Evan Schiller
The USGA’s selection of host sites for 19 national events speaks to the diversity of great course design and our country itself.
A careful study of this year’s USGA hosting venues clearly reveals one thing: The USGA is not playing favourites. The courses really dot the country, from South Carolina’s Low Country to the heart of Wisconsin to the slopes of the Monterey Peninsula.
With this geographic diversity comes a variety of playing surfaces that run the gamut from Bermuda to crouched to turbid. Six of the courses were built during the golden age of architecture, Pinehurst No. 6 was built in the 1970s, SentryWorld in the 1980s, the river course at Kiawah Island Club in the 1990s, and Cassique in 2000. Of course, golf has been played on the old course. longer than the USGA!
The one common denominator across all of the spots is the USGA’s desire for consistent and fast playing surfaces, as these playing conditions help determine who hits the ball best as well as manage their game.
Not many of us have regular access – or any access – to most CB Macdonald/Seth Raynor courses, but for those in the Northeast, September would be a great time to take a tour of Sleepy Hollow (see main photo above). Mid amateur hosts. In revisiting Macdonald/Raynor design over the past two decades, architect Gil Hanse and Macdonald expert George Bahto have accomplished something remarkable—this photo above is of the 15th green (foreground) and 16th green (background). The trees have been cut down, and the show-and-play strategy is back. Hanse’s pièce-de-résistance saturates the course with many of McDonald’s mold-favorite green highlights. The impressive views of the Hudson River add to the suspense.
By the way, the average amateur requires two courses. This year, the second is Fenway Golf Club, about 10 miles away as the crow flies. This AW Tillinghast layout isn’t as well known as its close neighbors, Quaker Ridge and Winged Foot, but golfers in the Northeast know it’s a true gem.
Architect George Thomas appears twice at this year’s USGA events. We all know—and admire—what he accomplished at the Riviera, but two of his other seminal designs from the mid-1920s will be on display when Los Angeles CC’s North Course hosts the US Open, and Bel Air (photo below) has the US Women’s Amateur. Both courses have been fully restored, so it will be easy to get an appreciation for why many design buffs see Thomas as among the all-time greats. The rolling Southern California landscape and its barrancas are sure to be the perfect canvas for showcasing elite golf architecture.
The women head to Pebble Beach Golf Links in July for their biggest event, the US Women’s Open. It might be more enjoyable to get to watch them cruise around the course than to watch AT&T every February. They will approach these little greens with the batons that the original architects did at least
fascinated by!
A clever hole like the third, which rolls sharply to the left, needs to receive due respect for it as women will play it as a double positional lead versus a swipe on the green off the tee, as some men do. Players will use every putter in the bag, and seeing the best women hit with the middle putter or hybrids from the downhill ninth lane will re-instill the need to make adjustments to attitude and setup. Although the drone shot over the seventh green above highlights the wonderful meeting of land and sea, it doesn’t convey what the wind does. As with the Walker Cup at St Andrews in September, the weather in Pebble will likely play a pivotal role over the course of the event.
There are some great course/field course pairs as well. Take Denver’s Cherry Hills (photo below), US Amateur Sites of the Year. Players who grew up during the tech explosion are heading to the Mile High City, where the ball carries about an extra 10 percent of the distance. Forget about 300 yards – you may see some as close as 400 yards!
This is a bit terrifying, but William Flynn’s masterpiece west of the Mississippi is ready. Carefully restored over the past 15 years by Eric Iverson, the course is a tactical delight. Players can drive over the 323 yard 3 green but… will they secure the required birdie to a domed green with tight grass running in every direction? Not many will, and this green compound will get some nerve-wracking early on. How will they handle the double hazards in par-5 17, which is famous for Green Island? Carry the tee over the first set of bunkers 335 yards, and then there’s another 410-yard row.
Flynn would probably chafe at the idea of players holding the first set, but this hole has the potential to strike again. And no matter how far you drive around Cherry Hills, if you end up off-site around a sloping green (say, over the fifth or right of the tenth), the shots will bleed away. The match playing stage would be great, given Cherry Hills’ number of half holes.
Co-site to host the 2023 US Amateur is Coore & Crenshaw’s rugged Colorado Golf Club, which has native grasses and plants a nice contrast to the Cherry Hills.
This year, the USGA gave us an Embarrassment of Riches—a delightful array of styles to suit all tastes. Good luck everyone!