Oakmont with one week to go

By |  June 13, 2016 0 Comments

…until the final putt drops on Sunday.Throwing some water down at Oakmont

And the place looks amazing. It’s eye-popping, the colors out here, and the views.

All they need to do is keep the wheels turning for another couple days and we’re going to have an incredible U.S. Open. Extremely difficult conditions. Absolutely beautiful conditions. This is golf maintenance on parade, this course, Oakmont Country Club.

I took this photo of the rough on the ride side of No. 17. If you miss your shot short and to the right, this is what you’re dealing with. The rough swallowed up that $20 bill quicker than a slot machine on free buffet Sunday.The rough at Oakmont

The greens? Dick Bator joked that they could not only host the U.S. Open here, but also the NCAA Final Four, because the greens are as firm as a basketball court.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup last night. This coming Sunday, someone will hoist the U.S. Open trophy. But this Pittsburgh-based maintenance crew will deserve a trophy of their own.

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About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 25-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.


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