Talking Erin Hills with Mike Hurdzan, Ph.D.
Michael Hurdzan is a part of the design crew that laid out the beautiful Erin Hills. The former Army Green Berets is one of seven people to receive the “Big Three” awards in golf course design. He has received the ASGCA‘s Donald Ross Award, the GCSAA‘s Old Tom Morris Award and the Golf Course Builders Association of America’s Don Rossi Award. We got the chance to talk to Hurdzan at the 80th U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills.
Golfdom: Congratulations on having your design host yet another major championship. You and co-designer Ron Whitten (editor’s note: Dana Fry was the third architect) walked the course yesterday, what do you think of the way it looks?
Hurdzan: The place looks fabulous. Zach Reineking, the superintendent, now the co-general manager, has done a fabulous job of bringing it right up to speed. And the fact that Andy Ziegler, the owner, closed the golf course back in October, did not open it until this, gave plenty of time for the crew to bring it up to where it ought to be. It is fabulous. It’s perfect.
Golfdom: The weather didn’t cooperate a whole bunch for those guys, but how do you like the set-up here in late May?
Hurdzan: It never does, but it still looks great, even though the fescue hasn’t turned brown. There’s still enough of the purple in there. And the best part of it, in my opinion, is you can find the ball anywhere and play out of it. So it’s not going to be any issue — well, it can be an issue for the ladies of trying to get the club face on it — but it isn’t an issue of losing a ball in there.
Golfdom: Are there any big design changes you’d like to tell us about, or is it pretty similar to the 2017 U.S. Open?
Hurdzan: : It’s pretty much what it was (as the 2017 U.S. Open.) They redid the bunkers last year and put in the Better Billy Bunkers, so they’ve got better drainage under the bunkers. The golf course is pretty much the same. I heard that they’re going to set it up at 6,800 yards which will be a lot of golf course for these ladies with even just a little bit of wind.
Golfdom: Talk to me about the par-three No. 9. It’s such an intimidating hole and they’ve got grandstands there and a couple TV towers. The bunkers surrounding the green are really intimidating. Did you want to show golfers who were only getting in 9-holes a hard time on the way out?
Hurdzan: Let me refresh your memory on this. The way that Ron and Dana and I laid the golf course out is we would find good green sites. And we’d say, ‘Ok, this has to be a green site.’ Now, what direction do we play it from, and from what distance? We knew that No. 9 green was going to be a green. Now, we didn’t change any grades on this golf course more than a foot. In subsequent remodeling, the USGA wanted some sight lines opened up. But when we initially built it, nothing changed more than a foot. So we knew that No. 9 was going to be a green and we looked at it as playing No. 10. We looked at it as playing No. 18. We play in all different directions, so we finally decided that No. 9 would play in that direction. It goes from the top of the hill down. Then it was a matter of design — we didn’t change anything more than a foot. Just put the green in there and carve out the bunkers.
Golfdom: Where does that hole rank among your par threes you’ve done?
Hurdzan: It’s way up there. The illusion of it… if the wind starts blowing, they’ll have to start the ball out, away from the hole, and then let it work back. But I don’t think anybody’s going to tear it up. If I remember correctly, during the U.S. Open, maybe on Saturday, it played the hardest hole Saturday or Sunday. It’s the hardest hole on the golf course, at 139 yards.
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Golfdom TV talks to Erin Hills Architect, Michael Hurdzan, Ph.D., ASGCA at the U.S. Women’s Open
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