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As recently as a few weeks ago, Bethpage State Park had a big problem surrounding access to its five golf courses, including the Black course, a three-time major championship host (2002 and 2009 U.S. Open; 2019 PGA) that will also host the 2025 Ryder Cup this fall.
Over the years, high demand and some porous tech surrounding tee time bookings had enabled several golfers - from the enterprising to the corrupt - to game the system, using auto-click bots to snap up tee times as soon as they became available, sell them on internet grey and black markets and ultimately reduce access for taxpaying, rule-abiding golfers. No Laying Up editorial director Kevin Van Valkenburg laid out the state of affairs in an hour-long investigative podcast in January, talking to longtime Bethpage golfers, including one who had been using a bot to secure tee times at any Bethpage course whenever he desired.
After initially declining to acknowledge the incursion of bad actors into its tee time booking system, Bethpage announced on April 26 a set of tee time policy updates "to implement new tools to help prevent potential unfair access to tee times through automation," per an email sent to golfers.
The update comprises two significant changes - plus other minor ones - to Bethpage's online tee time booking procedure. The first is the institution of a $5-per-person booking fee that, effective May 1, 2025, must be paid at the time a tee time is booked online, rather than at a group's pre-round check-in. This fee is non-refundable except in the rare instances where the golf course is closed by the park, most likely due to poor weather.
By forcing golfers to pay their $5 booking fee up front, the expectation is that the automated software bots that previously would amass block of a given day's tee times microseconds after they became available to book (at 6:00 pm ET seven days ahead of time) will not be able to perform the payment step of the new system, and will revert to the intended scenario where humans need to be on the spot to book their tee times, one-at-a-time, for the following week.
The second important change to Bethpage's tee time policy newly requires golfers to check in at least 45 minutes before their appointed tee times. Golfers who fail to do so will be considered no-shows and will their tee times will be given to golfers in the walk-up queue.
Have the new policies succeeded in easing the booking process for serious Bethpage-bound golfers? A quick perusal of the tee sheet for the coming days revealed good-sized handfuls of open tee times on the Red, Blue, Green and Yellow courses for non-residents, who get to book 5 days out (New York residents get a full 7 days). As for the Black, only a single at 4:00 pm and a foursome at 5:00 pm on a weekday appeared to be available. It's still a tough ticket, but there's some hope.
At the same time, a Reddit thread about the policy change included a post from user "bethpage_bot" that stated, "These changes definitely helped reduce the number of bots but didn't get rid of them. My bot still works and it bypasses the "mandatory" booking fee they added."
Should other courses follow Bethpage's lead?
Golf's skyrocketing popularity has both increased traffic and placed novel pressures on public courses. Booking fees are commonplace among both individual courses and tee-time providers like GolfNow, and help to limit no-shows as well as any tech-aided manipulations like those Van Valkenburg and others uncovered at Bethpage.
But the new Bethpage policy that I would love to see golf courses implement is the advance check-in time. How many thousands of golf rounds are slowed unnecessarily by thoughtless golfers failing to arrive more than a couple of minutes before their assigned tee times? While I can understand it at a facility as large and busy as Bethpage, 45 minutes might be a bigger interval than most courses need, but 20 to 30 minutes early sounds eminently reasonable for golfers with confirmed tee times to check in.
More than punishing golfers, what such a policy would do is remind them of the gentle social contract into which they enter when they book a round at a course. Just like showing up offensively late for a restaurant reservation, missing a tee time on a busy day can throw the entire operation off, causing an inferior experience for other guests who have followed the written and unwritten rules that surround the process of playing golf. With many new COVID-era golfers simply unaware of certain etiquette points, it's important for facilities and, when necessary, other golfers to help inform them.
At the very least, if you think you might be late to a tee time, you owe the golf course a heads-up call as early as possible. In the vast majority of cases, they'll be willing to help you get out onto the course. But if you leave them in the lurch, don't expect them to bend over backwards for you.
More golf course news and notes
ROYAL DORNOCH'S AMBITIOUS EXPANSION - The centuries-old home club of Donald Ross is planning to overhaul its Struie course and build an entirely new 18-holer, plus two putting courses with the help of the popular design firm of King Collins Dormer. [LINK: Royal Dornoch Golf Club]
TEXAS' NEW #MUNAISSANCE PROJECT - Universal City, a suburb of San Antonio, is working with architect Nathan Crace to develop plans to improve its city course, Olympia Hills. [LINK: Twitter/X]
FLORIDA CLASSIC ON LIFE SUPPORT - The days as a golf course for Lake Wales Country Club, a Seth Raynor design (not Donald Ross, as is often reported) in central Florida, may be numbered. Current ownership wants to build more than 1,000 homes on the property, a plan that infuriates locals. [LINK: The Ledger]
JUNIOR RATES ABOLISHED - A Canadian municipal course northwest of Toronto is instituting free rounds for all kids 16 and under. [LINK: Collingwood Today]
CLUBHOUSE BURNS - The clubhouse at Lakewood Shores in Michigan was "completely destroyed" by fire. Luckily, no one was injured in the blaze. [LINK: MLive.com]
GOLF-ADJACENT - The pilot who made an impressive emergency landing at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles was just 21. [LINK: YouTube/Inside Edition]
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