Bethpage Black

For Ken’s 30th birthday, I wanted to plan a really special event but Ken shied away from a big party. Instead, his friend suggested making a reservation at one of the golf courses in New York where they play the US Open, the Black course at Bethpage. I looked online to make the reservation but it’s actually not online at all – you have to call in advance and some people even get to the course at dawn to wait and try to walk onto the course because it’s so difficult to get in (David even said it’s referenced on Everybody Loves Raymond!) Making a reservation isn’t too difficult if you just follow their easy instructions – you have to fax in your drivers license and once your license is in the system, you have to call a week before you want to reserve the tee time and enter your requested tee time.

The weather had been kind of cold and dreary so I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to golf, but luckily, last Sunday, the weather was about 70 degrees, which is perfect golfing weather! We made a reservation for a 2pm tee time and drove out in the morning (you have to arrive an hour before your tee time!) If you’re a New York resident, it’s actually not an expensive round of golf – around $70 – but out of towners have to pay almost twice as much. Initially, I didn’t want to play because you have to walk the entire course and Bethpage Black is known for being a SUPER long course. Me, right before I teed off:

I wore my running shoes instead of my golf shoes because there was absolutely no way I could survive walking for 6 hours in golf shoes! It was a really beautiful walk the entire day and we had a lot of fun playing with a third person, Rohan. Even though the course is public, they take great care of their greens and it’s such a beautiful walk and great exercise. There are really difficult hills to walk because they’re so steep, but it’s definitely a worthwhile trip to take to Long Island.

Here’s the practice green by the clubhouse – they were having a wedding when we played:

And here’s where you submit your bracelet that the clubhouse gives you when it’s time to tee off:

There are other courses at Bethpage and it’s all completely public, so it’s definitely worthwhile to become a member by faxing them your license so you can play all of the courses! My friend said that he enjoys playing the red course as well, so we’ll have to try it the next time we go out.