Chocolate Drops: How Oakmont Is Different This Time

It’s U.S. Open week. Let’s run through a few notes about what’s happening in the world of golf architecture:

→ Starting on Thursday, for the first time, the viewing public will see the results of Gil Hanse’s 2023 historical renovation of Oakmont Country Club. For a full account of the project, check out Andy Johnson’s interviews with Hanse and superintendent Mike McCormick on the Fried Egg Golf Podcast. Here are seven specific design changes to keep an eye on during this week’s action:

No. 2, par 4, 346 yards

‍In expanding this green, Hanse recaptured pinnable nooks back left and back right. Also, because he re-bunkered and expanded the fairway on the right, players can now hunt an angle to the recovered back-left pin, if they wish to go against the advice of their course-management coaches.

No. 3, par 4, 462 yards

‍By removing the green-side bunker short left, Hanse expanded the third green’s vicious false front, making this uphill approach even more intimidating. Front-left pins will be appointment viewing.

No. 7, par 4, 485 yards

‍Oakmont and the USGA hope that the expanded and reconfigured landing zone for tee shots on the par-4 seventh hole will produce some strategic variety. Players can now choose between bailing out short of the bunkers on the right, where the approach is blind, or challenging the bunkers on the left, where both the view and the angle are better. I’ll be checking in with ShotLink during the tournament to see how this pans out.

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‍No. 10, par 4, 461 yards

‍Hanse moved the bunker short right of the green slightly to the right, broadening the ramp onto this severely front-to-back and right-to-left canted green. I’m excited to see whether players use the ground here, especially when the pin is toward the front.

No. 13, par 3, 182 yards

‍This is the single best example of the character and eccentricity that Hanse’s green expansions recaptured.

No. 16, par 3, 236 yards

‍Taking inspiration from a 1920s aerial photo, Hanse restored the trench bunker wrapping around the left side of the 16th green. He did not, however, bring back the even larger bunker that used to lurk on the right. That area is now covered in deep rough, which will make for a tougher recovery than sand would. Aesthetically, though, I think I’d prefer having the bunker back.

No. 17, par 4, 312 yards

‍By the 2016 U.S. Open, Oakmont had gotten rid of most of its trees, but a stand remained along the curving right side of the 17th fairway. Hanse removed these, opening up a striking view of the 18th hole.

→ Dunham Hills Golf Club in Hartland, Michigan, is raising funds for a redesign by Mike DeVries, the architect behind Kingsley Club, Greywalls, Cape Wickham Golf Links, and Diamond Springs Golf Course. If the project comes to fruition, Dunham Hills will rebrand as Proving Grounds Golf Club and adopt a UK-inspired model combining club membership and public access. Take a look at DeVries’s proposed routing below.

→ Wild Horse Golf Club, Dave Axland and Dan Proctor’s masterwork in Gothenburg, Nebraska, has broken ground on a new par-3 course. Fried Egg Golf’s newsroom is currently trying to figure out who’s doing the design work.

→ Sad news: the University of Minnesota plans to close its golf course, Les Bolstad, and sell the land. The 1929 Tom Vardon design is a well-regarded affordable option in the Twin Cities region. The closure is part of the university’s response to a budgetary crisis, which has been exacerbated recently by U.S. federal government’s reductions to funding for academic research.

→ David Zinkand has begun the second phase of his renovation at Big Foot Country Club near Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. Zinkand’s work on the 1924 Tom Bendelow design will involve widening playing corridors, expanding greens, removing non-native trees, building new tees, relocating bunkers, and rerouting holes 12-14.