... fairly one-dimensional (as it is set up for majors). It requires power blasts, straight hitting to sidewalk-narrow fairways, towering irons to blockaded greens, and little strategic thinking (with the notable exceptions of holes 4,5, and possibly 7).

Despite its Tillinghast pedigree, Bethpage Black is not even in the top 20 courses in the MGA (the NYC area's golf association). Just look at this list of MGA courses, all of which are better than the Black, IMO:

On Long Island alone:

National Golf Links of America (C.B. Macdonald)
Shinnecock Hills (William Flynn)
Garden City GC (Devereux Emmet/Walter Travis)
Maidstone (Willie Park)
Piping Rock (Macdonald)
St. Georges (Emmet)
Sebonack (Doak/Nicklaus)

Other New York:

Fenway (A.W. Tillinghast)
Quaker Ridge (Tillinghast)
Sleepy Hollow (Macdonald)
Westchester (Travis)
Whipoorwill (Charles Banks)
Winged Foot West (Tillinghast)
Winged Foot East (Tillinghast)

In New Jersey:

Baltusrol Lower (Tillinghast)
Baltusrol Upper (Tillinghast)
Essex County (Donald Ross)
Forsgate (Banks)
Hollywood (Travis)
Plainfield (Ross)
Somerset Hills (Tillinghast)

Others:

Fisher's Island (Seth Raynor) (technically Connecticut, though it's in the middle of Long Island Sound).

Bethpage doesn't even sniff Tillinghast's top 5 works in NYC!