Oakmont, PA – The course creeps up as you head to the southwest entrance to the Oakmont Country Club. Halton Road is dotted with quaint homes, lined with trees that will guide you to the property. Even if the iconic green clubhouse comes into sight, the building serves as a barrier between an idyllic neighborhood and one of the most frightening tests of golf.
When you enter the clubhouse, the venue’s history is there every time. It currently hosts 10 US Opens. This is any course in the country. Walking out the other side of the building, a wild truck hits you like a gust of wind.
“Standing on the first tee, 10th tee, 18, 9, you get the layout of the entire property,” John Rahm said. “You can see the whole thing about it.
The vast expanse of green grass in front of you, 191 acres all look endless. From the back of the clubhouse you can see 17 of the 18 flags on the course. It almost feels like a provocation: what should you worry about? It’s fine in front of you.
One of the biggest cathedrals of the sport – a course that has become synonymous with the US Open – is certainly beautiful. It is also a steel toe boot that is ready to offer the famous kick. This week, 156 players from around the world arrived this week, willing to be scrutinized by the only course ever designed by Henry Founds. Each of them wants to be one with the ability to conquer it.
Jeff Hall, who joined four teams on Oakmont’s USGA setup team, told ESPN, “I really believe Oakmont is the most stressful place to play the US Open.” “The US open seems difficult for the right reasons. It is assumed to be challenging. It’s about mental testing, emotional testing, physical testing. It’s all about it.
Scotty Schaeffler is on the odds list and may be at the top of the sport at the moment, but he, like Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeDanbaugh, have not even taken the centre stage in the tournament. This week, Oakmont is the main character. Anyone who tees it has four rounds to prove that it’s worth sharing the spotlight.
“This is probably the most difficult golf course we play,” Schaeffler said. “Maybe it’s definitely.”
Ideas for True Us Open It has evolved over the years. Once, deep, rough and large trees were expected every year. Currently, USGA is willing to choose host sites like the Los Angeles Country Club, where wider corridors and contours are the defining features of the course. The days of trying to force a score of victory per game are over. Now it’s all about staying true to what the greatest golf course in the country and its architects intended. Varieties – of course, shots, styles – now become kings.
“They acknowledge the original architecture, and they embrace it,” said Gil Hanse, the architect of the golf course who led the restoration effort in Oakmont in 2023. “They aren’t trying to fit the model.”
We enter Oakmont, where the original architecture and many changes that followed decades after its founding in 1903 all revolve around one thing. It revolves around making golf courses more difficult. A proper case: In the previous nine championships, victory scores never exceeded 5 under par. Of the 1,385 players who played major championships at Oakmont, 2% finished the tournament at face value.
“One of the things that have coinced with Oakmont from the first day (architect) Henry Founds founded it, and one of the very clear messages from the membership that I liked the harshness of this place,” Hanse said. “It was the only time we came out of a meeting with the members who presented our master plan and it was very clear that the message was very clear.
Hall says Oakmont’s club culture gives him the ability to quickly host the US Open, simplifying the role of his team to some extent. The biggest change is rough growth to the 5 inches that I sit this week. The biggest challenges are weather, green speed, hole location, and teebox weighing factors to find thin lines between difficult and impossible.
“You can’t go too far with that,” Hall said. “When you get on the office, you have to hold the reins.”
Between Hanse’s work and USGA setup, difficulty is not the only focus. Oakmont also contains a lot of complexity. Players often talk about how Augusta National is a place to learn where to miss when playing more courses. Oakmont, meanwhile, features its luscious, rough, deceptive tee shots and a nasty green complex that runs at speeds of up to 15 on the Stimpmeter.
Distance and intensity are necessary to address the density of that yard and its aforementioned rough. You also need finesse to carve the shots on the right track and hold the proper sliver of that dangerous green. And whether your ball is off the fairway on a particular shot or landing green, you need the brain to figure out exactly how to play your next shot best.
“You go to places like this (USGA) don’t have to set it up differently, trick it, or do anything to challenge both the physical and mental parts of the game,” Justin Thomas said. “Oakmont is challenging both sides. If you get lazy, like drives, wedge shots, chips, putts, etc., you can look pretty fast and stupid.”
Patience in the face of troublesome lies is paramount to a ravaging or bad break. Discipline in the face of an appetizing pin location is essential, even from the middle of the fairway. Any mistakes should be corrected as soon as possible and forgotten. If they get worse, the rounds and tournaments will end.
“You know that even a good shot can be punished. It’s just part of this golf course,” said Morikawa’s Colin. “I don’t think people understand the thickness of the rough. This is just thick. The club is going to turn over.”
Yes, Oakmont is punishing – that bunker is not just a placement, it is a punishment. Yes, Oakmont can feel like McIlroy said about his 81 in his recent practice round in tough pin positions, but “impossible”, but how do you explain what players like Dustin Johnson, Angel Cabrera, Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus have done?
This is a course that doesn’t just like greatness. It demands it.
“I think everyone knows this is probably the toughest golf course in the world right now,” defending champion Deccanbo said. “Not every hole has a winged leg here. You can’t bomb every hole and blow up the bunker and run a wedge in front of the green.
For some, the green may be seen too, whether it’s because of speed or gradient. Michael Kim posted his thoughts on the course Tuesday, calling Oakmont’s eclectic greenery “Mickey Mouse” but saying “We need a lot of what Oakmont has” to help us test the best players in the world these days.
“I think this place will be difficult,” said Thomas, who finished in 2016 with eight over in 32nd place and finished in a tie. “You don’t need to read the article, or you don’t need to hear a horror story. I played it, and I know it’s difficult.”
Context is very important As for the question of whether this course is too difficult, it is even unfair under the conditions we are open. Regular PGA Tours have halted, and even some major championships continue to trend towards lower victory scores. Even players who know what’s available for the next four days know that.
“We’re all playing the same course. That’s going to be difficult. You might think something is unfair, but it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day,” Xander Schauffele said. “Everyone who can handle it hard is to play well. That’s the attitude I had. See it as a fun challenge while you feel like you live in a nightmare.”
For a week, players have been featured in video showing how difficult it is to pull the ball out of the rough, or how difficult it is to hold the green or make a putt if it’s over the hole. It all inevitably built a story that even the best players in the world might look stupid this week over the course of 72 holes.
“All we’re going to do is build a theatre,” Hall said. “We’re trying to make sure it’s a complete effort. I put my hands on that trophy on Sunday night and played a full tee-to-green golf on 72 holes.”
If there are some complaints among players whose course is already boiling down, perhaps the first two rounds will bring it to the surface as the course becomes dryer, harder and harder. But most seem ready to accept it. Some view peer dissent as a potential advantage.
“I hope it brings a lot of players out because it’s completely honest and very selfish,” Thomas said. “This is part of the preparation, like trying to hit the wedge or get a green speed. You’re getting a game plan for how to approach the course mentally and strategically.”
Oakmont is able to escape with more genocide than most courses due to its reputation. (Hanse said that the difficulty was free to work at Oakmont, where the course’s original design was part of the course’s original design). When in practice rounds, feature a group of ground keepers that support thick, rough roughness using the leaf browser to make them fluffier and more difficult, both the golf course and the USGA can not only lean on the personality of the venue, but also make it difficult, but also framed.
“It’s a very nuanced line between what’s challenging, good architecture and what’s too much, and I think there’s a situation here where there isn’t too much of it,” Hanse said. “So their mantra is, “Okay, let’s keep pushing to certain limits.”
Just as the USGA wants to reach it, it’s where the limits are nowhere to be seen. Weather is also a factor as rain is predicted over the weekend. Hanse said he believes his victory score will exceed standard if the rain settles. And while some players are still irritated and even scoffing at the challenge at hand, some players are self-aware enough to know that even if it’s at their own expense, the chaos also breeds entertainment.
“I don’t think people will turn on the TV and see some of the people who have hit like a green 200-yard shot. Schaufele said. “I think they’re turning on the US Open to see eight people suffering eight overs. That’s part of the US fun for viewers.”
Nine years after the last moments under the sun, all eyes are back in Oakmont.
Let’s start suffering.
