Local Caddy's Guide to Golf on Long Island: Everything You Need to Know Before You Tee It Up
By Stevie Shapiro
IG: @urlocalcaddie
I loop at Bethpage every day, and there is no place I would rather be.
It is not for the faint of heart physically. By the end of a typical day, my phone reads about eight and a half miles walked and 25 flights of stairs climbed—and that is with two bags on my shoulders. Some days, I will do two loops.
It is a grind, but honestly, the best part has nothing to do with the walking. It is the people.
You never know who is going to be on your bag when you show up. I love getting a group of high school or college kids and young adults my age—guys I can relate to—but I enjoy the older players just as much. They have been around the game a long time, and you often walk away from those rounds with a little wisdom you did not have that morning.
You truly never know who will turn up. Professional athletes come through all the time, and during the 2025 Ryder Cup, the place was crawling with YouTubers filming out on the course.
When the Real Caddy Craft Comes Out
The skill levels are just as varied, and that is part of what makes the job fun.
With most golfers, my job is to keep them in play: up a club here, down a club there, avoid the big mistake and keep the round moving. But when I get a low single-digit or plus-handicap golfer on the bag, that is when the real caddie craft comes out.
I can give those players precise lines and exact numbers. There is nothing better than watching a player roll in a long putt, grab the ball out of the hole with excitement and say, “Good read.”
That never gets old.
Five Courses, One Clubhouse
For all the different golf courses out there, I will be honest: I spend so much time working that I do not get to play many of them myself. But that is exactly why Bethpage means so much to me—and why it is the first place I would recommend to any golfer visiting Long Island.
There are very few places in the country with five playable 18-hole courses operating out of one clubhouse.
Of the five, the Black is number one, obviously. The Green is my second favorite. It is a great track where you can let the driver rip, with open fairways and elevation changes of approximately 30 yards that give it real character.
The Red—often called “Baby Black”—plays around 7,000 yards from the blue tees and features some demanding approach shots on the back nine.
Off the Bethpage property, a couple of courses are well worth your time. Crab Meadow on the North Shore is my favorite on Long Island. It offers beautiful variety and several holes with views of Long Island Sound.
Farther east in Manorville, Swan Lake is a flat, very playable 18-hole course where you can almost always find a tee time. It has oversized greens, with water coming into play on about half the holes.
What You Need to Know Before Playing Bethpage Black
If you are coming to play the Black, here is what you need to know.
It is a world-famous championship course, and there is a reason major events are contested there. Bethpage Black hosted the U.S. Open in 2002 and 2009, the PGA Championship in 2019 and the Ryder Cup in 2025. It will host the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2028, followed by the men’s PGA Championship in 2033.
The point is, the Black is hard—and plenty of golfers walk off the course not feeling particularly good about their rounds.
But there is a real beauty in it, too.
The rough is the great equalizer. It is dense enough to swallow a golf ball whole, so staying in the fairway matters more than anything. If you do get into trouble, take your medicine, punch out and go from there.
Trying to manufacture a heroic recovery can turn one mistake into two or three very quickly.
Many of the greens also require you to carry the ball onto the putting surface. You cannot simply run the ball up from every position, which places an even greater premium on finding the fairway and leaving yourself a clean approach.
One Putting Tip That Could Save Your Round
Here is one final tip that might save your round: the greens at Bethpage Black are flatter than most golfers expect.
If you can get it out of your head that every putt is going to break significantly, you will give yourself a better chance. On many longer putts, choose a confident pace and play less break than your eyes may initially suggest.
Bring a committed stroke with the putter, and you can walk off a few greens smiling—even on a course as tough as Bethpage Black.
Play Bethpage With a Local Caddy’s Insight
Planning to take on Bethpage Black or Red? Download Stevie’s detailed CaddyTips® playing guides and prepare with the same local knowledge he shares with golfers on the course every day.
Inside, you will find valuable hole-by-hole strategy, recommended targets, club-selection advice, trouble spots to avoid and practical guidance tailored to your skill level.
Download Stevie’s CaddyTips® for Bethpage Black and Bethpage Red—and play each course like you’ve seen it before.
Bethpage Black 👉 https://www.caddytips.com/bethpage-black-course-tips
Bethpage Red 👉 https://www.caddytips.com/bethpage-red-course-tips