Ryder Cup: What to expect from Bethpage Black

“Warning: The Black Course is an extremely difficult course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers.” That’s what the sign behind the first tee reads at Bethpage Black, home of the upcoming Ryder Cup.

Even though the collection of golfers competing in the Ryder Cup is some of the best in the world, Bethpage can still be one of the toughest tasks to handle.

Golf Digest has it ranked as the sixth hardest course in the country, just behind PGA Tour courses like Winged Foot (2020 US Open), Augusta National, Shinnecock Hills (2026 US Open) and Oakmont (2025 US Open).

What makes this course so hard? Despite being set at a par-71, the course rating is a 78 from its furthest tees. For reference, Oakmont’s course rating is 77.6 from its Championship tees, meaning Bethpage Black is actually slightly harder according to that statistic.

The course measures a long 7,486 yards. Out of all of the courses on this year’s PGA Tour schedule, Bethpage would be the ninth longest, with courses like Augusta, Quail Hollow and Torrey Pines ahead of it.

Not only is this course tough according to length and statistics, but so is its layout. Bethpage features four par threes, only one of which is shorter than 200 yards. The second hole is the only par four shorter than 400 yards, and the par five 13th hole is a monstrous 608 yards.

Bethpage Black demands perfection off of the tee with super-tight fairways that are protected by all kinds of trouble if golfers miss their landing spot. From there, the course has 77 feet of elevation changes throughout.

From the fairway, golfers don’t have a ton of space to miss when targeting greens. Each of the greens is small and well-protected by plenty of bunkers and water.

Once they reach the green, almost all of the greens are relatively flat but fast, making putting one of the easier, but still challenging parts of the course.

According to the PGA Tour’s website, Phil Mickelson had this to say about Bethpage after the 2002 US Open: “The greens are subtle and you feel like you can make putts on them. When we get to greens this speed, I’m used to seeing a lot more break in them.”

In Bethpage’s history of hosting major tournaments, scoring has been hard to come by, even for the champions. Woods won the first major hosted at Bethpage, the 2002 US Open, finishing with a score of -3 on the week and a total of 277.

When the US Open returned to Bethpage in 2009, Lucas Glover was the champion, finishing just one stroke better than Woods in 2002. The next major hosted at the course wasn’t until 2019.

Up until that point, any PGA Tour event or major hosted at Bethpage hadn’t seen a winning stroke total lower than 274. That was until Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship that year, finishing at -8 with a total of 272.

For this weekend, the course is set up slightly easier than normal, but that doesn’t make it any less challenging.

The first tee is moved closer than normal due to the grandstands that are traditionally behind the first tee during the Ryder Cup, and the normally thick rough has been cut shorter.

Nonetheless, Bethpage Black will be a tough test for both the US and Europe to endure, but only one team can win the Ryder Cup, and the course will be a huge part of determining which team is victorious.

Dylan Sechrist is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dks5749@psu.edu.