By Dottie Pepper. In the Grill Room. By Brian Hurlburt. By Dan O'Neill. See More. It's a tough course," Henrik Stenson said. Phil Mickelson made a double bogey on the 18th at Winged Foot that cost him the U. Open in , the one runner-up finish that haunts him the most. Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, playing a group apart, each faced eagle putts from the foot range to win on the final hole at Chambers Bay in the U.
Bethpage Black has a finish remembered for two clubs — 6-iron and 9-iron — that Lucas Glover hit off the tee and onto the green when he won the U. Some context is required for that day. Because rain had soaked the course all week — it required a Monday finish to get in 72 holes — the USGA moved up the tee so that it played yards. The idea was to give players a chance to hit driver beyond the pinch point of the hourglass shape.
Glover says the reason he hit 6-iron off the tee was to have the same shot he had hit the previous three rounds, when he used 5-wood off the tee. It's a cool-looking hole. If you don't get it on the fairway, it's a bear. If you get it on the fairway, there's not much to it, which is fair with the rest of the course. So… all you have to do is drive it into the middle of the fairway — every fairway — and make sure you hit the centre of the green.
This is a very difficult golf course. I know this because I failed to break 90 round there from the middle tees. The margins for error are tiny.
Par then becomes a massive challenge. Get the wrong bounce, or come in from the wrong angle, when trying to reach one of those raised greens and you can be in a patch of deep trouble. Length will definitely be a huge factor here, and that will put big grins of the faces of Tiger, Brooks and Rory. But discipline and focus will be just as important and that could mean some surprise names in contention come Sunday. More from the PGA Championship. The approach here pretty much sums up what Bethpage is all about: Elevation change, deep bunkers everywhere, and relatively benign green.
So I get out there and bomb my drive. This was my favorite par 3 on the course. A big green, but trouble all over the place, and the elevation drop can play tricks with your club selection. The play on the par 4 9th is straight over the bunker on the left. I had my best drive of the day with a hybrid that barely cleared the left bunkers to land in the center of the green.
It was around this time the course started to feel slightly redundant to me. Bethpage Black is fantastic, but the long par 4s with the same bunkering all over the place started to feel a little old to me at this point. Pick and choose your tee shot wisely here. I really liked the bunkering on the left side of the fairway, as it really forced you to play more to the right — which puts you in danger of the trees. Lots to think about here. With the first par 3 on the back, you want to be anywhere but that deep bunker.
Getting it up and down from there is going to be a challenge, and pretty much anything short and right of the hole is in big trouble. A sweeping dogleg left that gives you a pretty open tee shot, but has one of the most difficult approaches on the course. Take at least an extra club and a half. I hit a 5 iron from , and it just barely squeaked on. Follow through and avoid the heavy slice that every one in our group hit, each being worse than the other.
He dropped head covers in the fairway and never would have noticed had we not picked them up. It certainly was nothing like my Hudson National experience. Playing Bethpage Black is something every golfer should do at least once.
Was it my favorite course of all time? Definitely not. Would I be thrilled to play it again,. If the Black is too difficult to get on, also consider the Red course. Great review. However, they are aerating the greens at Bethpage 3 days before we would play. What do you recommend? You summed up the course perfectly. I played with three men one was a pro.
The forward tees hardly gave me an advantage. Truth be told, the course was very long for me.
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