Oct 10

Oct 10 Famous Golf Courses - Oakmont Country Club

Oakmont Country Club: The latest in our series about Iconic Golf courses

Few venues in the world of golf have the championship tradition of Oakmont Country Club, PA, USA.

Introduced in 1903 by designer Henry Fownes, Oakmont Country Club has hosted more combined USGA and PGA championships than any other course in the U.S., including 9 United States Opens, 5 U.S. Amateurs, 3 PGA Championships, and 2 U.S. Women's Opens.

Oakmont remains perhaps the most difficult course in North America, with 175 deep bunkers (personified by the Church Pews), hard and slick greens that slope away from the player, and tight fairways requiring the utmost precision.

Oakmont was the site of "the greatest round of the 20th century": Johnny Miller's final round 63 at the 1973 U.S. Open. Golf Digest ranks Oakmont #5 in its most recent version of America's Top 100 courses.

Oakmont Country Club: Historic Holes

Although this course may not offer many significant holes, with many of the par-four holes being dead straight, it does offer some of the toughest bunkers in all of golf history.

These “church pew bunkers” or “coffin bunkers” sit along the fairways of the third and fourth holes, awaiting a bad drive from an unlucky golfer.

The iconic “Church Pew Bunkers” at Oakmont

The “Church pew Bunkers” by the numbers.

The Length in yards of the Pews is 102 yards, following a 2005 expansion by architect Tom Fazio.
The bunker is tapered, with the narrow side (18 yards wide) closest to the third green and the wider side (43 yards) closer to the third tee.
There are Twelve turf islands in the Pews.
Fazio added four new islands, two toward the third green and two toward the fourth.
Looking at it top to bottom from the third tee, the first five islands at the top of the bunker are concave and the seven closest to the tee are convex.
The height of turf islands is approximately three feet.
There are also two to three yards of sand on either side of each island to the edge of the bunker and four to six yards of sand between each island.

With numbers such as scary as these, there are approximately ZERO golfers that wish to land in these treacherous sand traps. If you ever get the opportunity to play at Oakmont Country Club lookout for these bunkers but do not go in them.

Oakmont Country Club: Historic Tournaments

The 2016 United States Open Championship was the 116th U.S. Open, held June 16–19 at Oakmont Country Club in which Dustin Johnson won his first major championship.

Play was delayed on the first day due to heavy rainfall, forcing most of the field to play half a round behind schedule. Andrew Landry (an amateur) was a surprise leader after the first round before Johnson led the field in the second. Shane Lowry carded a 65 in the third round to take the overall lead into the final round. Despite a controversial penalty on the 5th green, Johnson took the title three strokes ahead of runners-up Lowry, Jim Furyk and Scott Piercy.

Play in the final round began at 10 am, in pairs from the first hole, with the final pair of Shane Lowry and Andrew Landry starting at 3:30 pm. Dustin Johnson shot a 69 and won his first major, three shots ahead of three runners-up.

After finishing at five-under-par, Johnson was penalised a shot as he was judged to have made his ball move as he addressed it on the fifth green, despite being initially absolved of wrongdoing. His score was amended to four under par, but he still finished three strokes ahead. The top four of the leaderboard were the only ones left under par.

Oakmont Country Club : The Final Word

Oakmont Country Club is one of the most iconic golf courses in the history of the sport, with its numerous championships, and historic bunkers. From the white sand traps to every golf tournament imaginable, this course has a history that has been building for decades. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and stick around for more to come.

Oakmont Country Club Yardage