No surprise in Golfweek's annual list of America's Best Municipal Courses. The Black Course at Bethpage State Park is #1 for the fourth year in a row, joined in the top 50 with its two state-park sidekicks — Bethpage Red and Montauk Downs.
Bethpage Black is followed in the top muni list by Chambers Bay, Butterfield Trail, Pinon Hills and Torrey Pines (South). The home of this August's Barclays Tournament already picked up top honors in Golfweek's 2012 Best Courses You Can Play list for New York State and a #21 ranking (for the second straight year) in the magazine's Classic Courses list.
Next-door neighbor Bethpage Red dropped three spots to #24 in this year's poll, and Montauk Downs fell from #34 to #40.
Golfweek's Best Municipal list rates the top 50 government-owned layouts nationwide. Courses are evaluated and ranked based on conditioning, routing, variety, memorability and other categories.