Major honours
Bethpage Black is the only state-owned public course that hosts men's majors. Opened in 1936 as a Depression-era public-works project and designed by A.W. Tillinghast, Bethpage State Park on Long Island has five courses including the Black. A warning sign beside the first tee — recommending the course only for highly skilled players — is famous worldwide. Par 70 at roughly 7,460 yards with severe elevation change and deep rough, walking 18 holes is a physical test. At the 2002 U.S. Open Tiger Woods won as the only player under par, making Bethpage the first public course to host a U.S. Open; Lucas Glover won the 2009 Open and Brooks Koepka the 2019 PGA Championship. In September 2025 it hosted the Ryder Cup, where Europe beat the United States 15–13.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
It is compared with Pebble Beach as the emblem of public major golf: Pebble Beach is an expensive resort course; Bethpage is a true municipal track where locals queue in the dawn parking lot for tee times — a contrast that helped justify the 2002 U.S. Open bid.