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In Brief:
- Ryder Cup draws 250,000 visitors to Bethpage Golf Course
- Hotels and restaurants see record bookings across Long Island
- Homes near Bethpage rent for $3,000 per night during event
- Global TV audience of 500M showcases Long Island tourism
- Event fosters community pride and shared experiences
I don’t play golf.
However, I know colleagues who do. In many instances, however, they will candidly admit it’s not about placing that little white ball in a cup far, far away that is blocked by sand and water. Rather, it’s about doing business on the fairway, creating what has been alleged to be a bonding experience in a game that the late comedian Robin Williams once described as a baffling, maddening and expensive sport that is inexplicably played 18 times.
One suspects, however, no one is “bonding” in what will be a ruthless competition to win the Ryder Cup on the challenging grounds of Bethpage Golf Course. There is no cash prize for the golfer athlete winning the Ryder Cup (although there are lucrative appearance fees). While their reward is the honor of lifting the trophy before an adoring audience, for Long Island the Ryder Cup is very much a cash prize.
Those who have driven by the golf course over the last several weeks have been stunned to see a literal township of temporary multilevel suites, grandstands, broadcast studios and support structures consume a good portion of the greens. Hotels as far as Garden City have been booked for months, and in some cases, for years, to ensure celebrity names would get the accommodations they wanted. Long Island restaurants are likely telling their regulars that getting reservations this weekend may be a tad bit difficult given that there are a quarter million people descending on Bethpage and at least 65% of them are from off island.
For those whose homes are adjacent to the golf course there are reports that some owners are leasing out their places for $3,000 a night. If that is too expensive, you might consider using their driveway at several hundred dollars a day.
Yet there are strategic economic returns for Long Island that may not become immediately apparent. An international focus on the region comes with coverage of the Ryder Cup with a potential global television audience of half a billion people. No state or local government tourism agency would have the multi-million-dollar budget to reach that many potential visitors to the Island.
There are also serious intangible rewards that go beyond the cash register. Sporting events become shared experiences that can bring communities together and for Long Island, that too often views itself as a series of profoundly separate communities, that is a welcome change. For non-golfers, the Ryder Cup may become similar to how people who don’t usually watch tennis might tune in for Wimbledon, or casual baseball fans get seriously invested in the World Series. For non-golfers such as myself, it is a chance to watch from a comfortable distance the masters of a difficult sport compete for honors.
Robin Williams envisioned the demonic mastermind who first conjured golf, telling his companions, “Here’s my idea for a sport: Knock a ball in a gopher hole! But it’s different than pool…you don’t use a straight stick but one that’s crooked… after whacking away and missing, you feel like you are going to have a stroke, so that’s what we’ll call it: A stroke.”
It is typically hilarious Robin Williams banter but for Long Island hosting the Ryder Cup, our region’s economy is gratefully welcoming the enormous economic benefits that come with the game.
David Burman is principal and president of development at B2K Development in Jericho.
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