PGA Meets WPA at Bethpage State Park

This year the PGA Tournament is back at the notoriously challenging Bethpage Black golf course at Bethpage State Park. This is a rare example of a PGA tournament taking place at a state park—and the park, including its golf courses, is apparently part of the legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal administration.

According to this web page:

The five courses at Bethpage State Park--Bethpage Black, Red, Green, Yellow and Blue (from hardest to least difficult)--were created as a W.P.A. project during the Depression of the 1930s. Over 1800 workers transformed 1475 acres of rolling woodlands into a parkland devoted to recreation with picnic areas, playing fields, horse trails and tennis courts in addition to the five golf courses. A.W. Tillinghast, who has designed some of America's greatest golf courses, designed three of the courses at Bethpage (Black, Red and Blue). Bethpage Black was the final course he designed in his luminous career.

Sounds like this is one of those examples of the government doing something right. Readers of this blog know that Bethpage State Park is also home to polo matches and hiking trails.

POLO PIX

It's been a while since I've been to a polo match, but today I caught much of the nail-biter between Cinque Terre and the Groton Foxes. Meadowbrook Polo Club manager Mauricio Devrient scored many goals for the Foxes, but Cinque Terre took the trophies in sudden death overtime, winning 7-6. Here are some pix from the game. Note my Muybridge moment in the top photo and the detail of the tablecloth on the trophy table. Is that a Groton Fox?








































































































































































Photos: David Marc Fischer

TODAY'S POLO SCORE

The teams tied, at 6-6!
























Photo: David Marc Fischer