The Bethpage Black course of Long Island, NY has served as the home to many significant golf events over the years. As such, golfers from all over come and sleep overnight in the parking lot for the opportunity to walk the muni fairways (or more likely the thick rough) that Tiger Woods has dominated so many times before. Well, unsurprisingly…Bethpage Black is really hard! So hard that the Parks Department realized there was a significant need to try and address who is playing on the course since it’s public and they can’t technically turn people away. Thus the birth of the Bethpage Black Warning sign which has basically become the signature brand of the course that is a must photo during a visit. Just consider yourself warned of a potential nightmare day if you don’t have the chops…
I don’t know how “common knowledge” it was, but I learned this week that the Warning sign was actually a direct result of a “fight” out on the Black course. Apparently it was a Memorial Day in the early ’80s and a twosome created a massive backup that drew the ire of the foursome immediately behind them. This naturally resulted in a battle of firing golf balls back and forth at each other (?!) along with a language barrier. Mike Asheroff, the deputy regional director for the Long Island State Parks at the time, told the New York Post the story:
“We (Eric Siebert – Parks Superintendent at this time) went out there and some guy had decided he was going to teach his wife to play golf on Memorial Day on the Black Course,” Asheroff told The Post in a telephone interview. “There were four or five empty holes in front of them and a foursome of very angry Asian golfers behind them. They were getting upset with the man and the woman and their English wasn’t good. To hurry them up, they hit several balls into him and his wife. He turned around and hit the balls back at them. They all became extremely angry.
Once the dust settled, Asheroff scribbled out a crude sign on a piece of paper with the now famous words of warning. Following this event, the permanent sign we all know and love today was soon to follow.
There’s a lot more back and forth about the sign and the validity of the story. Dave Catalano, director of Bethpage State Park from 1995 to 2011, semi-corroborates the story, but weighed in on how the sign didn’t really deter players nor would they want to scare people away anyway.
Had the sign actually discouraged play, Catalano might have considered taking it down.
“We never made any attempt, nor do I believe we should have made any attempt to prevent somebody from playing the golf course,” he said. “It’s a public gem and it’s been a public gem since it opened in 1936 and God knows how many people have played it.”
Well said, and the correct perspective. It may make for a long day out there, but courses like this are a rare breed for us public players.
It’s worth the read (here) to get caught up on how the whole “brand” behind Bethpage Black came to be and has grown so much. The article talks about more than just the sign so check it out. If you’re a golf nerd like us, you love to see these kinds of stories. At the very least, it makes for great random golf conversation at the 19th Hole or while you’re watching the PGA Championship coverage this week.
