US Open 2025: 10 reasons why Oakmont Country Club is the most feared golf course in the world
The US Open is never easy.
The USGA, which runs the third major championship of the year, believes that their tournament should be the toughest test in the sport.
Four of the last five winners ended the week on 6-under which actually is easier than it has been in the recent past.
Brooks Koepka in 2017, Justin Rose in 2013 and Webb Simpson in 2012 all won with 1-over totals for the week.
When Dustin Johnson won at Oakmont in 2016 he finished on 4-under, but was one of only four men under-par for the week.
And when Angel Cabrera triumphed at the Pennsylvania course in 2007 he was 5-over!
“It’s a physical and cerebral test,” Justin Rose said of the US Open in 2016 but why is Oakmont particularly feared?
Let’s find out.
1. History
The course was designed by Henry Fownes in 1903. Although it was designed to be a links course, it is on farmland and doesn’t really play like that although it is open to the elements.
Fownes said: “Let the clumsy, the spineless, the alibi artists stand aside, a poor shot should be a shot irrevocably lost.” Crikey – it’s only golf, Henry!
2. The bunkers
There are 175 sand traps on the course which is more even than Royal Lytham & St Annes which is famous for its many bunkers.
For many years rakes with wide tines were used but they were outlawed in 1964 because players didn’t like the deep furrows.
The church pews bunker is the most famous – it is 100 yards by 40 yards with lines of sand and grass within it!
3. The greens
They’re not just fast, they’re ultra fast at 15 on the stimpmeter.
Sam Snead once quipped: “I put a dime down to mark my ball and the dime slipped away.”
The difficulty, however, is about finding them as much as putting on them.
Adam Scott hit every fairway on the front nine in a practice round and shot 3-over.
“This front nine eats you up,” said Bryson DeChambeau after playing it recently. “Oakmont you’re a beast.”
4. The rough
Quite simply: it is lush and long and there is lots and lots and lots of it.
5. The longest par-3 in major championship golf
The eighth hole was 300-yards long in 2007 but will still be a monster at 289-yards this year.
That’s basically a par-4 to everyone bar the world’s very best.
6. It witnessed major championship golf’s greatest round
Johnny Miller’s 63 there wasn’t recorded early in the tournament. Nor was it achieved when he wasn’t involved on the first page of the leaderboard.
Miller carded a 63 on Sunday in a US Open.
When he was chasing the win.
When the field average for the day was 73.8.
When only three other players broke 70.
7. It’s steely
Oakmont is located in the borough of Plum which sounds rather quaint.
The next town along the river is Verona which makes you think of Romeo, Juliet, love and nice things.
None of this fits Oakmont.
The nearest big city is Pittsburgh – the city of steel.
That’s more like it.
8. It’s always like this
Many golf courses that host major championships have to be tricked up.
Not Oakmont.
The members like playing a brute.
They’re sadists.
9. Multiple major winners win there
Oakmont has hosted nine major championships and eight of the winners had, or would go on to, win multiple majors.
Only the very best tend to conquer Oakmont.
10. It hosts the US Open, durr
Seve Ballesteros once said of the US Open: “It is all defensive golf from the first tee to the last putt.”
And Bobby Jones argued: “Nobody ever wins the national Open. Somebody else just loses it.”
Oakmont gets that. It’s pure US Open.
READ MORE: “Ultimate examination” – where and when will the 2025 US Open take place?