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"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch
June 11, 2002
The sign by the first tee of the Black Course at Bethpage State
Park in Long Island doesn’t mince words:
"Warning: The Black Course is an extremely difficult course
which is recommended only for highly skilled golfers."
Presumably the contestants in this week’s U.S. Open won’t be
intimidated by that sign. The stern warning is there to encourage
the rank and file golfer to think twice before he shells out his
$39 green fees to play the Black Course.
That’s right, the rank and file golfer. The Black Course is
open to the public, and the USGA is to be commended for taking the
people’s championship out of the posh country club circuit—for a
year at least—and to a course that anyone could play. Provided, of
course, that the sign didn’t make a compelling argument against
doing so.
Without question the Black Course isn’t just any well-worn muni
with divots in the fairways, bumpy greens and threadbare tee
boxes. To hear the players talk about it, the course is the best
thing to hit the U.S. Open rotation in a long time.
"They’ve done the best job I’ve ever seen of prepping the golf
course," said David Duval, still searching for his first major
championship on this side of the Atlantic. "The conditions are
second to none. It’s probably the best-conditioned golf course
I’ve ever seen."
Wow. That comment takes in some ground, and it explains why the
USGA would place the Black Course into its coveted rotation over a
horde of well-manicured country clubs.
At 7,214 yards, the Black Course is the longest in U.S. Open
history, albeit by a mere yard over what Congressional played in
1997. Because it plays to a par of 70, some par fives have become
monstrously long par fours. The 70 bunkers sprinkled around the
course are so huge, it takes 9,000 tons of sand to fill them.
If that sounds tough to most of us, it probably won’t be to the
average tour player who hits the ball nine miles off the tee. The
greens on the Black Course are relatively flat, and if the wind
doesn’t blow on Long Island, the course, despite its length, might
be ripe for the taking.
"You’re not going to see a lot of train wrecks," USGA executive
director David Fay told the Associated Press. "There’s a good
possibility of low scores. The question is, can someone hold it
together for four rounds?"
Someone will hold it together for four rounds—after all, the
trophy has to be awarded. It would be poetic justice if a player
who advanced through open qualifying won the tournament, as
unlikely a prospect as that might be.
Whatever happens—surely Tiger Woods will be a factor—it’s going
to be a delight knowing that our country’s true open championship
will be played on a public course. The National Golf Foundation
estimates that 73 percent of all golf courses in the U.S. are
public. The NGF also says that four out of eveyr five players of
the more than 27 million golfers in this country play on public
courses.
"This was long overdue," Fay told the AP.
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Speaking of USGA events, two local girls will be testing their
mettle at open qualifying for the U.S. Girls Junior. Baylor coach
King Oehmig informs us that Catherine Hicks and Beth Felts, two
stalwarts on his state champion girls team, will attempt to
qualify. Old Fort in Murfreesboro is just one of many qualifying
sites around the country.
The tournament will be played July 22-27 at Echo Lake Golf Club
in Washington, Mich.
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