Course of the Week: Oakmont
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.
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.
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 John Zimmers Jr., superintendent at Oakmont calls “one of the best stories in golf:” Namely, the restoration work completed since the 2007 U.S. Open.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
For the full story on Oakmont prep, click here.
Photos: Oakmont Logo: BASF