topping out at just over 300 yards, the fairway
pinches in significantly at around the 200 yard point (note the
abundance of hazards at 200 yards from the tee...the course was built
in the early 20th century and has remained fairly original) and leads
to a very good green. The highlight of the course, however, is the
set of par 5s. It's not often that a course can be said to be
highlighted by par 5s, but certainly that is the case here. Holes 7
and 17 both dogleg to the left, but they are far from the same hole.
7 plays downhill off the tee and level to the green. 17 plays through
a valley, but the landing area for the fairway is at the same level
as the tee. Both holes are fantastic and both right at the reachable
in 2 range. The 10th hole is the other par 5 and is a real 3 shot
hole. Both the tee shot and second shot must be played with precision
to have a good 3rd shot. The hole is a double dogleg, playing right
off the tee and then left back to the green. The green is on the same
level as the fairway, but 50 yards short of the green leading up to
the front edge, there exists a significant valley that can make the
third shot very difficult. This is certainly not a hole where the
second shot is just "another" shot to be blasted at.
Overall, I'd actually say that this set of par 5s is the best set on
all the courses at Bethpage (consider on the Red course, the 5th hole
is incredible, but the 16th hole is, quite frankly, just bad. Then,
on the Black course, the 4th hole is world class, and could be
better, but 7 is very average and 14 is just a mundane slog). I love
the Black course, but this course is really, really good.
Variety
of Design: Par 5s have good variety in yardage, one is reachable
in 2 with a decent drive, one is on the edge even with a good drive,
the other is outside the range to be reached in two. Par 4s have
relatively good variety, ranging from 429 to 313 in yardage from the
back tees. The par 3s have less variety in yardage, only spanning 166
to 188 yards. For variety in direction, 4 holes dogleg right, 4 holes
dogleg left, and 7 holes are straight. (That adds to more than 14
because the 10th hole is a double dogleg) Solid. 6 out of 10
Flow
of the Course: Course flows well. Difficult holes are generally
followed by holes where the player can have a bit of a break. No
abrupt changes in the course. 6 out of 10
Course
Conditioning: Solid. A few small patches here and there with bare
spots. Overall, OK. 5 out of 10
Walkability:
Easily walked. Has some small hills but nothing that would make
for anything really difficult. 8 out of 10
Atmosphere:
None. In fact, almost a negative number. Bethpage is very unique, but
on busy days, the Yellow and Blue courses can be like zoos. 1 out
of 10
Total
Score: 55 out of 100. Easily the third best course at Bethpage
and probably a better value for the money than the Red course for out
of state visitors.
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