by The most prestigious tournament in women’s golf, the U.S. Women’s Open, will be played at Wisconsin’s Erin Hills May 29th-June 1st. Earlier today, the USGA announced its qualifying sites, and with the first qualifiers just two months away, here’s a scouting report of a handful of courses that caught my eye.
Salem Country Club
Host of the 1954 and 1984 U.S. Women’s Opens, Salem’s past champions share a rare piece of history. Babe Zaharias and Hollis Stacy both won three U.S. Women’s Opens and Salem was the site of the final victory for each of them.
Salem’s history goes all the way back to 1895, but its claim to fame was bringing on Donald Ross in 1925 to build the 18-hole championship course. A restoration that included work on bunkers, fairways, and tweaks to a number of greens was completed in 2022 by Renaissance Golf Design.
If the history and recent restoration don’t intrigue you, make a trip to the pro shop during the May 5th qualifier. Salem’s got one of the best logos in all of golf.
ANDY’S PICKS: 2025 U.S. Open Qualifying Sites Worth Visiting
Olympic Club (Lake Course)
It’s a busy spring and summer for the Olympic Club. On top of hosting a qualifier on April 28, the historic club will host the best male amateurs in the world at the 125th U.S. Amateur Championship in August.
Sure to be a popular choice for qualifiers, the Lake Course looks a lot different now than it did for Yuka Saso’s first U.S. Women’s Open victory in 2021. Shortly after that win, Gil Hanse began his renovation work which included expanding greens and fairways and adding a number of new bunkers.
Soule Park Golf Course
If you don’t bring your A-game to this May 7 qualifier, you can still enjoy one of the most beautiful settings for golf in the entire country. Set in the Topa Topa Mountains of Ojai, Soule Park was devastated by severe flooding in 2005. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner resurrected the course into an affordable, fun and architecturally intriguing spot that fits wonderfully into its idyllic surroundings.
Hackensack Golf Club
The Charles Banks design is full of bold features that’ll grab your attention. The most memorable might be the 150-yard fairway bunker on the 11th hole, but there are other golden age roots reminiscent of Banks’s mentor, Seth Raynor. The Biarritz green on the third hole stretches 70 yards, the Redan at the 12th features a large collection area past the green, and the Punchbowl 16th leaves little room for error.
St. Clair Country Club
St. Clair brought on Langford and Moreau in 1927 to add to its existing nine-hole course. The duo’s addition made the course one of the stars of the St. Louis area. The likes of Bob Goalby, Jay Haas, and Frank Conner called the course home, and in 1983, all three competed in that year’s Masters. In 2013, Goalby’s son, Kye, assisted in the renovation led by Renaissance Golf Design.
