Oakmont

“From its very beginnings, when the par for the course was set at 80,” wrote Mike Stachura in American Classic Courses, “Oakmont Country Club has made no apologies and taken no prisoners. It prides itself on being a brutal test of golf from green to tee, seemingly laughing full-throated at the visiting golfer like an evil genie. It was, according to 1927 U.S. Open winner Tommy armour, “a cruel and treacherous playground.” It still is. Par may no longer be 80 at Oakmont, but it sure feels like it.”

Author Darius Oliver wrote in his book Planet Golf USA: “Oakmont was built to be a strong but uncomplicated course that would reward accurate hitting but punish severely those who stray. Both father and son [Henry and William Fownes] believed that golf needed to be difficult in order to remain interesting, and they were equally convinced that bunkers were the game’s most appropriate hazard.

They also built some of the finest and most treacherous green sites anywhere in golf. The quality and variety of their greens work is truly extraordinary, with the targets leaning in every direction and shaped to demand golfers attempt all manner of approach shots from a range of difficult lies and angles.

Divided in two by the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Oakmont features a two-loop routing that flows beautifully across the sloping terrain in much the same manner as it did when first arranged. The holes are now longer, narrower and more heavily bunkered, but structurally it hasn’t changed in over a century.”