First I want to thank Ran for not cancelling my membership to this great site. It's been so long since I last posted, although I do stop in to read the posts from time to time.
Nothing like a good Bethpage Black thread to get me back in the game! Thanks to Phil and others for this thread and the great pictures.
Without writing a book, I've always enjoyed the banter between Matt Ward and Phil Young - two guys who have deep passion for the Black. I can agree with some points you both make. I recall writing letters to David Fay back in 1998 when I heard they were going to convert 13 into a par 4, while leaving 7 as a par 5, which would have made 7 the last par 5 on the course - yuck! We actually had a nice two-letter's each exchange.
On 18, the hole has always suffered from what I feel is "running out of topography." The Black has a such a great routing on wonderful land. I can imagine Tilly standing on 17 thinking to himself "now how do I get this thing back to the house with a solid 18th hole?" If it were me, I would have made a couple changes to the existing hole. First, move the green to the right one full green complex width and back a very minor 5-10 yards. If you look at the ground level pictures, this would set up for a diagonal front left to back right green shape - in contrast to the 17th green. The stand of trees there would still provide good separation from the 1st tee on the red. Second, take those awful flanking bunkers, which is something that does not fit with the diagonal nature of most tees shots on the black and reposition into diagonal comlpexes. My preference, take the right bunker complex and extend out and short left, while taking the left bunker complex and extending a bit long and right. make certain to have a landing area short right of the first bunker complex. This would be the easier tee ball, but would leave a longer second with not the best angle. The hole would be a subtle dogleg right with so much more interest. If not this, then a 340ish par 4 with some potential to drive the green, maybe 10th at Riviera sort of thing.
Aside from that, I still do not know why in the seven years since the 02 open, nothing was done to a few greens. Winged Foot greens at the black would be silly, but some tilt and minor internal contouring would have added some real interest. Number's 2, 6, 7, 9, and 18 (aside from fixing the entire hole) come to mind. I think this was an opportunity missed.