Oakmont Country Club

Most, if not all of my course reviews, will consist of three main parts: a brief history and overview of the course, a current description of the course or club, and a review of the experience. Because of the opinionated application of this I reserve one key requirement for all my reviews and that is that I must have at the very least been to the course if not played it myself. Therefore, I would like to present to you all the one and only Oakmont Country Club.

According to Oakmont's official web site, the course was established in the 1903 by Henry Fownes, also the the designer of the course. This was his first and only attempt at designing a golf course and fortunately for him became one of the best. The course itself is situated along the Allegheny River Valley in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA. The course has consistently ranked inside the top ten best courses in America and renowned by many as one of the most difficult courses in the world.

The history of Oakmont would not be complete without mentioning the magnitude and quality of the golf championships it hosts. Over the life of the club, Oakmont has hosted 8 U.S. Opens Opens (including the most recent won by Angel Cabrera), 3 PGA Championships, 2 U.S. Women's Opens, and 5 U.S. Men's Amateurs. It is due to host its next U.S. Women's Open in the year 2010. As one would expect, the the lore that comes with these championships comes not from the championships themselves but from the players. The winners of these tournaments included: Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Johny Miller (who set the major championship scoring record of 63, considered one of the best rounds of golf ever played), Ernie Els, and the great Bobby Jones.

The course itself is a par 71 measuring roughly 7255 yards from the tournament tees. One unique characteristic of Oakmont is that it is situated on two different sides of the Pennsylvania Turnpike which makes for an interesting walk from the 1st to 2nd tees and 8th to 9th tees. The fairways and greens are of a bent and poa annua grass mix and the roughs are quite possibly some of the longest around. The difficulty of the course lies in two characteristics. The first of these are the greens, many of which slope from front to back making them difficult to hold and all of which are maintained at lightning fast speeds. All of these things considered, however, the most significant aspect of Oakmont are what are known as the "Church Pew Bunkers." Named for there appearance the church pew bunkers are what most everyone would remember if they ever saw the course. There are two areas with these bunkers on the course and both of them are hell to get out of.

My experience at Oakmont was one of the best I've ever had. When I played the course it was nearly four years prior to this past year's U.S. Open and already they were preparing. One of the first things they did was to remove nearly 4000 trees from the golf course in order to restore it nearly to its original feel and style as an open golf course. As you walk out in front of the clubhouse you can see nearly the entire golf course, even the 7 holes across the highway. The course itself had a immense feel to it. The space the holes covered, the areas between holes, and even the landscape itself made you feel small in its presence. As you walk through the clubhouse, pro shop, and around the course you could feel an aura of history and glory.

As for the difficulty of the course, it was second to none that I've played and between you and me, I've played my fair share of hard golf courses. During the 2007 Open the analysts said more than once that if a major championship needed to be held in two weeks time and a course needed to be picked at that very moment two weeks prior that Oakmont would be the best choice. It is maintained to major championship quality nearly every day, every year and my experience was no exception. With rough ranging from 3-6 inches and greens running at nearly 11 or 12 on the stimpmeter I would say it was probably ready for the '07 Open in on a random summer day roughly three years prior. For these reasons I would probably say that it is and probably ever will be the best course I've ever played.