Owned by New York’s Parks and Recreation Department, Bethpage State Park’s Black Course was built in the mid-1930s using stimulus money from FDR’s New Deal. Golfers driven to distraction by this beast may argue that as a public-works project, it hasn’t served the public much good at all. The par-4 10th hole requires a golfer to strike the ball at least 250 yards in the air just to reach the fairway. On the second day of the 2002 U.S. Open, only 15% of the players managed to find the short grass on that infamous hole. Some golfers didn’t even bother to try: “If you can’t hit it 280 [yards] in the air around here, you might as well go home,” said 2001 U.S. Senior Open champion Bruce Fleisher before withdrawing a few days before the U.S. Open began.
Top 10 Most Difficult Golf Courses
The Augusta National course is storied, exclusive, very opulent and very private — the perfect location for Tiger Woods to make his much anticipated return to golf. As the pros gear up to take the green in the annual Masters tournament, TIME takes a look at the toughest courses in the game