Your behavior appears to be a little unusual. Please verify that you are not a bot.


2016 U.S. Open Preview: What’s old is new again

By |  June 9, 2016 0 Comments

golfdom3055-1_600x400

Back again at legendary Oakmont, the U.S. Open returns (for a record ninth time!) to a course that would look familiar to architect Henry Fownes.

Oh, it’s on now.
After two U.S. Opens celebrated for experimentation, the 2016 U.S. Open returns to Pittsburgh — steel country — and promises only one thing: an old-school battle of man versus championship golf.

The old classic, Oakmont (Pa.) CC, host of 21 national championships, including eight U.S. Opens, versus the best golfers in the world, many under the age of 30.

Talk about old versus young. But be warned, young upstarts. For a 113-year-old course, Oakmont is looking pretty spry these days.


Set-up redux

When the 2016 U.S. Open arrives at Oakmont the week of June 13, don’t expect to see much difference in the set-up of the course from when the Open was last there in 2007.

“The differences from ’07 to ’16, and in talking with Mike (Davis, USGA executive director) about how we want to approach this… we would sign up for almost identical conditions and course set-up from 2007,” says John Zimmers Jr., superintendent at Oakmont. “The thing to look for is the weather. If Oakmont can be firm and fast, it’s going to be really fun golf, a true test.”

Zimmers expects the rough to be something both the USGA and golf fans will hone in on.

“We follow two U.S. Opens where rough was not a prominent feature — that’s not meant to sound negative,” Zimmers says, “but coming off Pinehurst and Chambers Bay, it won’t be sand or fescue that the players can just whack out of. If a player misses a fairway here, they’ll be in some gnarly stuff.”

There are some minor changes to the course that only the keenest architecture geeks will note: The back portion of 6 green has been restored to Fownes’ original design, adding new hole locations. Two bunkers were removed on the par-5 No. 12, and a new cross bunker was added 80 yards out.

But the major story at Oakmont to entertain everyone from golf architecture geeks to casual golf fans is what architect Tom Marzolf calls “dramatic” and Zimmers calls “one of the best stories in golf:” Namely, the restoration work completed since the 2007 U.S. Open.

oakmont-before-after

As seen in these before-and-after photos taken by Dave Delsandro, Oakmont’s director of U.S. Open operations and projects, the image on the left shows the view from No. 11 looking toward holes 2 through 8 prior to the restoration project. On the right is the same view following the completion of the project.

oakmont-12-before-and-after

More before-and-after photos courtesy of Delsandro. Though the Pennsylvania Turnpike isn’t easily seen from most vantage points on the course, trees had been planted around it over the years in an effort to hide it (left). Those trees have all been removed and replaced with evironmentally efficient fescue mounds (right), work that Assistant Superintendent Mike McCormick calls “a beast.”

The once and future course

Oakmont CC perennially has been regarded as a classic American golf course. So what did the membership decide to do to the course? Go back to the beginning.

Consulting architect Tom Marzolf of Fazio Design applauds what he describes as a bold move for Oakmont to undergo a transformation when it was already a top-10 course.

“Back when (Ernie) Els won in 1994, it was a tree-lined golf course, wall-to-wall trees on every hole,” Marzolf says. “There have been a lot of trees taken down, even since (Angel) Cabrera won in 2007. For a club to change its identity like this, it’s a dramatic step. People are going to be shocked when they see it.”

To get Oakmont back to the way it looked when Henry Fownes built the course in 1903, 14,500 trees were removed — 7,500 trees just since the ’07 Open. Trees had been overplanted over the years to hide the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the course. That’s all been removed — a massive undertaking for sure — and replaced with environmentally efficient and aesthetically pleasing fescue mounds.

Dave Delsandro, director of U.S. Open operations and projects for Oakmont, has seen a lot of these changes in person, starting out when he volunteered for the 2003 U.S. Amateur as an 18 year old fresh out of high school.

“I think it’s fantastic, not only from an aesthetics standpoint, but also agronomically,” Delsandro says. “The work that was done along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the additional clearing work and restoration, the addition of fine fescue and the environmental initiatives… we’ve restored the property to Mr. Fownes’ original vision.” (Editor’s note: Click here to view a video of Delsandro discussing these changes.)

Zimmers is equal parts impressed and flattered that the Oakmont membership greenlighted the project on his watch.

“To have such foresight, and the confidence they’ve put in myself, Dave and our whole team, has been magnificent,” Zimmers says. “We’ve been working with the Fazio firm to guide us and restore what this piece of property is, because it’s really about Mr. Fownes’ vision. That’s what’s so unique about this property. There’s no water, no waterfalls, no glamour. It’s just smack in front of you. And it’s widely considered to be one of the toughest tests of championship golf in the world.”

…the harder they fall

Removing all those trees also was a tough test of maintenance. Enter the young blood on the crew, Assistant Superintendent Mike McCormick, a Bostonian with a degree from UMass Amherst in plant and soil science, as well as a master’s from Superintendent Dick Bator’s school of hard knocks.

“It was a beast, a lot of guys put a ton of time into it,” says McCormick. “It was an unbelievable project to be involved in. Now you look at the result, all the fescue is grown in. Looking across that view everyday for someone like me, I feel like I was a part of history.”

The easy part was cutting down the trees, McCormick says. With the turnpike and railroad tracks both within striking distance, the crew had to be cautious to chain each tree and pull it in the opposite direction as it was being cut down. After all the trees were dragged up the hill and the stumps were ground out, they were left with 6 inches of organic matter that had to be hand-raked and loaded into 500-pound bulk fertilizer bags. Those were all then dragged up the hill by a track hoe.

“You couldn’t see the clubhouse or the other side of the property from here much at all,” Delsandro says. “We’ve restored the course to Mr. Fownes’ original vision. In additon, the mound installation has added a great element in keeping with the history of the golf course.”

“You couldn’t see the clubhouse or the other side of the property from here much at all,” Delsandro says. “We’ve restored the course to Mr. Fownes’ original vision. In additon, the mound installation has added a great element in keeping with the history of the golf course.”

“It was such a big story going into 2007 when they took down trees on the interior of the course,” McCormick says. “I came here feeling disappointed that I wasn’t a part of that, I felt like there wasn’t a lot of work left to be done. I was clearly quite wrong.”

McCormick had just put in a 14-hour day when he spoke to Golfdom in mid-April. He said the course had been enjoying a pleasant spring, and the crew was in the fine-tuning stage. After the last few years, the good weather is well deserved.

“The past couple (winter seasons) have been pretty rough in the Pittsburgh/northern mid-Atlantic region,” Delsandro says. “Golf courses in the area, including us, have battled winter damage, ice damage, crown hydration. But this year we’ve had relatively benign weather.”

“When people ask, ‘What’s the most important thing for your success?’ It’s not an aerifier or a greens mower. The No. 1 asset of any club is people,” Delsandro says.

“When people ask, ‘What’s the most important thing for your success?’ It’s not an aerifier or a greens mower. The No. 1 asset of any club is people,” Delsandro says.

Delsandro himself falls into the “old-yet-new” category. He first interned at the course in 2004-2005, was hired full-time in 2006 and worked his way up to first assistant. Following the 2010 Women’s U.S. Open, Delsandro left to become superintendent of Nassau CC in Glen Cove, N.Y.

After three years at Nassau, Oakmont called him home, and he accepted the wordy title of director of U.S. Open operations and projects… or “D.O.P.E.,” as Zimmers likes to joke.

“It was a tough decision to leave (Nassau), but getting the opportunity to work with John, one of my best friends and mentors, and chase around another U.S. Open, was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Delsandro says. “I’m not a guy who gets caught up in paperwork or titles. I like to work. I knew what Oakmont was about.”

Zimmers himself is now in his 17th season at Oakmont. The 2003 U.S. Amateur, the 2007 U.S. Open, the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open, and soon the 2016 U.S. Open, will have happened under his supervision. He says it doesn’t get old.

“You just try to learn from those experiences and be organized,” Zimmers says. “You have to manage yourself through it on a daily basis. It’s an experience (hosting the U.S. Open), and on some days it can weigh on you, you feel like you didn’t achieve what you wanted to achieve. Other days, you feel like you overachieved. You just have to plot your way along.”

And yes, the greens

All the work restoring Fownes vision is fine and good, but what is it about Oakmont that makes it so special? In a word: greens.

“Oakmont’s putting greens are almost legendary,” says Jeff Hall, USGA managing director, rules. “They might be the finest Poa annua putting greens I have ever seen. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and the movement within the 18 putting greens range from bold and dramatic to subtle.”

Marzolf agrees, calling the greens a “throwback in time.”

“They’re a very unique design. With holes like the 1st and 10th, greens on long par 4s, the greens actually drain to the back and tip away from the player — that’s a very unique green. Very few courses have a green that actually drains in the opposite direction of the course of play,” Marzolf says. “Oakmont has a number of unique greens throughout the course, that’s what makes it so memorable. The 9th green, one of the largest greens in golf, with a combination of the 9th green also being the putting green for the clubhouse. The 18th green has been restored with the rectangular squared corners… so it has a uniquely old-style appearance, back when greens were mowed in that manner back in the teens and ’20s.”

“I define U.S. Open success by asking if we did the best we possibly could have done,” Zimmers says.

“I define U.S. Open success by asking if we did the best we possibly could have done,” Zimmers says.

Zimmers reiterates an earlier point — keeping the ball in the fairway.

“If guys don’t keep it in the fairway they’re going to struggle if we get the conditions we want,” he says. “I’ll never forget in ’07. I thought we were in fantastic conditions. There’s a small difference where the line is drawn in firmness, and they can hold it. It’s amazing how good these guys can be.”

The clock’s ticking

So the countdown is on. McCormick says he doesn’t even look at the countdown clock in the maintenance building anymore because it’s moving so fast.

“I can’t even imagine what I’m in for, but I’m excited,” he says.

Delsandro knows his wish for the week of the U.S. Open: 75 degrees, sunny, 50 percent humidity. Zimmers just hopes for a good and safe week, and for creating more memories for his crew and golf fans everywhere.

“Some of the experiences people had in ’07 and ’10, I have a few staff, maybe their father has passed since the ’07 Open,” Zimmers says. “Those are memories that will never ever be forgotten, where they were that week, Father’s Day week.

“We all need a little luck and the good Lord upstairs to look over us, give us a little shot,” he continues. “It is an outdoor sport. You hope everybody has something special and unique to help grow the game of golf. When you have great venues, great championships and great events, it can’t be anything but good for growing the game.”

Photos by: Pete seltzer, Seth Jones, Dave Delsandro, Brian Kaldorf, USGA/John Mummert

This is posted in Featured, Home Feature, Maintenance, People

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 18-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


Post a Comment