Getty Image / Kevin C. Cox
The 2019 PGA Championship will be played at the Bethpage Black Course, one of the most famous golf courses in the world renowned for its difficulty. This is the 101st playing of the PGA Championship and it’s in a new time slot on the PGA schedule this year. Traditionally, the PGA Championship was the 4th and final Major Championship of the season but this year it’s been slotted in between the Masters and U.S. Open with the Open Championship (British Open) in mid-late July as the final Major.
EVERY course they play on the PGA Tour is hard but the Bethpage Black Course is so difficult it literally has a warning sign that says the course should only be played by highly skilled golfers.
Bethpage Black has previously hosted the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens as well as The Barclay’s in 2012 and 2016 which was part of the PGA’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. And all eyes in the golf world will once again turn towards The Hamptons next week as the sport’s elite descend upon one of the hardest courses on the planet.
Golf Digest put together this short clip which gives you a play-by-play of each hole on the Bethpage Black course. This is a public course. So if you’re a ‘highly skilled golfer’ and want to lose a shit ton of golf balls you can pay a ton of money to play this course in The Hamptons this Summer.
I’ve played some difficult courses in my life, all across the country (and in other countries) but I’m not sure I’ve ever teed up on anything that compares to Bethpage Black. It doesn’t even look fun to me, it looks like a course where I’d lose AT LEAST a dozen balls, possibly two dozen.
The 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black was won by Tiger Woods who finished the event as THE ONLY player in the field under par. That was widely regarded as one of the most difficult U.S. Open’s in history and most likely prompted a series of changes in the conditions. The 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black won by Lucas Glover suffered multiple stoppages in play due to conditions.
After the 2019 PGA Championship, Bethpage Black will host The Northern Trust in 2021 as part of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the 2024 Ryder Cup, and it will host The Northern Trust in the FedEx Cup again in 2027 so definitely commit those holes in the video above to memory.