Major Championship Venues

[PrincipalsNose]

Which US open course would you say is the US' version of St Andrews and why?

[MtlJeff]

I'm not sure the US has one quite like St-Andrews, i guess many would say Pebble Beach

 

When i think of the US Open i think of courses like Oakmont or Winged Foot. But they don't carry the same historic feel as St-Andrews

[GowerND11]

I don't know if a US Open course can fit... Maybe Pebble, Oakmont, or Winged Foot. I think the real answer to the "US version of St. Andrews" is Augusta National. Though insanely private and restrictive. It's the 1 course in the US that is almost universally revered, AND it hosts a major every year, so the eyes are always on it. While St. Andrews doesn't host every year, there is that obvious special aura around it whenever the Open is played there that I don't think a US Open course has. 

[billyspan]

1 hour ago, GowerND11 said:

I don't know if a US Open course can fit... Maybe Pebble, Oakmont, or Winged Foot. I think the real answer to the "US version of St. Andrews" is Augusta National. Though insanely private and restrictive. It's the 1 course in the US that is almost universally revered, AND it hosts a major every year, so the eyes are always on it. While St. Andrews doesn't host every year, there is that obvious special aura around it whenever the Open is played there that I don't think a US Open course has. 

Good point @GowerND11 bringing up the public access that St. Andrews has.  Golf in the U.S. evolved much differently.

 

I was going to mention that a number of "classic" courses do not host the U.S. Open anymore because the yardages and infrastructure space needed has passed them by.  Newport CC and Chicago CC come to mind.  So many of the pre-WII venues are no longer in the "rota".  Contrast that with the British Open rota in play since 1860!

[mat562]

Course-wise, probably Shinnecock HIlls is as near as it gets, but as an iconic venue, where the setting is the main character in the play, it would be Pebble Beach.

[elwhippy]

None. Simply nothing on the US Open rota, or anywhere else on the planet. Pebble is a parkland course. 

[PJE]

I’m with @GowerND11 on this topic. Golf evolved differently in the US than in the UK and there isn’t a US Open Course that shares the iconic status of St Andrew’s and is also public. 
Augusta shares that iconic status with St Andrew’s. 
Pebble is well known and public but it’s does not have the cachet of Augusta and St Andrew’s. 
I think the USGA wants to make Pinehurst iconic like St Andrew’s but it’s not and it won’t ever be regarded in the same way. 

[Hawkeye77]

There simply isn't one and reasons too many to list.

[StoutKing]

7 hours ago, PrincipalsNose said:

Which US open course would you say is the US' version of St Andrews and why?

There really isn't one.  An off the wall choice is Chambers Bay.  Why?  It's firm and fast, available for public play and there's a public walking path around/through the course.  That being said it has way more elevation change but that's my choice for the closest.

[italianstallion]

There's two publicly accessible courses in the world that start near the top of every golfer's bucket lists. One of those is St. Andrews. The other is the US counter part to St. Andrews, Pebble Beach. 

 

If we want to argue St. Andrews' spiritual US major championship counterpart (publicly accessible, equitable, all about the golf, for the common man), then I'd say Bethpage Black. But then again access to St. Andrews is seemingly slowly losing that equitable component as the years go on.

[GDB67]

Kiawah Island. 
 

[Hawkeye77]

There is no course in America with anything resembling the history and lore of The Old Course and its place in golf history. So there can be no “version”. 
 

We’ve got some great courses in the context of our golf history. Jack has often said Pebble Beach was his choice for one round - it’s wonderful and stunning even though it’s not a real links course nor bears much resemblance to one.  Augusta National is an icon. I’d guess one of the great courses in the Northeast for older historical significance but ….. we’re Johnny Come Latelys. Plenty of courses in the UK and Ireland with more historical gravitas than we have to offer. 

[Santiago Golf]

The Country Club or Pinehurst 

[bcjim]

Closest is clearly Shinnecock.  Its also been around since the 1800s, still in use for majors, and is a revered links-ish course.

[ageb11]

At the risk of high-jacking the thread, I wish the USGA would focus on having a US Open in every state at least once. Seems very old-school to think there’s only a handful of courses on the coasts capable of testing the best. The rotation works for the British given how much smaller the country is IMHO. 
 

it will never happen, but it’s fun to dream of the USGA finding a way. 

[ColinKelvin]

On 2/4/2025 at 4:07 PM, billyspan said:

Good point @GowerND11 bringing up the public access that St. Andrews has.  Golf in the U.S. evolved much differently.

 

I was going to mention that a number of "classic" courses do not host the U.S. Open anymore because the yardages and infrastructure space needed has passed them by.  Newport CC and Chicago CC come to mind.  So many of the pre-WII venues are no longer in the "rota".  Contrast that with the British Open rota in play since 1860!

 

Several courses were on the Open rota in earlier times and then dropped pre-WWII because they are too short or otherwise unsuitable, most notably Prestwick which hosted it 24 times.

 

6 hours ago, ageb11 said:

At the risk of high-jacking the thread, I wish the USGA would focus on having a US Open in every state at least once. Seems very old-school to think there’s only a handful of courses on the coasts capable of testing the best. The rotation works for the British given how much smaller the country is IMHO. 
 

it will never happen, but it’s fun to dream of the USGA finding a way. 

 

I'd love to see a wider range of USO courses too, there are so many options and the USGA doesn't tie themselves to one type of course like the R&A does.  When you look at the Open rota, although there is a decent spread in Scotland (excluding the NE and Highlands) the English courses are bunched in the NW with only Sandwich in the south. There is still room for improvement and more variety over here too.

 

In answer to the OP's question, Oakmont is probably the closest for history and Pebble for recognisability.  The Old Course has the advantage of having hosted so many times that no USO can be anywhere close to being a US version.

 

[IMeneses]

As an European, the first one that came to mind is Pinehurst n2. Has the history (as americas resort golf course), public access and history in majors. Not a links, but (in my view) is a classic american golf course in design. 

[reggus1]

10 hours ago, ageb11 said:

At the risk of high-jacking the thread, I wish the USGA would focus on having a US Open in every state at least once. Seems very old-school to think there’s only a handful of courses on the coasts capable of testing the best. The rotation works for the British given how much smaller the country is IMHO. 
 

it will never happen, but it’s fun to dream of the USGA finding a way. 

That would be cool. In Alaska they could have a rolling 1st tee start like the British Open coz of the huge daylight hours. Not gonna happen due to financial reasons bit dreams are free.

[KennyP]

Chambers Bay.

 

Because, like St Andrews, nobody designed it. It just happened.

[Hawkeye77]

On 2/7/2025 at 11:31 AM, KennyP said:

Chambers Bay.

 

Because, like St Andrews, nobody designed it. It just happened.

No bulldozers or excavators were needed for the original courses at St. Andrews. Chambers Bay was a sand and gravel facility - they had to excavate 1.5 million cubic yards of material let alone create greens and so forth. 
 

 

And it is not a true links course. 

Edited February 8 by Hawkeye77

[StoutKing]

4 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

No bulldozers or excavators were needed for the original courses at St. Andrews. Chambers Bay was a sand and gravel facility - they had to excavate 1.5 million cubic yards of material let alone create greens and so forth. 
 

 

And it is not a true links course. 

Certainly not a true links course.  That being said it has fescue grass and is probably plays the most links like of any course in the US.  It can be crazy firm and fast when they want it to be.

[Hawkeye77]

54 minutes ago, StoutKing said:

Certainly not a true links course.  That being said it has fescue grass and is probably plays the most links like of any course in the US.  It can be crazy firm and fast when they want it to be.

I believe you, all I remember is it looked purple for the U.S. Open.  What was that about?

[StoutKing]

2 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

I believe you, all I remember is it looked purple for the U.S. Open.  What was that about?

 

It's fescue grass so they probably turned off the water in the run up to the Open.  It was definitely crispy.  The greens used to be fescue too, which was uncommon, but honestly they were pretty good, although certainly not to the level that pros are used too.  The greens has since been updated to poa.  I haven't played there since but I heard they're good.

[italianstallion]

Chambers Bay is certainly completely man-made. That said, the ball behaves at Chambers as it would at any seaside links overseas...it bounces and rolls just about everywhere. Use of the ground can help you out of a jam or give you more options to various pin positions. I played 36 holes there one day, probably the most fun golf course I've played in the US, and the ground conditions/grasses used have a significant part in why that is. Give me more purple and brown courses please.

[Duct Tape]

National GL, Newport CC, Sankaty Head, Fishers Island, Shinnecock. Sand Hills (lacking the critical ocean requirement however). 

[billyspan]

On 2/6/2025 at 8:24 AM, IMeneses said:

As an European, the first one that came to mind is Pinehurst n2. Has the history (as americas resort golf course), public access and history in majors. Not a links, but (in my view) is a classic american golf course in design. 

Pinehurst #2 will get there over the next 100 years!  I have no doubt that it would have been one of the "standard" U.S. Open venues if not for the fact that it hosted the prestigious North & South Open (1902-1951) and North & South Amateur (1901-Present).  The North and South Open was the Masters before the Masters.  Fans and professionals alike missed out when that tournament was cancelled over prize money.

[isaacbm]

Whistling Straits would be close I think…

 

then Shinnecock

 

not exactly of course, but certainly close. Some of the bandon  dunes courses would work, but they will never play them.

[OBbogey5]

Dinah Shore, Mission Hills. Sadly

[bladehunter]

Oakmont is the obvious answer.  

[Tpbiker]

Slightly off topic, but I always think the old course is the most overrated course I've ever played. I get the history, but take the course out of st andrews and it's bang average at best

 

I use to live there in the 90s. Got to play all the courses there whenever I wanted for the pricely sum of 90 quid. Thats not per round...That's 90 quid all year, for all the courses!! In terms of enjoyment, it was the 3rd best out of the 5 courses that were there at the time

 

The town is truly magical however and for someone coming over to visit I can understand why the old course would be on their bucket list.