“Although the effort may appear herculean at times"

John Branch looks at the last day of Bethpage public play and tries to explain the convoluted system for walk/drive up system. No offense to Branch who files a compelling piece, but I still don't get it.

Yet there is one way to ensure a time at Bethpage Black, a major-championship course with $50 fees during the week, $60 on weekends, and double that for non-New Yorkers: get to the parking lot and spend a night. Maybe two. Maybe more.

“Although the effort may appear herculean at times, and it may seem insane, you can play that golf course,” Dave Catalano, the director of Bethpage State Park, said.

The overflow lot is a roofless waiting room of tedium and nervous energy. The lure on this day was to be among the last civilians to play the course under the brutal conditions that Tiger Woods and the gang will soon endure: slivers of fairways surrounded by choking rough and punctuated by glass-quick greens. Hulking grandstands were in place, and it took little imagination to fill them.