100 Years of Tradition

Experience Championship Golf at It’s Finest

Bethpage State Park is one of the most popular and cherished public parks in the nation.Located in suburban Long Island in close proximity to New York City, Bethpage is a mecca for public golf featuring five 18-hole regulation golf courses, including the world-renowned Black Course.In addition to Bethpage Black hosting the United States Open Championships in 2002 and 2009, it was also the site of The Barclays PGA Tour events in 2012 and 2016. In 2019, Bethpage will host the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup in 2024.

The Park was developed from an estate owned by the Yoakum family and other surrounding properties in Farmingdale.The Yoakum family leased their estate to the Lenox Hills Corporation which subsequently built the Lenox Hills Country Club. In the early 1930s, the Bethpage Park Authority purchased the Lenox Hills Country Club and other adjacent properties to build Bethpage State Park.

Famed golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast was hired to design and oversee construction of three new golf courses (the Black, Red, and Blue) as well as modify the original Lenox Hills course, later known as the Green Course. Due to the increasing popularity and demand for golf, the Yellow Course designed by Alfred Tull was opened in 1958. Over 200,000 rounds are consistently played annually on the five courses at Bethpage, all of which start from the Clubhouse area.

With approximately 15,000 golf courses of all different types and sizes in the United States, the Black Course at Bethpage State Park has consistently ranked among the top 100 Greatest Golf Courses in America per Golf Digest for nearly twenty years (highest rank #26).Last year Bethpage Black was ranked the #8 Public Course in America.

Bethpage Black COurse

“One of the hardest, but fairest courses I’ve ever played.”

The Black Course at Bethpage State Park needs no introduction.  Home of the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Open Championships, Bethpage Black is the crown jewel of public golf on Long Island and one of the most feared and revered courses — public or private — in the country.

T

he origins of the course date back to the Depression, but it was in the summer of 2002 that Bethpage Black achieved rock-star status, when the world’s best players teed off behind the park’s elegant clubhouse and struggled to stay anywhere near even par. Suddenly every golfer and fan knew about the “Warning” sign, the overnight stays in the parking lot, the shockingly low fees for a world-class course and the vocal, golf-crazed New York fan base.

When the Pros are gone, Long Islanders and visiting golfers are left with a 7,468-yard brute that puts every shot and skill to the test.  From the middle tees, it’s just short of 6,700 yards, nearly as long or longer than many full-length courses on the Island.

Opened in 1936 as part of the Depression Era public-works project that built Bethpage State Park, the Black Course arrived on the scene after the Lenox Hills Country Club became the Green Course and one year after A.W. Tillinghast’s Blue and Red Courses debuted.Though there is a debate over who deserves credit (and how much) for the design — Tillinghast or park superintendent Joseph Burbeck — the subtle angles and protective cross bunkers present in the layout are characteristics of many celebrated Tillinghast courses.The course conditions today are largely a product of a major restoration led by Rees Jones in preparation for the ’02 Open.

Ranked In Golf Digest 

Past Champions

”It’s awesome to win the nation’s title, on a public facility, in front of these fans,” 

-Tiger Wood on 2002 U.S. Open Victory

Tiger Woods
2002 U.S. Open

Lucas Glover
2009 U.S. Open

Nick Watney
2012 Barclays

Patrick Reed
2016 Barclays

Ryder Cup 2025 Coming Up!

Additional Championship Courses

In the early 1930s, the Bethpage Park Authority purchased the Lenox Hills Country Club and other adjacent properties to build what we now know as Bethpage State Park. Famed golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast was hired to design and oversee construction of three new golf courses (Black, Red and Blue) as well as modify the Lenox Hills Course which became the Green Course. Due to the increased demand for golf, the Yellow Course designed by Alfred Tull was opened in 1958. Approximately 300,000 rounds are played annually on the five courses at Bethpage, all of which start from the Clubhouse area.