Ask Long Island golfers which Bethpage course they play most and the answer is the Red. It is the better weekly golf course in the park, and for a Manhattan visitor shut out of the Black it is an upgrade in fun, not a downgrade.
Our take: The Red is a top five public course in the metro on our list, at resident rates under the Black, with Tillinghast strategy on nearly every hole.
The Red asks for position over power: a split fairway here, a diagonal hazard there, greens that reward the right side of the fairway. It walks friendlier than the Black, paces better, and still defends par honestly at the tips, where the finishing stretch is genuinely strong.
Red times move fast but not Black fast, and same week plans succeed here regularly. Rates follow the park's published structure below the Black's, and twilight on the Red is one of the great value windows in American golf.
The Black is the championship experience and the story. The Red is the better course for a 12 handicap's Saturday, a mixed group, or anyone who wants to play again next week. A two day Bethpage trip should play both, Red first.
Play the Red in the morning, lunch at the clubhouse, and walk nine on the Yellow or Green if the legs allow. The park is a five course facility and the locals treat it like one.
Red loyalists: make the case. Why is your course the right Bethpage answer most weeks?
Please cite a specific hole, a price, or a round you have played. Selected reader responses are featured in follow up coverage.
Is the Red really a Tillinghast?
The Bethpage courses carry Tillinghast's design involvement from the park's 1930s build, with the Black's credit long debated between Tillinghast and park superintendent Joseph Burbeck. The Red shows the era's strategic style clearly.
Prices in this guide were checked in October 2026 against published course listings and recent reporting. Greens fees move by season, day, and residency, so confirm the exact rate when you book. Private clubs do not publish initiation fees or dues. Every private figure here is an estimate band based on public reporting, labeled as an estimate, and the only accurate number comes from a club's membership office.