Bethpage State Park is officially a member of the modern era, and it's not only because booking tee times has migrated away from *66 ("the busy-signal fix").
Nearly two decades after hosting its first U.S. Open and entering the international golf discussion, management at Bethpage is now marketing the Black Course and its four sibling layouts in a way befitting America's leading public-golf facility. Gone are a sparse NYS Parks landing page and dreary unofficial website. In their place, a newly designed site and a newly found voice have turned Bethpage from a largely silent golf powerhouse into one of the most socially engaging facilities on the Island.
The park's digital transformation arrives under the watch of Kelley Brooke, the Golf Channel Academy instructor with a resume that lists decades of accomplishments in teaching and golf operations in the New York City metro area. Since winning a New York State bid and taking over at Bethpage earlier this year, Brooke has been in charge of the pro shop, private lessons, clinics and women's programs. Her to-do list continues to grow as junior-camp season approaches. "I'm running everything here but tee times," Brooke says.
Among Brooke's top priorities is marketing, specifically connecting with Long Island golfers on social media, a space where the park has remained mostly quiet outside of the informative @BethpageGolf Twitter feed and that of superintendent Andrew Wilson (@greensideup17). Over the past few seasons, both have been valuable outlets for photos and information on renovations, aeration schedules and other happenings around the courses. Brooke's focus, though, is on promoting and growing the many instructional programs, including junior and women's clinics and the park's first-ever summer golf camp, that now make Bethpage what she calls a "full-service academy."
Inside the clubhouse and out on the range, Brooke and her staff teach using a variety of launch monitors, swing and putting analyzers and state-of-the-art video and biofeedback systems. Instructional programs include sessions focusing on specific areas like driving distance and wedge play, as well as group practices and couples' clinics. The "Start to Finish Women's Program" meets once a week for five weeks, covers all aspects of the swing and takes players onto the course for a supervised test of skills.
To amplify Bethpage's new voice, Brooke hired Zach Toste, a digital-marketing consultant with golf in his blood. Toste played at Notre Dame, graduated in 2016 and works remotely from Florida, where he runs Bethpage's new Facebook and Instagram pages, tweaks the website and creates video content. Toste first learned of Bethpage the way young players in the 1990s discovered TPC Sawgrass -- through video games.
"I remember seeing the 'Warning' sign in Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf and thinking, 'Wow, that's so cool,' " Toste says.
In addition to promoting Bethpage programs, the digital-marketing team updates the Facebook page with video demonstrations by Brooke and her staff of instructors and fitness professionals. Action shots around the courses and in training sessions appear on Instagram. Last week, they launched an e-commerce section on the Bethpage website, enabling fans to purchase head covers, hats and on-course accessories branded with Bethpage's iconic caddy logo. Toste's also introduced a short-and-sweet Bethpage slogan -- "Experience Tradition."
Their goal, overall, is to connect with all golfers and make Bethpage synonymous with playing, learning and experiencing golf, not simply the Black Course and sleeping in cars for tee times.
"Golfers haven't really heard much from Bethpage over the years," Toste says. "We want them to start thinking, 'Hey, there's something going on at Bethpage.' "
[Screenshots courtesy of Bethpage Golf Course via Facebook and Instagram.]
