Bethpage Black to host Ryder Cup 2025, first municipal course to stage golf’s premier team event

Bethpage Black, a municipal course in Bethpage State Park on Long Island, will host the 2025 Ryder Cup, marking the first time a public, municipally owned course has staged golf’s premier team championship. The event is expected to draw tens of thousands of spectators to the 1,500-acre site, with as many as 50,000 fans a day anticipated over the course of the competition. The course hosts roughly 250,000 rounds a year, with green fees that vary by residency and status. New York residents pay about $75, while non-residents are charged around $150, underscoring the public nature of the venue.

Preparation for the event has carried a palpable tension in the park. 'This summer was the craziest. We had people waiting for more than 48 hours in our parking lot,' Bethpage's course-set-up chief Andrew Wilson told BBC Sport. They would arrive Friday morning and not be able to play until Sunday, with tailgating forming part of the spectacle. Bethpage Black's signage and the long drive to the first tee embody a 'pilgrimage' element for many players.

Bethpage Black spans 7,100 yards from the championship markers and is defined by jungle rough, cavernous bunkers and tight fairways that test patience and nerve. The warning sign at the first tee reads, 'WARNING. The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers,' a stark prelude as players step onto the approach. Wilson, who has worked on the greens staff for nearly 37 years as the course’s agronomist, says the reality is every bit as daunting as the sign implies. 'Oh, definitely. By the fourth hole if you’ve missed by 10 feet and you’re in a bunker 12 feet below the green, it can already feel a little tiring,' he said. 'Then you start to get frustrated and have to play the mental game in your head. I think the Black can test your patience—and that's why it is so hard.' The undulating terrain has holes weaving through the park’s natural landscape, with dense woodland forming a curtain around many of the early holes and the fairways cut through rough that seems to bite back at every bad decision. Sam Burns, a United States Ryder Cup player, found out how tricky the Bethpage rough is during a Tuesday practice round.

The experience draws day-trippers and serious players alike, who often compare the challenge to a test of will as much as skill. 'How many times do you want to try to make the heroic shot? It’s like gambling,' Wilson says. 'You think you’re going to win all that money back and you think you’re going to hit that shot—and then you don’t and you don’t again. But when every golfer hits that one shot they’re coming back.' The course’s length and the way holes weave through dense trees give Bethpage a famously demanding profile that reinforces its status as a Mecca for public golf.

Bethpage Black is one of five courses within the park and is accessible by train from Manhattan and Brooklyn, a key factor in its suitability for the Ryder Cup’s attendance. Beyond golf, the 1,500-acre site hosts a range of activities, from tennis and polo to hiking and biking, drawing roughly 250,000 non-golf visitors each year. The Ryder Cup’s infrastructure footprint is another reason Bethpage was selected: the development space to build grandstands, hospitality and spectator routes is substantial, and the site is well connected to highways and transit. The project is funded by the state government, with the Parks and Recreation budget supporting course upkeep. Officials note that revenue from golf and other events helps sustain winter play and frontline operations. The course closed to the public in mid-August for the Ryder Cup makeover and is scheduled to reopen on Oct. 9. After the tournament concludes, the PGA of America invites sponsor members to play Bethpage in two shotgun starts on the Monday following the event, with access typically limited to single-digit handicappers who want to test themselves on a major venue. Bethpage’s leadership says the event is a test of the park’s infrastructure and its ability to handle the scale and weather contingencies that come with hosting a major championship.