Tom M….per your prior comment, here is my case for why Bethpage State Park is a groundbreaking/revolutionary set of golf courses…
Three of Bethpage State Park’s four golf courses were built with government funds and the fourth was modified with these funds and the accompanying labor. The government program that was directly responsible for providing funds and labor for these courses was the Public Works Administration. This program was a Roosevelt New Deal program which was created in 1933 to help battle the Great Depression. It authorized over $3 billion to be spent on projects which were designed to provide jobs, stabilize the economy, improve public welfare and morale, and contribute to a revival of American industry.
AW Tillinghast laid out and supervised construction and/or modification of the four 18 hole courses…Green, Blue, Red, and Black Courses (and as an FYI the Yellow course was added in 1958). By 1935 the most famous of these courses, the Black Course, was finished and in 1936 it hosted a major golf tournament, the National Public Links Championship.
Does this constitute a groundbreaking/revolutionary course? I say, “Yes.” It was, in fact, a golf course whose very conception was designed to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and help fend off, perhaps, the greatest economic tragedy in our nation’s history.
This in and of itself should put it on the list…but I also want to know is it/was it great.
Since the Black Course is the crowned jewel at Bethpage, let’s examine that course. For starters, it hosted a significant golf tournament right after its completion. So, instantly we lean towards want to classify it as potentially great. And then, if we simply read Ran’s write up on the Black Course we can conclude nothing less than Bethpage Black is now, and was in 1936, great!
Here are a few snippets from Ran’s write-up…
One of the lasting appeals of Bethpage is that the holes seem to be effortlessly cut from the same fabric, with one sound hole following another
As an examination in driving, this course is Tillinghast’s masterpiece
Tillinghast’s work at Bethpage serves as a thesis on how-to bunker a course
Rees Jones was given the responsibility of restoring the course to its former glory prior to the 2002 U.S. Open. Work commenced in July 1997 and the course re-opened in June 1998.
I think it is inarguable the AW Tillinghast was a great golf course architect. Therefore, if Bethpage Black is his “masterpiece” regarding a test of driving…the course must be great. If Tillinghast’s work at Bethpage serves as a “how-to” course on bunkering…the course must be great. Then again, if Rees Jones had to restore it to its former glory…it had to be glorious at some point in the past.
Given all this…I can only conclude one thing…Bethpage Black is a groundbreaking/revolutionary golf course and, perhaps, the entire golf complex at Bethpage is groundbreaking/revolutionary.
Tom Macwood…you previously mentioned that Harding Park and Sharp Park potentially deserve mention on the list. If you have the time, please detail why we should consider them for the list.