• Golf Caddy Guide
• Central Upstate N.Y.
• Northeast USA
• Midwest USA
• Southeast USA
• Northwest USA
• Southwest USA
• British Isles

Golf Caddy Guide:  New York State

The Westchester Country Club (or Westchester Biltmore Country Club) was founded by John McEntee Bowman, who hired Walter Travis to design two golf courses in Rye, New York as a luxury resort hotel. The West Course was designed for championship play and has hosted PGA tournaments since 1963. The South Course was originally designed for women and higher handicap golfers. Around 1997, the South Course was reconstructed with longer tees, new sand and grass bunkers, water hazards, and some new greens. The South Course is now more competitive with the West Course to accommodate low handicap golfers. Westchester Country Club hosted its first PGA tournament in 1963 with the Thunderbird Classic. The Thunderbird was also held in 1964 and 1965. There was no PGA tournament at Westchester Country Club in 1966, and starting in 1967 the West Course has annually hosted the Westchester Classic stop on the PGA Tour. (The tournament name has changed several times since then due to sponsorship switches, and is now called The Barclays.) On January 14, 2008, an article in the Journal News announced the PGA Tour's desire to terminate its affiliation with Westchester Country Club. The decision was made primarily because of Tiger Woods' refusal to play in the tournament in 2007 and the tournament's subsequent low TV ratings and low attendance. On Saturday, January 26, 2008, a compromise agreement was made between the club and the PGA Tour at a Town Hall Meeting at the club. The PGA paid WCC $1.1 million to move the tournament from Harrison to Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ, for the 2008 event. The 2009 event will be held at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, NJ, and the event will return to WCC for a final time in either 2010, 2011, or 2012. (Biblio: Article Source Click Here from Wikipedia.com) (Click Here to our Slide Show):

Bethpage Park Black Course

Bethpage Black Park has five eighteen-hole golf courses, named (in increasing order of difficulty) the Yellow, Green, Blue, Red, and Black Courses. In 2002 the Black Course became the first publicly owned and operated course to host the U.S. Open. The tournament was won by Tiger Woods, being the only golfer to score under par for the tournament. The Tournament was seen as one of the most difficult and exciting U.S. Opens in history, breaking attendance records and creating a boisterous atmosphere for the U.S. Open. Bethpage Black also hosted the 2009 U.S. Open Golf Championship, which was won by Lucas Glover. Prior to 2002, all U.S. Opens had been staged at private golf or country clubs or at privately owned resorts that, while open to the public, were very expensive for the public to play, with greens fees of several hundred dollars per round. The USGA's choice of Bethpage was seen as an egalitarian move; as of 2008, Bethpage Black's weekend price for 18 holes was $60 for New York State residents, and $120 for non-residents. There are a number of ways for golfers to secure a round on the always popular Black course. To register for a tee time, guests must have their driver's license on file with the park's reservation system. Walk-ups are also accepted, though often require that golfers wait in line in the parking lot through the night. In its July 2008 list of America's greatest golf courses, Golf Digest ranked Bethpage Black #26 overall, #6 in the state of New York, #6 of America's 50 toughest courses, and #5 in its list of America's greatest public golf courses. It is also the top-ranked course in the Golf Digest list that is operated by a governmental entity. PGA.com lists Bethpage Black as one of its top ten 'World's Most Beautiful Courses' list.
(Biblio: Article Source Click Here from Wikipedia.com) (Click Here to our Slide Show):