Black Course set to open for season; updates on Bethpage renovations

The Black Course at Bethpage State Park will open for the season tomorrow, April 14, following a busy offseason of renovations and repairs around the park courses.

Greenside bunkers on 12 of Black's 18 holes have been renovated since last fall with the replacement of sand and installation of new sod around the edges.  More important than the sand and sod, says Andrew Wilson, the park's director of agronomy, is the addition of an improved drainage system. 

"The bunkers will hold little, if any water, and washouts are also reduced drastically," Wilson says.  "The bunkers play better and we save labor."

Those who go out on the Black tomorrow morning will notice the repair work is still underway in some prominent spots.  Traps on holes #2, #8 and #10 will be ground under repair for several weeks until the recently installed sod grows in and new sand is added.  Due to some poorly timed rain in recent weeks, aeration on the Black was delayed until this past Sunday, so some of the greens will still be recovering when the course opens.

According to Wilson, any remaining work around the greens will continue next offseason, along with repairs to some fairway bunkers.

Parts of the rough were seeded to alleviate residual effects from last year's Barclays tournament, specifically in areas of heavy foot traffic or where bleachers and tents were located.  Collars around the greens have been changed from bentgrass to poa/bent. 

"We went back to poa/bent collars, which should stand up to foot traffic better," Wilson says.  "We also went to an 18” collar from 36”.  So there will be 1.5” height of cut rough around the collar."

Elsewhere, renovated bunkers are in play on #1 and #18 on the Green Course and #2 on the Blue.  Players will also find a new forward tee on the Red Course's opening hole, located at the bottom of the hill below the regular tees. 

The back tee on Blue #1 -- where the Barclays merchandise tent stood last summer -- will reopen later this month.

View photos of the renovations by visiting Wilson's and Bethpage Golf's Twitter pages at @Greensideup17 and @BethpageGolf.