\n<\/p>\n
Getting on to Bethpage is not for the faint-hearted and the patience required acts as a precursor for when the golfers step on to the first tee. <\/p>\n
Perhaps the stoicism should be considered a filtering out process, because only the toughest club players can survive 18 holes of what is often considered pure pain in both a physical and mental sense.<\/p>\n
The latter is triggered by the course’s formidable reputation.<\/p>\n
Seconds before players step out on to the first tee, there is a ‘welcome’ sign which intends to strike further fear into their hearts and minds.<\/p>\n
The message reads, ‘WARNING. The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers’.<\/i><\/p>\n
Spanning 7,100 yards from the championship markers where the Ryder Cup players will tee off, Bethpage Black is characterised by jungle rough, cavernous bunkers and tight fairways. <\/p>\n
Is the course really as tough as the sign makes out? Or is it hyperbole designed to attract infamy?<\/p>\n
Wilson is adamant the reality is as daunting as the illusion.<\/p>\n
“Oh, definitely. By the fourth hole if you’ve missed by 10 feet and you’re in a bunker 12 feet below the green, it can already feel a little tiring,” said Bethpage director of agronomy Wilson, who has been working on the greens staff for almost 37 years.<\/p>\n
“Then you start to get frustrated and have to play the mental game in your head. <\/p>\n
“I think the Black can test your patience – and that’s why it is so hard.”<\/p>\n
The undulating terrain sees holes weave around the natural landscape of the parkland and makes the course feel even longer than it already is.<\/p>\n
Dense woodland separates many of the opening nine holes, with gravel trails darting between trees to offer routes for non-golfing walkers. <\/p>\n
Elevated tees offer expansive views of the challenges ahead, swooping down into the underbelly of the fairways, climbing back up to the putting surfaces perched under the sky like infinity greens.<\/p>\n
The exhilarating golf-scapes reel in the day tripper, many of whom make potentially once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimages to what Bethpage chiefs describe as a ‘Mecca for public golf’. <\/p>\n
“How many times do you want to try to make the heroic shot? It’s like gambling,” added Wilson.<\/p>\n
“You think you’re going to win all that money back and you think you’re going to hit that <\/i>shot – and then you don’t and you don’t again.<\/p>\n
“But when every golfer hits that one shot they’re coming back.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n