Bethpage State Park: Green Course

The Green at Bethpage State Park is the quiet sibling of the famous Black Course, tucked across Round Swamp Road with a softer feel and a much friendlier green fee. Originally built as Lenox Hills Country Club, a 1923 Devereux Emmet design that went private-to-public when New York State bought the property in 1932, the Green was subsequently modified by A.W. Tillinghast in 1934-1935 as he laid out the Black, Red, and Blue alongside it. The result is a classic municipal parkland course with century-old architectural bones. The opening hole is one of the most memorable: a downhill, dogleg-right 354-yard par 4 that mirrors the Black's famous 1st hole across the road, with scattered trees on either side and a green defended by bunkers on both flanks. Beyond the iconic start, the Green plays as the easiest of Bethpage's five courses, shorter, less punishing off the tee, and ideal for the grinding day-tripper who wants classic Golden Age design without the Black's U.S. Open brutality. At a NY State Park muni rate, it's one of the great value rounds in golf: Emmet + Tillinghast for the price of a weeknight dinner.