Andrew Wilson, the director of agronomy at Bethpage State Park, describes this year’s Ryder Cup – to be held on the Black course on 26-28 September – as the “biggest golf event in the world”.
Wilson has worked at Bethpage for over 35 years. He was raised three miles from the park and after finishing high school began work there in a clubhouse maintenance position. After graduating from Rutgers University, he rejoined the park and worked his way up the ranks.
He was an assistant on the Black course from 1997-2000 and then became the superintendent of the Green course. He would return to support the Black course team in preparation for the majors of 2002 and 2009. “During both US Open seasons, it was all hands on deck on the Black,” he says. Since becoming Bethpage’s director of agronomy in 2010, Wilson has overseen planning and preparation for the 2012 and 2016 Barclays PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs and the 2019 PGA Championship.
Wilson, superintendent Michael Hadley and the Bethpage crew have been busy working to get the whole site ready for the Ryder Cup. This has included restricting daily rounds, overseeing construction of grandstands and infrastructure, and ensuring the Black course is in prime condition for the USA and Europe teams.
The Black course closed in August for fine-tuning and final preparations, and GCA spoke with Wilson to find out how .
How are you feeling as the Ryder Cup approaches?
The Ryder Cup really is the biggest tournament in golf. Having the opportunity to prepare the stage for this contest is fantastic but also a challenge. However, it’s one we are all enjoying. And we’re intent on doing the course justice and making state parks proud.
The brains of the operation is the superintendent [Michael Hadley], the heart is the mechanics, as they have to keep everything moving, and then the limbs are the crew, as they are the ones doing the hard work all year long for daily play. This year, though, they have had to have the course peak for September for the biggest event we have ever had.
Can you tell us about the recent changes to the Black course?
A new tee has been added to the first hole – this was built especially for use at the Ryder Cup as the normal first tee will be covered by a grandstand. This was a huge project completed in-house.
On hole thirteen, a fairway bunker was added, and one was removed along the left side. Given the distances players can hit off the tee, the first bunker was eliminated, the second was renovated and a new bunker built away from the ‘second’ bunker. We have worked with Greg Muirhead of Rees Jones, Inc. on these changes, as well as the widening of several fairways (six, seven, ten, eleven and thirteen).
The eighteenth hole, with the grandstand taking shape in the background (Photo: Bethpage State Park)
What holes are you most looking forward to seeing competitors play?
Seeing how the players attack our signature fourth hole, and the par-five thirteenth, will be interesting. Fourteen is a short par three of 150 to 160 yards where the players should be able to get at the pin at a critical point in their matches, so that will be great to see. The thirteenth and fourteenth holes are also close to our maintenance shop, so there’s a convenience for us there!
Bethpage’s greenkeeping team is fine-tuning the Black course as it prepares to host “golf’s biggest tournament” (Photo: Bethpage State Park)
How well suited is Bethpage for the biggest event in golf?
This is the biggest build-out the Ryder Cup has done in America. I would say, based on that, Bethpage is very well equipped to host the Ryder Cup. There is plenty of land (the other golf courses) for hospitality, entry, grandstands and even a helicopter landing area. There’s even a restaurant being built by our polo field. The polo field is being used for VIP parking and is close to the helicopter landing zone. We have 60,000 square feet of ride-share pick-up and drop-off on our Yellow course and several fairways on our other courses are covered in gravel and asphalt as we prepare for Ryder Cup 2025.