Golfweek announced its annual ranking of America's Best Municipal Courses last month and the Black Course at Bethpage State Park found itself in a very familiar place -- at the top.
Bethpage Black is the top muni in the country for the sixth year in a row according to Golfweek, and as usual, the Black's next-door neighbor -- Bethpage Red -- is a little ways down the list. Montauk Downs returns as well.
The 2014 list features no change in the top five -- trailing behind Bethpage Black are Chambers Bay (Washington), Butterfield Trail (Texas), Torrey Pines South (California) and the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale (Arizona). The Red Course, however, did make a jump to #16 after settling in at #27 in 2013. The Rees Jones-redesigned Montauk Downs course fell two spots to #44.
In March, the three courses took their usual spots in Golfweek's Best Courses You Can Play list, a ranking of public golf courses by state. The Black took top honors, while the Red and Montauk Downs landed at #12 and #13, respectively. Shoreham's Tallgrass Golf Course, ranked #7, was the other Long Island representative. The Black also made the top 20 in Golfweek's Classic Courses list.
Golfweek's Best Municipal Courses list rates the top 50 government-owned layouts nationwide. Golf courses are evaluated and ranked based on conditioning, routing, variety, memorability and other categories.
Thats great but can somebody tell me why they have the worst Practice facility . You have one of the longest course in the country and you can't hit Driver at the Range or practices a bunker shot . I think Black should be #1 but things need to change .
Posted by: Ed Hanover | July 29, 2014 at 09:34 AM