Bethpage State Park - Red Course

The Red Course stands as the crown jewel among Bethpage's four non-Black courses, a 1935 A.W. Tillinghast design that opens with a demanding par-4 but rewards golfers with strategic variety and generous scoring opportunities throughout. Known affectionately by locals as "Black-light," the Red offers the DNA of its more famous sibling—dramatic elevation changes, strategic bunkering, and parkland sophistication—but tempers the penal nature with more forgiving greens and genuine recovery options. The routing takes you on an out-and-back journey through forested terrain before opening into wind-swept meadowland, creating a constantly evolving test. Without a single water hazard, the course leans on its masterful bunkering, clever doglegs, and subtle green complexities to maintain interest. This is pure Tillinghast: routing over natural topography with elegant simplicity that simply cannot be replicated by modern earthmoving.