Oakmont: A challenging history
Great golf courses often rely on sound golf course architecture to present a true test of golf. Some of these courses take that test to another level by hosting a golf tournament, and a select few take on hosting a major golf tournament, which is golf at the highest level.
Oakmont is hosting its ninth U.S. Open this month, and if ever a course was made for testing golfers at the highest level, the USGA has found it. As a course with large, undulating, faster-than-fast greens, long approaches into greens and a plurality of bunkers, the course will be more than enough of a test for today’s best golfers.
The idea that Oakmont is special shouldn’t be lost on anyone. The 2016 U.S. Open will be the course’s 19th major event, and the venue has been on the map since it first hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1919. It has long been said — and rightfully so — that the course is a testament to the work of H.C. Fownes and son W.C. Fownes.
Along with the design of the course, it also is how the course is prepared and presented that gives it an overriding “penal design,” with some of the fastest greens in golf, both then and now and the shift from an open-links style course to one of a parkland course with trees bordering most every hole.
As for greens speed, Oakmont is where Edward Stimpson first developed his idea for the Stimpmeter in reaction to conditions at the 1935 U.S. Open. It’s hard to say how much faster the greens at Oakmont were during previous U.S. Opens, but in 1976 — when the USGA was developing a range for greens speed for daily and tournament play with the soon-to-be introduced and improved Stimpmeter — the greens speed at Oakmont was recorded at 10 feet 4 inches. The average for the 700-plus courses tested that year was only 6 feet 5 inches. It’s interesting to note that the average green speed today is closer to the range of Oakmont back in 1977.
In that way, Oakmont has had a huge impact in the way greens speed has evolved over the years. I would say that Oakmont’s impact on the modern game, specifically greens speed, has been far greater than that of the greening of the game and perception of perfection that always is charged of Augusta National.
Trees have changed many golf courses, and Oakmont was not above the fray. The reasons given for adding trees are many, and at times they probably seemed right. It is a testament to Oakmont that they could take out as many trees as management has, recovering broad vistas and improving turf quality and playing conditions. Taking out more than 9,000 trees is a big concept to wrap anyone’s head around, let alone create a budget for.
As with anything at Oakmont, it’s the culture of the club that shines through and allows such a wonderful course to be presented by John Zimmers and his staff. A quote from a book celebrating the club’s 25th anniversary sums up why Oakmont has been a great golf course while allowing itself now to recapture the true essence and intent of the course as the Fowneses intended.
“…the course has developed logically and consistently, so that at all times it has been an object lesson in the latest and best ideas of golfing architecture, and as such, has undoubtedly influenced for the better the more recent courses here and elsewhere in the United States.”
I think all can agree that Oakmont has had an influence on the game that is far reaching when the conversation is on greens speed. It’s hoped that going forward it can have the same influence on golf courses in regard to tree management.
For more information on Oakmont prep for the 2016 U.S. Open, click here.
Sean Tully is superintendent at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif. He can be reached at stully@meadowclub.com or followed at @tullfescue.