Golfweek announced its annual ranking of America's Best Municipal Courses last month and the Black Course at Bethpage State Park found itself in a very familiar place — at the top.
Bethpage Black is the top muni in the country for the sixth year in a row according to Golfweek, and as usual, the Black's next-door neighbor — Bethpage Red — is a little ways down the list. Montauk Downs returns as well.
The 2014 list features no change in the top five — trailing behind Bethpage Black are Chambers Bay (Washington), Butterfield Trail (Texas), Torrey Pines South (California) and the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale (Arizona). The Red Course, however, did make a jump to #16 after settling in at #27 in 2013. The Rees Jones-redesigned Montauk Downs course fell two spots to #44.
In March, the three courses took their usual spots in Golfweek's Best Courses You Can Play list, a ranking of public golf courses by state. The Black took top honors, while the Red and Montauk Downs landed at #12 and #13, respectively. Shoreham's Tallgrass Golf Course, ranked #7, was the other Long Island representative. The Black also made the top 20 in Golfweek's Classic Courses list.
Golfweek's Best Municipal Courses list rates the top 50 government-owned layouts nationwide. Golf courses are evaluated and ranked based on conditioning, routing, variety, memorability and other categories.