Major Championship Venues

[Duct Tape]

11 hours ago, Tpbiker said:

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.

 

 

Comments like this can get you reported and banned….

 

🤓🏌🏼‍♀️

[Duct Tape]

11 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Oakmont is the obvious answer.  

Just about the antithesis of a links course. And just brutal to play. Can you say no fun… 

[PedronNiall]

On 2/6/2025 at 3:48 AM, 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. 

 

Would be pretty amazing to spotlight more courses. One of the best threads on here is the pics from all over in the Travel section. So many sites that still retain a timeless look like they simply came up out of the earth that way but don't get as much fanfare.

[italianstallion]

4 hours ago, Duct Tape said:

Just about the antithesis of a links course. And just brutal to play. Can you say no fun… 

Certainly it’s not a links course unless you catch it on the firmest of days. The closest similarity it draws to its links counterparts are the penalty areas: deep fairway bunkers from which reaching the greens is difficult, various ditches and berms scattered about the course, some cavernous greenside bunkers that seemingly swallow any ball that gets near them. Get offline at Oakmont and it becomes a crapshoot. 

[golferdude54]

5 hours ago, italianstallion said:

Certainly it’s not a links course unless you catch it on the firmest of days. The closest similarity it draws to its links counterparts are the penalty areas: deep fairway bunkers from which reaching the greens is difficult, various ditches and berms scattered about the course, some cavernous greenside bunkers that seemingly swallow any ball that gets near them. Get offline at Oakmont and it becomes a crapshoot. 

 

The rakes they use for the fairway bunkers have specially designed forks and they would rake them perpendicular to the green so the ball would end up in impossible lies. They don't do that when hosting the US Open because the players would complain and not play, it happened back in 1953 (which Hogan won) during practice rounds.

[canonlbp430]

On 2/6/2025 at 2:48 AM, 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. 

The USGA opened the rotation then everyone complained incessantly after Chambers Bay and Erin Hills so they stopped. 

[ageb11]

10 minutes ago, canonlbp430 said:

The USGA opened the rotation then everyone complained incessantly after Chambers Bay and Erin Hills so they stopped. 

The players complain no matter where it’s held, it’s one of the few tournaments where I tune out players regarding conditions. To each their own, I thought Chambers Bay and Erin Hills were two of the most fun venues they’ve had in forever. Certainly moving it around will do more to “grow the game” than the same venues which are mostly ultra private at country clubs on the coasts most of us will never play. 

[TiScape]

12 minutes ago, canonlbp430 said:

The USGA opened the rotation then everyone complained incessantly after Chambers Bay and Erin Hills so they stopped. 

I couldn’t remember ur screen name if my life depended on it…

Ur avatar is a different story! Haha

[canonlbp430]

15 hours ago, ageb11 said:

The players complain no matter where it’s held, it’s one of the few tournaments where I tune out players regarding conditions. To each their own, I thought Chambers Bay and Erin Hills were two of the most fun venues they’ve had in forever. Certainly moving it around will do more to “grow the game” than the same venues which are mostly ultra private at country clubs on the coasts most of us will never play. 

I agree. But beyond the players, the talking heads did nothing but complain that they weren’t true US Open tests. 

[AverageGopher]

On 2/21/2025 at 7:29 AM, bladehunter said:

Oakmont is the obvious answer.  

 

I've been to two opens at Oakmont....am scratching my head here...I think it's a much tougher course.

 

No shared greens.  

Bunker game at oakmont is a different kind of brutal than St Andrews - not necessarily the depth, but the placement is remarkably strategic.

Some brutally tight driving holes - first few are sneaky tight in contrast to St Andrews; par 5 on the back, par 4s in the middle of the back nine too.

Some holes where you basically can't hit driver (11)

Several greens are purely insane (not sure St Andrews quite has that)

 

But am open to suggestion/curious where the analogy comes from....

[bladehunter]

2 hours ago, AverageGopher said:

 

I've been to two opens at Oakmont....am scratching my head here...I think it's a much tougher course.

 

No shared greens.  

Bunker game at oakmont is a different kind of brutal than St Andrews - not necessarily the depth, but the placement is remarkably strategic.

Some brutally tight driving holes - first few are sneaky tight in contrast to St Andrews; par 5 on the back, par 4s in the middle of the back nine too.

Some holes where you basically can't hit driver (11)

Several greens are purely insane (not sure St Andrews quite has that)

 

But am open to suggestion/curious where the analogy comes from....

Well. I’m thinking of it as the “ iconic “ us open course.  Not in comparison to st Andrews the course itself.  Us open is generally a harder course event.  Maybe I misunderstood the intent.  But if we’re talking course comparison only ?  Ther aren’t any that have hosted  the us open . None I can think of as easy as st Andrews.  

[billyspan]

Cool look at Newport CC, one of the 5 charter clubs of the USGA.

 

 

 

[billyspan]

Perhaps Bethpage and Pinehurst are the only ones that comes close to a US "spirit" of St. Andrews.  Both public access and have multiple courses on-site for the wide spectrum of golfers to enjoy. 

[ATXGolferGuy]

On 2/21/2025 at 6:29 PM, Duct Tape said:

And just brutal to play.

That's what I wish they would do for future US Opens....bring back the ball swallowing knee deep rough and a winning score around par for the week. Love to see the best in the world have to hack it around and put an extreme premium on hitting the fairway vs bombing it all over the course. 

 

As far as courses here....Oakmont, Winged Foot, Pinehurst, Pebble and Shinnecock get my vote.  Augusta is on another level and unique because of the Masters.