Friends Adam Farrell and Joe Welton from their time at Bethpage Black Golf Course. (Photos from a Washington Post screen grab)
How many hours would you spend in the back of your SUV in order to play one of America’s highest rated public golf courses?
If your answer was anything short of 44 hours well, you’re an amateur.
I discovered the story of three friends with Michigan roots (turns out they all played baseball together at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids) who set about to play Bethpage Black Golf Course, host of the 2025 Ryder Cup, in the August 8 edition of the Washington Post (unfortunately behind a pay wall).
Bethpage is a public course (it’s on the grounds of Bethpage State Park) in Farmingdale, NY. It’s routinely rated as one of the best public courses in the nation and is fairly affordable ($70 for in-state residents and twice that for out-of-staters) and accessible (an allotment of tee-times are available on a first-come, first-served basis in the form of a queue).
Adam Farrell, Michael Penny, and Joe Welton planned to spend one night in the parking lot and when they’d arrived and realized it was going to escalate quickly to two some soul searching needed to occur.
It was an absolute treat to speak to Adam and Joe (Michael had a work obligation that came up) to hear about their life as sports fans as well as what it took to play the course hosting the world’s best this weekend.