Bethpage Black: Golf in Farmingdale, New York

Bethpage State Park's golf entrance is at 99 Quaker Meeting House Road, Farmingdale, NY 11735. The pro shop is (516) 249-4040 and the golf office (516) 249-0700, and the operator states that all five courses "start from the Clubhouse area." Road distances from that entrance, with the roads each route uses: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), in Queens, 23.44 miles, by Quaker Meeting House Road, Merritts Road, Hempstead Turnpike (NY 24), the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135), the Southern State Parkway, the Belt Parkway and the JFK Expressway. Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP), Ronkonkoma, 22.35 miles, by Quaker Meeting House Road, Bethpage Road, Melville Road, Broadhollow Road (NY 110), the Long Island Expressway (I-495), Express Drive South and Veterans Memorial Highway (NY 454). LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Queens, 27.05 miles. ISP is the nearer of the two by road; JFK is the larger. Republic Airport (FRG), in East Farmingdale, is nearer to the park than any of the three, but it is a general-aviation field with no scheduled service and is not the airport to fly into. The park charges a vehicle entry fee, published on its own park page with a 2026 collection schedule: "Cars: $8," collected weekends and holidays from 4 April to 25 May 2026, daily from 26 May to 4 September 2026, and weekends and holidays from 4 September to 20 September 2026 and from 27 September to 8 November 2026. An Empire Pass is $80. One point of geography worth getting right: Farmingdale is the postal town on the operator's own address line and on Golf Digest's subtitle, but the golf-course land itself lies in unincorporated Old Bethpage CDP, in the Town of Oyster Bay, outside the incorporated village of Farmingdale. The Census geocoder returns Nassau County for both, so the county is the same either way.

Golf Digest's own course record gives the Black as 18 holes, 7,468 yards, slope 152, Year Opened 1936, Facility Type Public, with a panelist rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 43 reviews. Its designer field reads "Joseph H. Burbeck & A.W. Tillinghast/(R) Rees Jones." The operator tells the origin differently, and both are recorded here rather than reconciled: "Bethpage State Park was developed from an estate owned by the Yoakum family and other properties. The Yoakum family leased their estate to the Lenox Hills Corporation which subsequently used the property to build 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 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." Tillinghast alone, with no Burbeck and no Rees Jones. The championship record, in the operator's words: "the world-renowned Black Course which was the site of the United States Open in 2002 and 2009, the Barclays in 2012 and 2016, the PGA Championship in 2019, and the Ryder Cup in 2025. Bethpage will also host the 2028 KPMG Women's PGA Championship and the PGA Championship makes its return in 2033." Golf Digest gives the Barclays years as 2011 and 2016 where the operator says 2012 and 2016; the years above are the operator's. The Black is walked. The park's golf page states that "Golf carts are permitted on the Red, Blue, Green and Yellow courses" and does not name the Black, and the booking system agrees — the Black tee-time record it returns carries a cart fee of 0 and a rate type of "walking." Caddies and rental clubs are reserved through the Bethpage Golf Course Pro Shop on 516.249.4040, and the operator publishes a separate "Caddie Policy, Bethpage State Park" document in the park's own documents list. No protected status is published here: neither the park page nor the golf page makes a National Register, National Historic Landmark or state-register claim for Bethpage State Park or its courses, so this guide makes none. Season, from the operator's own "BETHPAGE STATE PARK TEE TIMES 2026" sheet: "Black Course Opens - Wednesday, April 15, 2026" and "Black Course Closes - Sunday, November 15, 2026," with the sheet's own footnote, "Times and dates are subject to change without notice." The Black column reads CLOSED in every band from 16 November 2026 through 28 February 2027 and again from 1 January to 14 April. The golf page states it in prose — "Black Course: Weather Permitting, Open April 15th to November 15th. Closed Mondays (except holidays)" — and the reservation system's own welcome message repeats that "The Black Course is usually closed on Mondays for maintenance." First and last tee times move with the season: 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM in the 31 August to 7 September band, 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM from 14 to 20 September, 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM from 1 to 15 November. The operator's "September 2026 Course Schedule," stamped 8/30/2026, shows the Black closed on Tuesday 8 September and on Mondays 14, 21 and 28 September; opening at 1:00pm on Tuesday 15 September and at 12:30pm on Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 September; and open with a consecutive-start outing blocking part of the day on 1, 2, 3, 18, 22, 23, 24 and 25 September. There is no aeration entry in the Black column for that month. Only that one month is published, and no operator calendar exists for October 2026 onward — an absence recorded here rather than filled.

This is the question a visitor asks first about Bethpage, and the operator and its booking system both answer it. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation runs a single online reservation system for its park courses, and its June 2026 golf reservation FAQ states: "The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation offers an online reservation system for golfers at all the New York State Park Golf Courses. … Registration is free." Residency is a preference, not a requirement, and it buys precisely two things. First, a longer booking window: verified New York State residents may reserve starting seven days in advance for all courses, while "Non-New York State Residents and Non-Verified Residents may make reservations starting five (5) days in advance and ending the night before you wish to play. Reservations for the Black, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow Courses open at 7:00PM five days prior." Second, a lower price: "Are there different fees for Non-New York State Residents? Yes, but only on the Black and Red Courses. Non-New York State residents will pay twice the New York State rate for both the Black and Red Courses. The only proof of residency that is accepted is a valid New York State driver license or Non-Driver Identification Card issued by the DMV. Without one of these forms of ID, you will be charged the higher rate for both the Black and Red Courses." The operator draws the line itself in the same answer: "There is no residency requirement on the Blue, Green and Yellow Courses." On the Black and the Red the difference residency makes is stated entirely in fees and in the length of the booking window, and never as a condition of playing. There is no lottery. The word does not appear in the operator's June 2026 reservation FAQ, which describes the reservation system as "the only means to make a reservation at Bethpage" and as a rolling window opening at 7:00 PM, alongside walk-ups and same-day booking. The booking system, executed with no account, no cookie and no credential, says the same thing more bluntly. The Black Course tee sheet carries seven booking classes, and the "Non Resident" class is the only one that is not online-booking protected; the discounted resident classes are the protected ones. A query against the Non Resident class on 6 September 2026 returned a real, bookable, priced 18-hole tee time on the Black — 2026-09-10 at 17:00, one spot available, up to four players per booking, green fee $88, cart fee 0, rate type "walking," with a $5 booking fee per person — while the same query against the "Resident" class returned HTTP 401 Unauthorized on every date tried. The gate in that system runs the opposite way from the one a visitor fears: it protects the resident discount and leaves the visitor route open. Green fees come from the operator's own sheet, "BETHPAGE STATE PARK GOLF FEES," dated 4/22/2026 in the document itself and filed by the operator under the path segment 2026-04. Black Course, as printed: Non-NYS Residents 18 holes $140.00 weekdays and $160.00 weekends and holidays, twilight $88.00 and $100.00; NYS Residents 18 holes $70.00 and $80.00, twilight $44.00 and $50.00. Reservation Fee Per Player $5.00; No Show Fee Per Player $15.00; Cancellation Fee Per Player, within 48 hours of tee time, $15.00; Hand Pull Cart $7.00. The published table and the live booking engine agree: the $88 the engine returned for a Thursday twilight time is the sheet's non-resident weekday twilight cell, and the $100 it returned for Labor Day is the weekend-and-holiday twilight cell. Two other routes onto the Black exist, both in the operator's words: "On the Black Course the first 6 to 12 (depending on time of season) tee times are for walk-ups and then there is 1 walk-up foursome available per hour," and "Same day reservations are available through the online reservation system and can be made 3 hours prior to any tee time." Two limits go with all of this: "Reservations for the Black Course are limited to once per every 28 days," and, in the operator's capitals, "RESERVATIONS ARE NON-TRANSFERABLE. THE PERSON MAKING THE RESERVATION MUST CLAIM, PAY AND PLAY UNDER THE RESERVATION."

The second course is the Red, and the reasoning belongs on the page. Bethpage appears exactly once on Golf Digest's 2025-'26 New York ranking — at rank 7, as the Black. None of the four other regulation 18s at the same address is placed anywhere on the list, so the ranking cannot pick between them, and the choice falls to the course the operator itself presents as its next. That is the Red, on six independent operator statements: it is second in the season list on the golf page, second in the column order of the monthly course schedule, the only other course given its own opening line on the tee-times sheet, the only other course with a resident and non-resident fee split on the fee sheet, the only other course with a reservation frequency limit in the FAQ, and the course that heads the second outings document. Golf Digest says the same thing independently on the Red's own course record: "A.W. Tillinghast's Red course opened in 1935—a year before the famed Black—and is considered by many, including us, to be Bethpage's second-best layout." That record gives it as 18 holes, 7,092 yards, slope 129, designer A.W. Tillinghast, opened 1935, Facility Type Public, panelist rating 4 out of 5 from 6 reviews, with the Black's own pro-shop number, (516) 249-4040, as its contact. GolfLink lists the Red at 6,756 yards and par 71; that is a different tee set, and both figures are on record here without being reconciled. Access is the same as the Black's, on the same system, and every difference favours the visitor. The Red's tee sheet carries a "Non Resident" booking class that is, again, the only unprotected one, and a query with no credential on 6 September 2026 returned ten bookable times on 7 September and nine on 8 September, at green fees of $60 and $90 — exactly the published sheet's Non-NYS-Resident holiday-twilight and weekday-18-hole cells. From the same 4/22/2026 sheet: Non-NYS Residents 18 holes $90.00 weekdays and $100.00 weekends and holidays, twilight $55.00 and $60.00; NYS Residents 18 holes $43.00 and $48.00, twilight $26.00 and $29.00; the same $5.00 reservation fee per player. The reservation frequency limit is looser than the Black's — "Reservations for the Red Course are limited to once per 14 days" — the season is longer, and carts are permitted. Season, from the operator's 2026 tee-times sheet: "Red Course Opens - Wednesday, April 1, 2026" and "Green and Red Courses Close - Sunday, November 29, 2026," with the golf page repeating it in prose as "Red Course: Weather Permitting, Open April 1st to November 29th." The blanket Monday closure names the Black only; the Red does not carry one. What a reader planning two rounds needs to know is that the Red's outing and maintenance exposure is much heavier than the Black's. From the same "September 2026 Course Schedule," the Red column: maintenance days with a 10:06am opening on Tuesday 1, Tuesday 8 and Tuesday 15 September; closed for a consecutive-start outing from 7:15am on Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 September; closing at 12:00pm on Friday 11 September and then given over to a consecutive-start outing from 12:00pm to 6:00pm; closed for an outing of unstated start on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September; closed for a shotgun outing at 12:00pm on Tuesday 22 and Tuesday 29 September and at 10:00am on Thursday 24 September; aerated on Wednesday 30 September; and with consecutive-start windows blocking part of the day on 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25 and 28 September. The booking system corroborates the 9 and 10 September closures independently, returning no times on either date. As with the Black, no operator calendar is published beyond September 2026, so the same exposure in other months is not established. For completeness, and because a map will raise it: the nearest publicly accessible course at a genuinely separate facility is Cantiague Park Golf Course, 490 West John Street, Hicksville, run by Nassau County — nine holes, par 30, 1,878 yards, holes of 150 to 272 yards — at 6.03 road miles from the Bethpage golf entrance by Quaker Meeting House Road, Merritts Road, Central Avenue, Hicksville Road and South Broadway (NY 107), and West John Street. Nassau County prices a visitor explicitly, with a "Non-Leisure Pass & Non-Residents" row on its nine-hole fee table, which is what establishes that a visitor can play there — but that page carries no year anywhere on it, so no rate from it is printed here. The county publishes no golf season, no calendar and no aeration schedule for its nine-hole courses, so whether Cantiague is open on any given date is unverified. It has no place record in this guide.

Bethpage State Park publishes no lodging of any kind — its own page lists picnic pavilions and a catering venue and no rooms — so the weekend happens from the towns around it. The Inn at Fox Hollow, 7755 Jericho Turnpike, Woodbury, NY 11797, on 516-224-8100 or 800-291-8090, is 6.59 road miles from the golf entrance by Quaker Meeting House Road, Plainview Road, the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) and Jericho Turnpike (NY 25). It is an all-suite hotel; the operator lists Royal Suites, King Studio Suites, One Bedroom King Suites, Courtyard Studio Suites and One Bedroom Double Suites, a landscaped courtyard, a heated outdoor pool and hot tub, and a fitness centre. It publishes a complimentary American breakfast buffet and a complimentary dinner buffet served Monday to Thursday evenings, with the Vintage25 Bar & Lounge on site, and states "Check In: 3pm | Check Out: 11am." A live booking route is served on its own site. OHEKA CASTLE, 135 West Gate Drive, Huntington, NY 11743, on 631.659.1400, is 6.98 road miles out by Quaker Meeting House Road, Round Swamp Road, Old Bethpage Road, Washington Avenue, Plainview Road and West Gate Drive — and it is the one address in this guide in a different county from the course: the Census geocoder places it in Suffolk County, Huntington town, West Hills CDP, where everything else here is in Nassau County. The operator writes that "The Castle boasts 34 uniquely designed luxurious guestrooms and suites," and that OHEKA "is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation" and of Historic Hotels Worldwide. The OHK Bar & Restaurant is on the property. It is demonstrably trading on two signals: a live booking engine with a reservations address, and its own dated forward event, a Midnight Masquerade Ball on Saturday, 31 October 2026. On the golf property itself, at 99 Quaker Meeting House Road, is The Bethpage Public House, at the Heritage Club at Bethpage, run by Lessing's Hospitality Group, on (631) 581-0022. In its own words, "The culinary team at The Bethpage Public House serves a welcoming, golf-friendly menu that blends comfort and creativity with a polished touch." Its hours are not settled and this guide does not settle them: the restaurant's own dining page publishes breakfast 5:00am to 11:00am and lunch and dinner 11:00am to 8:00pm, its home page publishes 10am to 6pm, and its landlord's park page publishes a different seasonal set again. Telephone before relying on any of the three. Refreshment stands — halfway houses — run on the courses when the courses are open. For dinner off the property, Volpe Ristorante is on the same Woodbury estate as the Inn at Fox Hollow, at its own address, 7725 Jericho Turnpike, Woodbury, NY 11797, on 516-802-7501. The operator: "Marrying old-world recipes with the culinary expertise of the award-winning Scotto Brothers, Volpe Ristorante delivers fine dining like no other." It publishes a priced à la carte menu — burrata $21, French onion soup $12, filet mignon $58, lava cake $12 — hours of "Tuesday - Friday 4pm-10pm, Saturday 5pm-10pm. Closed Sunday & Monday," a dress code, and a booking policy: "For reservations of 7 or more guests, a credit card is required to hold the booking. A fee of $25 per guest will be charged for no-shows or same-day cancellations." An honest note about what is not here. Farmingdale's Main Street carries a dense restaurant row, but of the domains that could be tested, two resolved to parked domains offered for sale and one returned HTTP 404, so no page written by those operators was reached and none is described. The chain hotels closer to the park than Fox Hollow — a Hampton Inn & Suites and a Courtyard and a TownePlace Suites in Farmingdale among them — exist, but hilton.com and marriott.com return HTTP 403 to every method tried, so their existence is recorded and their detail is not. This is thin sourcing in one pass, not a thin town.