I’ve got lots of Bethpage stories, there was quite a few times we played 36 holes there too, there’s some serious hills and sometimes some serious cramping driving home. We would be out there a day and a half early and get one of the first tee times. After everyone with a ticket got their tee times we would go get another time in the afternoon. That was when it was still like 37 dollars for out of state, it’s over 100 now.
The story of my 69 is funny (the only time I broke par there) I was with my cousin and it was our second round of the day. We didn’t hit any balls before the second round just had lunch and tried to save our energy. On the first tee I TOPPED my tee shot down hill, total humiliation. If you know the first hole I hit a 3 wood over the trees on the corner headed straight for the green. We got to the green and I couldn’t find my ball for anything, I knew I crushed it and it was nowhere to be found. Just when I was about to give up, I almost stepped on it. It was pin high in the rough less than 10 feet from the pin, but the rough around the green was brutal that day. I didn’t get it up and down but I felt good anyway, not finding that ball would have put a big damper on the day.
On 2 I had about 3 inches for birdie. On 4 I played it like I always do, driver and lay up pin high on the right of the green, up and down for birdie.
On 5 we had a long wait on the tee. On this day the course was playing hard and fast like you see on TV, hit a good drive and you can get 50-60 yards of roll easy. The guys were walking up to the green and I crushed a ball, they heard it bouncing and turned around to see where the drive was. My second shot hit the pin on a bounce and stopped stone dead next to the pin, they let us play through, lol. 2 under on the front even on the back playing par 71 not par 70 the way the pros play it.
Another day we played with the biggest jerk I ever met. This was before the first open at the Black. This was another day the course was playing hard and fast and I hit a 3 wood on 1, dead center of the fairway with a wedge to the green. We got to my drive and my friend was like, that’s a big 3 wood there and this guy pipes in, yeah, I guess the pros are going to be hitting 2 irons on this hole. Then he starts saying how the pros are just going to destroy the Black, how it’s going to be an embarrassment to the course. I pull my wedge into the bunker and leave 2 shots in the bunker. The sand is pretty fine at bethpage and if you get too steep (which I was prone to do sometimes) you can leave it in the bunker easily.
So I start off with a triple, and the course is killing me for the first few holes, I left another ball in the bunker on another hole and this guy won’t shut up about how the pros are going to eat the course up. I’m still driving the hell out of the ball though, just pulling my approach shots. I’m hitting balls over 300 yards and now my friend is jabbering with the jerk. He’s asking him when we get to my ball, so where are the pros going to be on this hole and he would say, oh, they’ll be another 40-50 yards up from his ball (mine). We point out to him that would mean they’re going to drive the ball 360-370, and he’s like yeah, that’s right.
After 5 holes I’m like 9 over par and totally miserable, plus this guy won’t shut up, and he’s really obnoxious. I finally birdie 6 and feel a little better. We get to 8 and the tees are all the way back and the flag is back, long hard par 3. I hit the stick and my ball wind up like 4 feet behind the hole. Let me give you an idea of how big a jerk this guy was. He’s watched me putt, when I’m ready to putt I address next to the ball take one stroke and then go. I take my practice putt and then he says “It would be a shame to miss this putt after that shot” AS I’M PUTTING. I made it, if I hadn’t he would have gotten an earful.
My friend and I are walking to the next tee and we’re just shocked at what a clown this guy is, we were like asking each other did he really say that crap? It was such a douche move it was hard to believe. Then I birdied 9, 10 and 11 for 4 birdies in a row, never got a nice drive, nice shot, nice birdie out of him either, I just tuned him out. Still my friend was egging him on, no matter where I hit my drive, if I hit it 350, he would ask him where the pros would hit it and he would always point way down the fairway another 50 yards. I birdied 17 for 6 birdies and should have birdied 18 too. The ONLY compliment he gave me all day was after the round. He said he never saw anyone make 6 birdies there before.
Another day with another friend we get hooked up with a guy who looked EXACTLY, I mean doppelganger exactly like Fred Couples, just shorter. I heard people whispering and talking that Fred Couples was here, and we get hooked up with him and his buddy.
To make it more bizarre, the guy dressed like Fred Couples, sponsors and all, he imitated every mannerism of Fred Couples, stretched his arms over his head like Fred Couples, down to the very last detail. Tried to hit a high fade like Couples, but I found the whole thing very disturbing and unnerving, this guy had totally lost whatever “self” he possessed. A tribute band is one thing, but this guy wasn’t getting paid to imitate Fred Couples and I was just really embarrassed FOR him, even though he obviously wasn’t. It didn’t help that the guy I came with is a merciless ball buster. It was so bad that we were laughing so hard we were crying when we weren’t close to him. We were just pretending we were having a great time talking and laughing on the course, but if he suspected we were laughing at him he showed no sign of it.
“Freddy” was hacking it up, mostly doubles, mix in a triple and bogey here and there. His buddy was a little dude with a bad defect in his leg that was undersized, and he dragged it when he walked (no carts on the black) didn’t have a stable base and couldn’t hit the ball very far. Nice kid, and he kept telling us what an amazing golfer “Freddy” was even after Freddy’s doubles. I couldn’t even keep track of what Freddy’s little buddy shot, at least 120.
“Freddy” hit a few good shots on the last few holes, by this time we were yelling “FREDDY” when he hit a decent shot. He didn’t seem to mind, he wasn’t upset as far as I can tell, he seemed to just take it as if he were a pro and he WAS Freddy and we were just loud guys in the gallery. The dude gave me the creeps and I couldn’t wait to get away from him, it was just so sad.
LOL! I was laughing for five minutes reading that. Hilarious. The jerk saying the pros would hit it another 50 yards. Priceless - what an idiot. The tool talking about pros “hitting a 2 iron.” Priceless. Some still do but most would use a hybrid or fairway wood.
The Freddy this is a little too creepy. He problem goes around picking up chicks saying he is Freddy. Way way too bizarre.
6 birdies in a row at Bethpage is pretty staggering. I remember Michael Jordan bragging about how he could break 80 at Bethpage. the golf guys say he is not that good and he goes around trying to get games with betting on and often does not payoff.
Thanks. Great story and a great great round. The one guy here saying Tiger is “natural” says he shoots in the 80s and has been to the AT&T near DC and knows golf. No way Tigre is a natural.
If you get a chance sometime - on YouTube there is a funny video where Jamie Sadlowski (Canadian kid) who won the long drive champ and hits it over 400 yards is doing a demo at a tourney this year. Some PGA guys are there like Charlie Wie (I think) watching and they are like little kids. It is really funny.
Jamie has a fairly normal swing for a long driver and is not that big. He is also a scratch golfer and young enough so he could maybe get on the Nationwide.