Why public courses are such a hit with fans

NOBODY knows better than Tiger Woods why US Opens played on public courses resonate with the crowds that flock to see them.

As a kid in Los Angeles the future world number one and 14-time major winner would hustle grown-ups in putting contests at his local municipal track to win quarters to pay his green fees and the young prodigy was given his first taste of a championship golf course on the municipally-owned Torrey Pines in southern California.

Woods, 33, played three Junior World Championships at Torrey between the ages of 15 and 17 and he would return there as a professional to win six PGA Tour events.

Torrey was also the scene of perhaps his most remarkable victory of all when last summer he limped to an epic play-off triumph over Rocco Mediate as America’s national championship went ‘muni’ for only the second time its 108-year history.

The first time was at Bethpage Black on New York’s Long Island in 2002, also won by Woods and it is no wonder the world number one is delighted to be bidding for a 15th major championship back at the Black this week.

“It’s pretty neat to see the biggest championship in our country go to the public venues,” Woods said.

“When you’re out there competing you hear, as we did at Bethpage in 2002, a lot of fans saying ‘I’ve played here. I grew up playing here. I’ve hit it here and there’.

“That’s when it truly is an Open and just makes for a much more special atmosphere.’’

Woods’ memories of his ‘muni’ days are vivid. “I remember as a kid going up to the counter to pay but I was too small to see over it.

“So I’d be yelling from under the counter and the guy would stick his head over. I’d pay my money, usually from my earnings the day before on the putting green.

“That’s how I got my green fee – hustling. I was a little kid saying ‘Want to putt? Want to play for some skins?’ I used to come home with a pocket full of quarters.’’

That Woods’ early experience of public courses is one shared by millions of golfers is not unique in itself, not in America or across the world. What makes Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines unique is that the legions that have played those course have been able to see the game’s best players pit their wits over the very same holes.

“A lot of people around here who grew up playing out there have fond memories of dragging their bag behind them on a cart, which I think makes this Open that much more special,” said Jay Rains, vice president of the USGA executive committee and a prime mover in taking last year’s US Open to Torrey Pines.

“It’s not just that it’s in your hometown, it’s not just it’s a golf course that you can play, but it’s a golf course that I think spiritually means a lot to people around here.”

At both Torrey in 2008 and Bethpage seven years ago, all the professionals agreed that they felt a sense of ownership of the courses they were playing by the people paying to watch them.

“When they came out here, everyone was so excited to have it out here on their golf course because it seemed like everyone who’s played golf in this area has played this golf course,” Woods said. “There’s something to be said for that.’’

The egalitarian background of Bethpage, 35 miles east of Manhattan, also strikes a chord with the locals on Long Island.

The Black course was laid out by the renowned architect AW Tillinghast on wooded, hilly, land that had previously been privately owned estate property.

Project leader Robert Moses envisioned a “country club for the masses” and New Yorkers heartily bought into the concept, a 1935 Brooklyn Eagle headline proclaiming Bethpage was a place “Where Millions Play”.

Unfortunately the State Park lost its allure and by the 1960s Bethpage had a reputation as a brute for all the wrong reasons, not least its overgrown state of disrepair that would reach well into the 1990s.

“I remember all too well as a collegiate golfer competing on the Black in the early 1990s, a solid round could go heartbreakingly awry at almost every turn, whether in a huge untended bunker or amid the impenetrable brush and tall grass that lined most of the holes,” says Paul Rogers of Links Magazine.

“Back then,” says Bethpage State Park director Dave Catalano, “if you hit it in the rough you could be next to a young tree, a giant weed or God knows what else.”

When the USPGA decided in 1997 to send the US Open to Bethpage in 2002 it sparked a wholesale clean up and renovation by renowned “Open doctor” Rees Jones, assisted by superintendent Craig Currier.

Jones restored the Black to its intimidating best, tried and tested by local golfers who are devoted to its challenges.

“When you stand on the first tee you know exactly why we do this,” said Bethpage Black regular Dave Berger. “To walk the same course as Rocco (Mediate), Phil and Tiger, that’s the coolest stuff you can do and we’re doing it.”

Berger and his ilk will not be afraid to share those sentiments with the pros this week as they prepare for the 109th US Open.

Pádraig Harrington remembers it all too well from the first time he played Bethpage back in 2002, when he finished tied for eighth.

“There was a definite feeling of people owning the golf course,” Harrington said, “all the crowd, rather than it being in any way exclusive. It’s our course, and they were very proud of it.’’