Bethpage Fighting Back the Machines and Raiders

Since COVID, golf has been experiencing a much-needed resurgence. Interest in the game has been at record highs, and with it, fighting for tee times has reached levels that were never imaginable. Indeed, things have gotten so out of hand that there have been numerous instances of people being banned for creating “bots” to grab tee times and scalpers reselling tee times at public, state-run courses for a premium.

Bethpage State Park, which is unofficially referred to as “The “People’s Country Club,” is no stranger to this. Indeed, anyone who has tried making a tee time through the Bethpage online system knows that it has reached a comical level now. Inexplicably, when the tee times for all five courses—Black, Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow—go live at 7 pm one week in advance, they are all gone by 7:02 p.m. (if not earlier). Regardless of the time of day and group size, nothing is left.

But those “in the know” know exactly why: online bots and businesses that are selling scalped tee times at ridiculous markups have been able to infiltrate the system and snatch up everything before any normal person has a chance of snatching a round.

Yes, the unprecedented demand can also be attributed to the fact that Bethpage is the host site for Majors (2019 PGA Championship) and the upcoming 2025 Ryder Cup, but the fact that humans are fighting a losing battle with the machines (cue the Terminator and HellDivers references) has finally reached a breaking point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Earlier this morning, Bethpage State Park issued a letter detailing the issues and a hopeful solution. First, a new reservation system is being implemented that will require golfers to verify themselves as NY State residents in order to have the ability to make reservations. Apparently, several people who had created numerous accounts to circumvent reservation limitations were contacted and have since been banned.

Second, the Red Course will join the Black and feature a reservation limitation. Specifically, while golfers can only make one reservation for the Black every 28 days, tee times at the Red now can only be once every 14 days.

Third, “tee drops” will be punished. To explain, many people would (inexplicably) be able to secure a tee time several days in advance with no commitment to playing. Whether or not it was a favor or for financial gain, these persons would then coordinate releasing their tee time with other people to seamlessly transfer the tee time. So to put a stop to this, golfers will only be able to cancel or modify reservations up to 8 times a month. Exceeding this limitation will result in your account being suspended indefinitely and require a showing of penance before the Park Administration.

Finally, bots and third-party tee time services. There are no guarantees in life, and Bethpage has cautioned anyone that there can no guarantees that their tee time will be honored. It appears that the State is starting to catch onto who’s doing this and will cease honoring those tee times going forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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While there is no assurance of how effective these changes will be, as a New York State resident and avid golfer, I appreciate that efforts are being made, as Bethpage will undoubtedly get more and more crowded as we approach the 2025 Ryder Cup.

Cover Image via New York Post