ode Yes. First time was way back in 03 or 04 i was in my prime golfing era. Buddy and me went and had no idea what was going on, he had this little ass Kia.
We knew we needed to park in the parking lot and sleep over to get a tee time. We got there like 8 or 9 at night and were the first ones there.
We were also the first ones off.
Perfect.
Played the course, man it was long, looked long. Rough so deep that you couldn't see your ball standing over it and this was 1 pace from the fairway. The course was set up for some sort of Jr AM or something maybe Ny state AM, it was everything i hoped it would be. But it wasn't hard. Just that rough. Greens weren't anything special. Shot an 80 that day on a course i never saw. It was great.
Next time we went up and did it right in a van.... much more comfortable.
more people, we were like car 3 so we got a later time.
More people, more hanging out it was more like the photos you see in this thread.
Great time to be had.
Then my buddy got a job in the city and could book tee times so i didn't have to camp out for a few years.
Last time i did it 2009, it was with a different buddy. Similar but we were in spot 6 or 7.
Our options were to move over to spot 1 and be firsts the next day OR take the cancellations which they had 2 of.
Well since this was the last day open before the course closed for the open. My buddy was in the last group.
There was alot more people there and it was start of summer-ish so it was nice weather and everyone was more sociable.
This round was really cool.
All the grandstands and tents were up.
The course was WAY easier than the first time i played it.
The fairways were wider, the rough shorter.
They had some new tee boxes for that years open.
It was funny. You are standing on a tee and thinking this hole is long and then turn around about 80-90 yds tucked back in the corner is the teebox for the pros on an already long par 5.
They had them roped off and guarded lol.
Anyway that round was pretty cool.
I am too old to be sleeping in the car and then walking 5 miles over hill and dale.
My last round at Bethpage i went with the family to see Elton in Nassau, i drove over to the course and the blue (i think) was the walk up. The other courses were closed because it was almost Thanksgiving.
Anyway i roll up at the crack of dawn tee up and played and didn't see another person for about 2 hours. in all of Long Island i was the only golfer on the course. That was really cool (at least to me).
So those are my Bethpage stories.
