Located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in Eastern USA, is the Oakmont Country Club. The famous course is known to be the country’s oldest top-ranked golf course and one of the most challenging. It was established in 1903 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The course has hosted more US Opens than any other course, a total of nine events, with the most recent in 2016. And it will host the US Open once again in 2025. It has also hosted five US Amateurs, two US Women’s Opens, and three PGA Championships. Golf Digest has constantly ranked the Oakmont club as one of the five best golf courses in the US.
American designer Henry Clay Fownes designed Oakmont. He purchased 200 acres of farmland in the “White Oak Areas” of Oakmont in 1903 and began building the golf course with a crew of 150 men, horses, and about two dozen mules.
Fownes was very hands-on with the process. He served as president of the club and continued to make direct refinements to the course’s layout until his death. His son, William, an accomplished amateur golfer, also played a crucial role in the course design, making constant tweaks to its design. He worked closely with American greenkeeper Emil Loeffler in constructing new bunkers whenever they became ineffective over time. Architects like Ed Seay, Robert Trent Jones, and Arthur Hills have also renovated the course over the years.
When Oakmont opened, the course was a par 80 and had no trees. However, the beautification of courses became popular in the mid-20th century, and the Oakmont planted thousands of trees ahead of the 1962 US Open. However, in the 1990s, despite resistance from the membership, the club undertook the task of removing most of its trees. Since then, the club has removed about 15,000 trees from its interior. It removed most of them prior to the US Open in 2007. The reason for doing so was to return the course to its open, links-style roots and give it a more aesthetic appeal. With the empty landscape and absence of trees to stop the wind, some players noted that the changes made the course more difficult to play.
The Oakmont club is a private resort open to its members and guests. It is one of the world’s most exclusive golf courses, and individuals can only become members by invitation. The 18-hole regulation length course features over 200 bunkers and pretty tight fairways.
The Oakmont club has featured some notable moments in golf. At the venue, Jack Nicklaus won his first major in 1962. In the famous playoff against Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, who was in his first season as a professional, defeated the five-time major champion by three strokes with an even-par 70. John Miller’s record in the final round of the 1973 US Open is also one of the notable events the venue witnessed. Entering the final round with six shots back of the lead, Miller defeated his opponent John Schlee by a shot. Today, many still consider it the most remarkable round in the history of the US Open.
