The 2025 Ryder Cup on Long Island!! Bethpage Black Golf Course, September 22-28, 2025

Of all the places the Ryder Cup could be, what are the chances it would be in our backyard! What an exciting opportunity to experience this every four year event in the US without having to travel or worry about accommodations - all we had to do was pay a lot of money for a ticket - ha!! But it was worth it! We thankfully chose the last day, Sunday Sept 28, 2025 to experience this golfing wonder.

We parked at the Hicksville Long Island Railroad Station. Took the LIRR to Farmingdale and from there followed lines of people to very organized buses that made a fairly short trip to the golf course. The transportation organization was excellent - thank you to all those that worked, coordinated and led the efforts to keep us moving and safe!

For those not familiar with Bethpage Golf Course it's tucked away down a long narrow 2-way road, so it's not easy to get millions on people in and out - yet it appeared to be done very well, at least that was our experience! And we were grateful for that.

The energy was tremendous from both those sporting their USA clothes and the European flare, letting us USAers know they were there too.

Sunday's singles matches didn't start until 12pm, but we got there early and it was lovely to walk around with less crowds and really see how they converted the Black course to the Ryder Cup course with incredible grandstands, concession stands and various activities and safety needs.

All the food was included, so there were limited lines and you just grabbed what and how much you wanted. There was a joke going around that there would not be enough ability to eat what they charged in the ticket, but there were packaged items/snacks that people were loading up on and because it was Sunday, they were trying to them get moving!

Once noon approached you can feel the increase in attendees and the increase in noise and intensity because US was down by so many points - they had to win just about every match on this day.

We found ourselves on the fairway of Hole 4 and watched many of the groups pass by. We chatted with strangers from "both sides" and serenaded our guys with chants of "USA, USA"! These guys are good. Jeff has played this course several times and the shots we witnessed were incredible. Each player had their own entourage. Often 20-30 people each, walking with them. How do we get to be ones of those we thought?!

We also spent time watching the players tee off and saw some putting. We walked about 20,000 steps that day, trying to stay "ahead" of the crowds. Thankfully Jeff is so tall he can see from the back and Liz is short enough to wiggle her way up to the front to see! That was done a few times for sure.

Around 3:30pm-4pm, the Players were reaching the 17/18th holes and US was up on many of the rounds - did we actually have a chance to make the biggest comeback?! It was soooo close! The US Team really made an amazing effort to bring the score at least close and hold their heads up high.

We left early enough to beat the crowds again, and get home to see the closing rounds on television, because by this time Holes 17 and 18 were probably 20-30 rows deep! There was no way Liz was wiggling up that far or Jeff could even see. It was fun on the bus and train home as so many people were watching the rounds on their phones - technology to the rescue!

We are toting a Ryder Cup Towel, Ball and Cap as souvenirs but most important was the incredible experience we had together, seeing the transformation of our home course and feeling the energy of the crowds and players!

Thank you Ryder Cup for making Long Island a part of golf history - again!