Oakmont Country Club, PA, USA   
Green Keeper: John Zimmers

12^th hole, 665/560 yards; Some three shotters like the 16th at Firestone or the last two at Wentworth (West) achieve recognition because of where they are in the round rather than any overt merit. The opposite is true of this stupendous three shotter as it falls perhaps too early in the back nine to garner the full attention it deserves. Four fairway bunkers short right and two longer left set up the tee shot beautifully. The left to right cant in the fairway creates the real worry for the tiger as he fears losing control of his ball along the fast running fairway surface. Ditches on either side of the fairway and a cross bunker 155 yards from the green dominate the second shot. If the golfer gets past this cross hazard, a well struck pitch gives him a chance of seeing his ball finish close on this green that slopes from high front left to lower back right. Any approach from the rough is guaranteed to roll off the back of this long green. Who can forget Tom Watson's chip from the rough short-left of the green that took almost a full minute to roll from the front of the green to its back hole location in the 1983 U.S. Open?

The bunkering scheme and the front to back slope of the green make the twelfth a world class
three shotter. However, even before such refinements were made, H.C. Fownes'
use of the left to right sloping terrain was quite noteworthy in itself.

Caught in the high left bunker off the tee, the golfer needs to hit a good recovery just to get within 
200 yards of the green. Note the smaller contours throughout the fairway, an outstanding lasting
benefit from using horses and mules during construction as opposed to heavy machinery.

The golfer wants to spin a short iron into the twelfth green in an effort to control his ball on
the front to back sloping green. Thus, the golfer feels compelled to carry past the
cross hazard above that juts into the fairway 155 yards from the green.

13^th hole, 185/155 yards; Every architect needs to study this hole. Constructed in a field with no natural landforms with which to work, the hole seems innocuous as it rests easy upon the land. Yet, it requires an exacting shot. Part of the challenge lies in the fact that it is the narrowest green on the course. Also, ala the third green at Pine Valley, anything right is dead thanks to the green’s right to left tilt being married to a long deep bunker down the green’s right. As at the one shot sixth, the ability to hit a high fade off the tee to hold the ball against the green’s right to left slope is a wonderful attribute to have – no wonder the great Nicklaus found the course to his liking in the 1962 U.S. Open!

The narrow nature of the thirteenth putting surface is captured in this view from the right greenside bunker.

14^th hole, 360/340 yards; For such a feared course, the golfer is surprised to find four two shot holes less than 400 yards. This is the third one and the ten bunkers lining the fairway suggest that Fownes expected the golfer to be penalized for missing a fairway with his three wood. Surprisingly, the green at 46 yards in length is the course’s second biggest green. Judging one’s pitch to get close to the hole on such a large green is the same problem that has confounded golfers for years at St. Andrews.

As seen from behind, the large fourteenth green comes at the end of a narrow, bunker-lined fairway.
The back hole location behind the 'puff' in the green is particularly tough to which to get close.

15^th hole, 500/435 yards; Pat Ward-Thomas’ selection of this hole for his world eclectic eighteen was an easy one. One of the game's finest green complexes, the green itself is the longest on the course and appears immense from the fairway. The course’s second longest bunker at 90 yards frames the green on a diagonal angle along its right side. The fact that this built-up green complex looks so natural is a testament to W.C. Fownes’ eye and Emil Loeffler’s ability to translate that vision into the dirt. The relationship of the two men started in 1904 when a ten year old Loeffler caddied for Fownes Jr. By 1927, Loeffler was both the club professional and green keeper at Oakmont. That the two walked and worked side by side for over four decades (!) at Oakmont is largely why each hole is so special today. For instance, in regards to the course’s evolution, they didn’t create this green complex until sometime after 1925, at least two plus decades after the course opened.

Mini Church Pew bunkers guard the high left side of the fairway 
from 220 to 160 yards from the fifteenth green.

The world class fifteenth green complex is evidence as to how a course evolves with time and 
through careful study. The original green was to the left of this one, more straightaway,
and lacked the fascinating angles of play that today's green complex possesses.

The removal of the interior trees increased the wind's effect on play. In the case
of the fifteenth, the predominate wind sweeps from left to right.

16^th hole, 230/210 yards; Similar to the fifteenth hole, the green complex was seamlessly benched into the sloping left to right hillside. The golfer is encouraged to again hit a high fade that feeds his ball onto the putting surface. This hole is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the tree removal program. Trees surrounded the back and right of the green with branches that nearly hung over the putting surface fifteen years ago. Now, the golfer is much more aware of the green’s steep fall off right and behind.

Once shrouded in trees, the sixteenth green complex now stands alone.

17^th hole, 315/295 yards; This hole continues to improve with time to the point now where it is among the game’s great dozen or so short two shotters. The uphill green is within reach for big hitters; the deepening of the greenside bunkers, especially Big Mouth, counteracts the desire to have a go. The result is a conundrum and the fact that this risk/reward option occurs on the penultimate hole is wonderful indeed.

As the sun sets, the flag at the uphill dogleg left seventeenth goads the player into having a go.

The direct line from tee to green means carrying six bunkers. If the golfer's tee
ball carries the last two as seen above, he still needs to...

...be mindful that his tee ball doesn't leak right into Big Mouth which guards the front of the green.
The depth of Big Mouth is possible given today's better drainage techniques
than those that existed when the course first opened.

18^th hole, 485/430 yards; The best view of the course is afforded from the tee: a long, straight par four littered with bunkers to a wild green in front of the stately gabled clubhouse. The cross bunker ninety yards short of the green is a fine example of adding interest and drama to a missed tee shot on a straight hole as the player is now faced with a dilemma of whether he can carry that bunker from the rough or sand. Finally, and appropriately, the interior contours on this back to front pitched Home green are among the finest in the game, worthy of great study by all architects. For many, this is the finest finishing hole in championship golf in the United States - no wonder as it is a perfect reflection on Oakmont. Arnold Palmer's walk up this fairway in his final U.S. Open in 1994 lingers long in the mind. 

If the golfer has kept his wits about him and managed his game well across all eighteen holes,
the walk up the eighteenth fairway is one of the game's most satisfying.

The desire to have a monstrously difficult course is nothing new. Architects have been given that command for over a century - from Tillinghast at Winged Foot to Dye at PGA West to Doak at Wilderness Valley. However, the first such course was Oakmont Country Club. What separates Oakmont, still to this day is that it is the most natural and seemingly effortless of the world's notoriously challenging courses. It does not rely on water, out of bounds or hokey artificial features. Regardless, it is amazing how many spots around the green that a player can find himself in a desperate situation. Over the back on the second, right on the sixth, short on the tenth, left on the sixteenth, the list goes on and on. Oakmont is a position course par excellent, requiring the golfer to maintain composure and execute a game plan at all times. Otherwise, the golfer is made to look silly. Fownes noted to Walter Hagen, 'Surely it is not asking too much of a champion to expect him to play every shot.' Over one hundred years from its opening, Oakmont still tests each shot as well or better than any course in the world.

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