Bethpage Black - in terms of playing to your handicap
I was really surprised how difficult the course was when I played there for the first time in October. Like most Open venues I would have guessed a lot of the difficulty would have been due to the narrow fairways, but on top of that the lack of greens you can actually run the ball into, make it really hard for the average guy. As a +2 I was happy with the 73 I posted from the past Open Plaques, the two guys i played with, a father(probably a 24) and a son (a solid 6-8), neither of them shot with-in 10 shots of their handicap from the white tees and the son hit it fairly solid all day. The bunkers are massive and most average guys can chip and pitch it well enough to save a bogey from the grass, those bunkers no chance. The shallow nature of some of the greens especially 17 or impossible for the average guy, and the elevation changes as well in terms of clubbing and holding uphill shots on holes like 2,4,15. hte holes average guys can make up some ground, shorter par 4's, par 5's are strategically tough, either blind like 6 or tricky like 4. and the par3's are really hard if you miss the greens.