US Open 2025 at Oakmont

[mikedejong33]

I have an opportunity to attend a day at the US Open next summer at Oakmont through a client that has a corporate tent. I definitely think I am going to try to make it work, if for nothing else just to see that golf course up close. We may make a bit more of trip of it, come down for a week and try to play some golf in the area as well. For anyone that knows the area, what are some good public courses that we should look into? What kind of costs should we be looking at to play? I think the hotel they put us up in is right up that way, close to Oakmont, so something that we could cab or uber from there to would be best as we wouldn't likely have a rental car. Any options that I should look into? Thanks. 

[cassel191919]

8 minutes ago, mikedejong33 said:

I have an opportunity to attend a day at the US Open next summer at Oakmont through a client that has a corporate tent. I definitely think I am going to try to make it work, if for nothing else just to see that golf course up close. We may make a bit more of trip of it, come down for a week and try to play some golf in the area as well. For anyone that knows the area, what are some good public courses that we should look into? What kind of costs should we be looking at to play? I think the hotel they put us up in is right up that way, close to Oakmont, so something that we could cab or uber from there to would be best as we wouldn't likely have a rental car. Any options that I should look into? Thanks. 

Get a good idea of where the hotel actually is, I can't imagine it easy to move around near the course during tournament week.

[mikedejong33]

18 minutes ago, cassel191919 said:

Get a good idea of where the hotel actually is, I can't imagine it easy to move around near the course during tournament week.

Pittsburgh Marriott North Hotel is the hotel...

[rahatbmc]

5 hours ago, mikedejong33 said:

Pittsburgh Marriott North Hotel is the hotel...

It's 25 miles from the Marriott to Oakmont CC.  Usually about a 30 minute drive.

 

Best bets for golf might be Old Stonewall, 30 minutes away, or Cranberry Highlands, 15 minutes from the hotel.

 

[Sep]

Cranberry Highlands is going to be your best bet. I enjoy playing there every year. 
 

olde stonewall will be a bit of a drive, but people really enjoy the place. I think it’s a little steep, but you do get private course conditions and some cool holes. 
 

Birdsfoot is a cool course that’s just up the highway from OCC, but that’s definitely not an Uber drive from you. 
 

 

[Poor Mans Ty Webb]

On 11/27/2024 at 9:40 AM, mikedejong33 said:

Pittsburgh Marriott North Hotel is the hotel...

 

Yeah this isn't really close/convenient to Oakmont...

 

I'll echo the others saying up by your hotel, Cranberry Highlands is probably the top option that you can Uber to, with Olde Stonewall being another top option that's a bit more work.  Beyond that, if you're just looking to get golf in, you can throw a stone in any direction and you'll find a course that's fairly cheap, mediocre in terms of layout/conditioning, and a potentially slow round.  There are a lot of golf courses out here, but there's a significant quality gap between the private clubs and public courses.  I love North/South Park, which are the local county-owned munis, but I wouldn't necessarily go recommending them to out-of-towners...

 

If you choose to stay closer to Oakmont, instead, unfortunately the public options are very scant, but if you can get yourself onto a private course, there are several options in that area ranging from top-tier to solid - Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh Field Club, LongVue, and Green Oaks CC...

 

On the whole, public golf in Pittsburgh is fairly cheap and unspectacular. Olde Stonewall, Cranberry Highlands, Totteridge, and Birdsfoot are some of the nicer options.  You've also got a pretty decent little course named Quicksilver out by the airport that could also be worth a look on your way into/out of town if you're flying.

[Sep]

22 hours ago, Poor Mans Ty Webb said:

 

there's a significant quality gap between the private clubs and public courses.

 

On the whole, public golf in Pittsburgh is fairly cheap and unspectacular. 

I will also echo quicksilver OP, it’s a good layout that’s 10 min from the airport. 
 

but man ain’t this the truth. That being said, from talking to friends in other metro areas, our private golf scene is significantly cheaper than most. 

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Olde Stomewall will be a course you remember and talk about for years.   It was 7 years ago when i played it snd I still talk about it. 

[mikedejong33]

So this has been confirmed and booked. We fly in Thursday, and the corporate golf outing is on the Friday at that Cranberry Highlands course. Then on Saturday we are going to Oakmont to watch the US Open. My buddy and I are staying a couple of extra days, so we have Sunday and Monday to play as well and tour around a bit, then fly home Tuesday. If that Cranberry course is good, we may just play it again since it looks to be right beside the hotel and not that expensive. Then I may try to get him to splurge a bit and maybe try Olde Stonewall maybe on the Monday. Thanks for the input and help, really looking forward to it.

[mikedejong33]

How is Sewickley Heights Golf Course? That is one of the courses we get to play for this corporate event. I looked it up online, and there isn't much info available. It looks like a private club, and it looks nice. Has anyone played it? Thanks

[Petethreeput]

It's been years and years since I played Sewickley Heights.  I remember it being a really nice course with lots of elevation changes.  The one thing I really remember is the rough.  I mean, it was high, thick, and tough to advance the ball.  Perhaps in the years since they have succumbed to POP and playability but the only other course I have played that I could compare it to is Oakmont.  The funny thing (at least to me) is looking at the course it doesn't look all that penal from the tee box, but it is/was.

[Poor Mans Ty Webb]

On 6/2/2025 at 2:18 PM, mikedejong33 said:

How is Sewickley Heights Golf Course? That is one of the courses we get to play for this corporate event. I looked it up online, and there isn't much info available. It looks like a private club, and it looks nice. Has anyone played it? Thanks

 

Is private, and very bare bones from a club standpoint, but the golf course is excellent.  Well conditioned, and a fun variety of holes and as good a test of golf as you'll find in Pittsburgh (Oakmont aside).  Looks/feels wide open, but easy to get out of position and when you are you're scrambling for bogey.  You're in for a treat.

[mikedejong33]

So everything is set now, thanks to all that helped out. We fly in Thursday, play Sewickley Heights on Friday. US Open tent on Saturday. Then we have Cranberry Highlands booked for the Sunday, and Quicksilver on the Monday, and fly out Tuesday. Really looking forward to it, hopefully the weather holds out, it looks like it might be a bit stormy. Oh well, nothing we can do about that. Thanks again for the help.

[mikedejong33]

Got back from this trip, and it was a really good time. The US Open was packed, so many people. We made it out to the merch tent and loaded up before it got too late, but it was so wet, muddy, and hot! It was uncomfortable. We walked the entire course, and followed a few of the early groups. Then after lunch, we just hunkered down at the corporate tent and enjoyed some AC and beers. Overall it was a great time!

 

As for the golf we played, Sewickley was really nice. It was a lot fancier than I thought it would be, we had caddies in our group, which I didn't expect. We did a tour of the clubhouse and there is a pretty cool private members card room / lounge in the basement that was pretty neat to see. The member we played with said it was playing very tough, trying to get it similar to Oakmont haha. The rough was impossible, the greens were super fast, and I found the fairways very narrow. I played ok, but just couldn't make pars, I shot 85 and didn't play poorly. We had a nice buffet lunch there, everything was first class.

 

Then we played Cranberry Highlands. Much easier course, the greens were way slower, but still rolling very nice. We played with one of the superintendents, which was fun and he gave us some pointers to get it around. Way more relaxed atmosphere, and we played we better. I shot 72 (2 over) and was very pleased. Had lunch there, nothing really other than pre-made sandwiches and hot dogs, but that was fine.

 

Finally we played Quicksilver. The starter said they held a US Open qualifier there and it was also playing very tough. We played with two college players, one was actually a member at Oakmont, so that was fun, we picked his brain the whole way around. Really nice young guys. The back nine was tough, lots of blind shots, etc. but I played ok there two, shot 3 over 75. We sat in the clubhouse for quite a while, had some beers and a nice meal. We had an early time, thinking we may try for a second round. But it was cart path only due to the rain, and we were pretty exhausted, and just had a long lunch with some beers instead.

 

So overall, great trip, and thanks again for the course recommendations, everywhere we played was really good.