Oakmont – Syndication Server

Pebble Beach another example of how the courses keep getting better for the U.S. Women’s Open

The U.S. Women’s Open is reaching parity with men’s majors when it comes to host courses.

This is a special year as elite women golfers have the chance to experience two great courses for major championships in the United States: Baltusrol’s Lower Course for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Pebble Beach Golf Links for the U.S. Women’s Open.

That’s back-to-back majors on two major-worthy layouts over the span of three weeks in June and July, with the Women’s Open slated this week.

It wasn’t always this way. Women’s major championships have a checkered history of course selections.

The U.S. Women’s Open, for example, for decades was played for the most part on a slate of courses that in no way measured up to the layouts on which men’s majors were contested. In most years, with only a sprinkling of exceptions, the greatest women players in the game played less-than-stellar courses – many host sites were solid regional or local tracks, but world-beaters they were not.

Things began to change in the mid-1980s, as the Women’s Open moved with greater frequency to courses ranked among the top 200 in Golfweek’s Best rankings of either classic (built before 1960) or modern (built in or after 1960) layouts. Women’s Open course selection peaked in 1992 at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, which hosted the event again in 2010.

As measured by average rating, course selection has continued to improve over the past 20 years. Golfweek’s Best utilizes more than 800 raters who evaluate courses according to 10 criteria and then offer an overall rating of 1 to 10. Their votes are averaged to compile various course rankings lists, including the modern and classic lists. In general, any course rated above 6 would be considered by most players to be a nice local or regional course, and in most cases a course rated above 7 would be worth traveling some distance to play. A layout scoring higher than 8 is among the top 60 or so courses in the world, and only seven courses in the world rank above 9 points – Oakmont is among those seven.

The average rating of the host courses for the U.S. Women’s Open has improved in each of the past three decades. For the period of 1993-2002, the average (using the 2022 Golfweek’s Best ratings for data) was 6.924. It improved to 7.100 in 2003-2012, and it climbed a bit more to 7.195 for the 10 Women’s Opens of 2013-2022. Compare that to the average of 6.277 from 1973-1982.

And course selection only continues to improve. Starting this year with Pebble Beach (using the 2023 Golfweek’s Best ratings for data), the lineup of announced sites for the U.S. Women’s Open scores an average rating of 8.36 among Golfweek’s Best raters. That’s in line with men’s championships and a far cry from the days when the Women’s Open might be played on a course that hardly anyone in the next state over had ever heard of.

Each of the sites announced to host future Women’s Opens is ranked inside the top 100 Golfweek’s Best modern or classic courses in the U.S. Three of the sites – Oakmont (No. 6 in the 2023 ranking of classic courses), Merion’s East Course (No. 7) and Pebble Beach Golf Links (No. 10) – rank among the top 10 classic courses in the United States. Another four – Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course (No. 14 in the 2023 rankings), Pinehurst No. 2 (No. 17), Riviera (No. 18) and Oakland Hills’ South Course (tied for No. 22) – rank among the top 25.

It’s been a long wait for course selection for the premium women’s golf event to catch up with that of the men, but things are certainly headed in the right direction.

LACC members weren’t the only ones alarmed by the record-low scoring at the 2023 U.S. Open. Oakmont members are too

Architect Gil Hanse is leading a historic renovation of Oakmont.

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LOS ANGELES – The members at Los Angeles Country Club weren’t the only ones expressing great concern that competitors in the 156-man field of the 123^rd U.S. Open picked apart the famed George C. Thomas Jr., layout to the tune of a record three scores of 63 or better, the first pair of 62s in championship history and the lowest cumulative scoring average in U.S. Open history (71.76).

So, too, were the members at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The club, which ranks sixth in Golfweek’s 2023 Best Classic Courses list, is scheduled to host a record 10^th U.S. Open in 2025. But in advance of staging its latest major, architect Gil Hanse, the same designer who returned LACC to its former glory, will be doing a historic renovation at Oakmont, which commenced in April on the front nine, and it has some members alarmed that one of golf’s architectural originals doesn’t lose its steel.

Founder H.C. Fownes built Oakmont to be as hard as the iron that came out of its nearby foundry. His son, W.C., believed that a shot poorly played should be irrevocably lost, and his crime and punishment philosophy led to hundreds of bunkers on the property.

Oakmont’s fairways are most famously squeezed by the Church Pew bunkers that guard Nos. 3 and 4 as well as drainage ditches that dot the property at holes such as Nos. 9, 11, 12 and 18. The key to having a chance at a course defined and defended by its greens is to find the fairways.

The fairways at LACC featured some of the widest in U.S. Open history. Champion Wyndham Clark hit a big cut at 18 that still managed to find the short grass at a 56-yard wide fairway that was as welcoming as the runway at LAX. It was a far cry from the typical U.S. Open where competitors have been known to have to walk single file because the fairways are so narrow.

File it under rumblings and grumblings but with several national championships on the horizon, including the U.S. Open in two years, Oakmont members were texting their concern that Hanse’s alterations – which include expanding greens to their original size and deterring long bombers from playing down adjacent holes – might make Oakmont similarly susceptible to lower scoring.

Speaking about how LACC held up against the best golfers in the world in its U.S. Open debut and what could be done to toughen it up for its return engagement in 2039, Southern California native Collin Morikawa said, “Maybe the easy holes are a little too easy out here, and that’s weird to say, but maybe fairways need to be brought in a little bit.”

With the backing of longtime Oakmont pro (now retired) Bob Ford, Hanse was called in to do a restoration plan to widen fairways and shallow fairway bunkers. Hanse and LACC have members scared that venerable Oakmont could be made vulnerable. Members didn’t like seeing fairways more than 35-yards wide given the length players can bash it these days and how the pros attacked LACC, especially on Thursday, where soft conditions and barely a breath of wind led to a birdie barrage.

Last year, Oakmont was selected as an anchor site for future USGA championships including four U.S. Opens between 2025 and 2049, two U.S. Women’s Opens, a U.S. Amateur and a Walker Cup.

Oakmont members pride themselves on having to slow the greens down for hosting a major and love to boast that it could be ready to host the U.S. Open on two weeks’ notice – the time it takes to grow the rough.

Oakmont went through a radical change during the early 2000s when it underwent a secret tree removal program that peeled away trees and restored strategic options. Hanse’s master plan is considered the next step in maintaining the founder’s vision for Oakmont.

The 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont would likely be the last national championship contested before a potential rollback of the golf ball – still to be approved – would be instituted. One school of thought would say this is just armchair architects making something out of nothing. Oakmont likely will remain a beast, and Hanse’s batting average at restoring the classics is strong to very strong. Here’s hoping the architectural inland links built on 190 acres of rugged farmland will remain as tough as nails for the pros in two years’ time.

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Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 200 Classic Courses in the U.S. built before 1960

Golfweek’s experts have ranked the Top 200 courses built before 1960, such as Augusta National, Pebble Beach and more.

Are you a big fan of Golden Age golf architecture? You’re in the right spot. Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of the Top 200 Classic Courses opened before 1960 in the United States.

Each year we publish many lists, with this Top 200 Classic Courses list among the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the lists for Top 200 Modern Courses 2023, the public-access Best Courses You Can Play in each state and Best Private Courses in each state.

The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.

To ensure these lists are up-to-date, Golfweek’s Best in recent years has altered how the individual ratings are compiled into the rankings. Only ratings from rounds played in the past 10 years are included in the compilations. This helps ensure that any course in the rankings still measures up.

Courses also must have a minimum of 25 votes to qualify for the Top 200 Modern or the Top 200 Classic. Other Golfweek’s Best lists, such as Best Courses You Can Play or Best Private, do not require as many votes. This makes it possible that a course can show up on other lists but not on the premium Top 200 lists.

Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. The list notes in parenthesis next to the name of each course where that course ranked in 2022.

After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is:

p: private
d: daily fee
r: resort course
t: tour course
u: university
m: municipal
re: real estate
c: casino

* Indicates new to or returning to this list.

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses 2023: State-by-state rankings of private courses

Golfweek’s Best 2023: The top private golf courses in each state.

Want to find the best private golf courses in each state? You’re in the right spot, and welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of top private layouts as judged by our international panel of raters.

The hundreds of members of that ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings.

All the courses on this list are private and don’t accept daily-fee or resort play. We also publish a separate list of top public-access layouts in each state.

KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. For courses with a number preceding the (m) or (c), that is where the course ranks on Golfweek’s Best lists for top 200 modern and classic courses in the U.S.

* indicates new or returning to the rankings

Editor’s note: The Golfweek’s Best 2023 rankings of top 200 Modern and top 200 Classic Courses will be released June 19.

More Golfweek’s Best for 2023:

MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz dishes on playing Augusta with Tiger Woods, how impressive his latest comeback has been and more

“It was one of the coolest experiences to see a man tear up (Augusta National), literally, like it was his backyard.”

Augusta National. On a Sunday. Less than a month before the Masters.

Or, as John Smoltz recounts, just another round with his good buddy Tiger Woods.

“He said, ‘I’ll fly you down, we’ll play Augusta, I’ll have you back by 3 o’clock. Can you do it?’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to ask my manager,’ and luckily I have a light day,” said Smoltz, who pitched 22 seasons and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, with a smile on his face. “Long story short, my manager lets me do it, nobody finds out. Wheels up, we go play Augusta, on Sunday with every pin as the Sunday pin.”

“I was late to the plane so it caused us not to hit practice balls. I was so excited to get out there. We go to the first tee, I pipe it down the middle and he hit it in the bunker.

“I said, ‘This might be my day, Tiger.’ And he goes ‘Yeah, this could be your day.’ I double-bogeyed from the middle of the fairway and he parred. He shot 66, I shot 76. It was one of the coolest experiences to see a man tear up a golf course, literally, like it was his backyard.

“He carved it up.”

Smoltz, who’s spent countless hours with Tiger on the golf course, hasn’t played with the 15-time major champion since his February 2021 car crash that several injured his lower body, especially his right leg.

Woods, against all odds, battled back. His first event was the PNC Championship that same year. He’d go on to play in three of four majors in 2022 and again at the PNC last week.

Although it’s tough to comprehend how difficult the journey must have been, Smoltz isn’t necessarily surprised Woods was able to pull it off.

“His motor is unlike any other motor. I mean, it’s right in there with Michael Jordan. From a competitive drive to the ability to overcome and achieve, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Smoltz said. “He’s done it all and he wants it all and I think his body pays some of that price for how insane he works out, and insane some of the things that he used to do. Having said that, coming back and reinventing himself, it’s not easy. I don’t even know a fair comparison.

“It’d be like if Michael Jordan couldn’t jump anymore but was still playing basketball.

“That’s what Tiger is doing today in the world of golf. That fall from where he was to where he was trying to get to again was so big that I don’t think many people gave him a chance to even ever compete again.

“I never doubted Tiger, but I’m amazed at what he’s been able to do.”

Since his retirement from Major League Baseball, Smoltz has thrown his hat in the ring at several big-time events, none larger than the 2018 Senior PGA Championship.

At the LPGA’s inaugural Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in 2019, Smoltz took home the amateur title.

Then he did it again 12 months later.

He’ll be in the field next month when the best players in the world descend on Lake Nona in Orlando for the 2023 edition.

Some of the celebrities Smoltz will be pitted against include fellow retired MLB-ers Derek Lowe (2022 TOC winner), Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester and Kevin Millar.

Entering the week in ’19, Smoltz believed there was a chance he could keep up with the ladies.

He was wrong.

“I thought that I could compete, score-wise, and boy did I get humiliated. Quick. It’s been fun to watch these professionals do their thing,” Smoltz said.

“I shouldn’t be, but I get amazed every time how much control they have with their game. No matter what the wind’s doing, no matter what the conditions are, they’re in so much control of their game that when you add up everything nothing will blow you away and all of a sudden they’re 6 under.”

He spent part of last year’s event with Jessica Korda and Annika Sorenstam, adding to the laundry list of stars Smoltz has been able to play with over the years.

But the relationship he has with the best player to ever put a tee in the ground is a special one.

At last week’s PNC, Tiger once again played alongside his son, Charlie.

Smoltz knows how much that meant to him.

“With all that’s gone on, the confusion of certain things that are going on in golf right now, this brings it back to what is special about this game,” he said. “You can play it for a long time, but if you can play it with your children that is pretty cool.”

For the full interview, listen below or subscribe to the Twilight 9 podcast (for free) here.

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Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private courses in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is full of highly ranked private clubs, while Pete Dye left his imprint at the top of the state’s public-access golf scene.

Want to play the best public-access golf courses in Pennsylvania? The legacy of legendary architect Pete Dye has you covered. Want to play the best private courses in the Keystone State? You have some of the top classic layouts in the country from which to choose, but for most of us, good luck getting a tee time at those ageless beauties.

Dye designed Mystic Rock at Nemacolin, a sprawling resort 90 minutes southeast of the Pittsburgh airport. Mystic Rock opened in 1995 and underwent an expansive renovation in 2021 by longtime Dye associate Tim Liddy. Built on beautifully rolling terrain, Mystic Rock is No. 1 in the state on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts. It also ties for No. 10 among all courses owned or operated in conjunction with casinos in the U.S.

Nemacolin is also home to Shepherd’s Rock designed by Dye and the No. 5 public-access course in the state.

On the private side, Oakmont Country Club and Merion Golf Club steal much of the limelight, each having hosted multiple national championships. But they are hardly alone as outstanding private clubs in Pennsylvania. Each of the top 20 private courses in the state ranks among the top 150 on either Golfweek’s Best Modern or Classic course lists, with 1960 being the year that splits those two prestigious lists.

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list for Pennsylvania’s prestigious private offerings is likewise included below.

MORE: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resort | Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960
(c): Classic course, built before 1960

Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses.

* New to or returning to list

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses 2022: State-by-state rankings of private courses

The best of the best. State-by-state rankings of the best U.S. private golf courses in 2022.

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of top private golf courses in the U.S., as judged by our international panel of raters.

All the courses on this list are private and don’t accept daily-fee or resort play.

* indicates new or returning to the rankings

Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses 2022: From Pebble Beach to Pinehurst, the top 200 golf courses built before 1960

Golfweek’s raters have ranked the top 200 courses built in the United States before 1960, such as Augusta National, Pebble Beach and more

Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of the Top 200 Classic Courses before 1960 in the United States.

Each year we publish many lists, with this Top 200 Classic Courses list among the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the lists for Top 200 Modern Courses, the Best Courses You Can Play State by State and Best Private Courses State by State.

Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. The list also notes in parenthesis next to the name of each course where that course ranked in 2021. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.

After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is:

• p: private
• d: daily fee
• r: resort course
• t: tour course
• u: university
• m: municipal
• re: real estate
• c: casino

* Indicates new to or returning to this list.

Editor’s note: The 2022 Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list for the top 200 layouts built after 1960 in the U.S. was published Monday, May 23. The Best Courses You Can Play lists and the Best Private Courses lists will follow over the next two weeks.

Five things we learned at the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont

There was a lot to learn from the week at Oakmont.

OAKMONT, Pa. — After two rounds of stroke play and six rounds of match play, a national champion has been crowned.

Down three holes with just nine to play, Michigan State’s James Piot mounted an incredible comeback to flip the marathon 36-hole final match at the 121^st U.S. Amateur and defeat North Carolina’s Austin Greaser 2-and-1.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world. I mean, as an amateur it’s the best thing you can do,” Piot said of the win. “It feels phenomenal. Shows the hard work I’ve done is paying off.”

Outside of Piot’s impressive performance, there was more to take away from the week at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh. Here’s what we learned from the U.S. Amateur.

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Dreams come true

Just look at what the win meant to Piot.

"I still think I'm dreaming!"@jamespiot1, this is NOT a dream.

You ARE a #USAmateur champion! pic.twitter.com/K3C19Dy2Fu

— USGA (@USGA) August 15, 2021

Defending home turf

Americans have played well in the U.S Amateur in recent years, winning nine of the last 15, including the last three. And the guys they beat? Thirteen of the last 15 runners-up have been from the U.S.

Oakmont is a perfect test for amateurs

Earlier in the week players were able to take slight advantage of the famed track just outside Pittsburgh thanks to 2.5 inches of rain over three days, causing four lengthy weather delays. But on Saturday and Sunday the sun came out, the winds began to whip and the greens grew firm.

“I think it firmed up a lot,” Greaser said after losing in the final. “As this place gets firmer Oakmont starts to show its teeth more and more.”

More: USGA declares Oakmont a second anchor site

Oakmont has deep ties to amateur golf. In addition to its record nine U.S. Opens, the club now has hosted six U.S. Amateurs, which ties it with Merion Golf Club and The Country Club for the most. The club will host the U.S. Open in 2025, but we’ll have to wait until the 2033 Walker Cup and 2046 U.S. Women’s Amateur until we see this level of amateur golf played there again.

Throw out the rankings in match play

Rankings are important and have their place in amateur golf, but they’re no indication of who will win the U.S. Amateur. Over the last 10 years, only four players ranked inside the top 10 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking have won: No. 2 Matt Fitzpatrick in 2013, No. 7 Bryson DeChambeau in 2015, No. 7 Curtis Luck in 2016 and No. 5 Viktor Hovland in 2018. And the other six? Piot was ranked 86^th entering this last week. Last year’s champion at Bandon Dunes, Tyler Strafaci, was ranked No. 56 and his Georgia Tech teammate, Andy Ogletree, was 120^th in 2019. Then there was No. 70 Doc Redman in 2017, Gunn Yang in 2014, who was No. 776 and Steven Fox in 2012 at 127^th.

This year, only nine players who advanced to the Round of 16 were in the WAGR top 100: No. 5 Ricky Castillo, No. 26 Jacon Bridgeman, No. 28 Nick Gabrelcik, No. 44 Hugo Townsend, No. 45 Travis Vick, No. 47 Devon Bling, No. 82 Greaser, No. 86 Piot and No. 98 Ross Steelman.

NIL is h-e-r-e

A few players in the field this week were taking advantage of the new name, image and likeness rules, including three from Oklahoma State. KOCO anchor Carson Cunningham shared before the championship that Aman Gupta, Bo Jin and Brian Stark would wear a local Cadillac dealership’s gear for the week. Smart move by Wilson Cadillac, seeing as all three made match play, with Stark making a run to the quarterfinals.

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Three-down with nine to play, Michigan State’s James Piot comes back to win 121st U.S. Amateur at Oakmont

Piot defeated Austin Greaser in the 36-hole final, 2 and 1, at Oakmont on Sunday.

OAKMONT, Pa. — The first thing James Piot told Michigan State head coach Casey Lubahn when he got on campus was that he wanted to be an All-American. Lubahn laughed at first and suggested to start with All-Big Ten.

“I said, ‘No, coach, I want to be an All-American,’” remembered Piot. “I’ve always had high goals, and that’s been something that has driven me from day one, just going over the top, and they’re paying off now.”

Piot, an honorable mention Ping All-American last season for the Spartans, can now add “national champion” to his list of accomplishments. The Canton, Michigan, native took down North Carolina junior Austin Greaser in dramatic fashion during Sunday’s 36-hole final to win the 121^st U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club, 2 and 1.

There’s a difference between close matches and good matches, and the morning round was a close match. Neither player had their best stuff early as both Greaser and Piot traded brief leads in their first trip around the famed track outside Pittsburgh. At the afternoon break, Piot held a 1-up lead after earning a conceded birdie on the 18^th hole to card a 2-over 72 (with match play concessions). Greaser was three shots worse at 5-over 75.

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In the afternoon, Greaser came out firing with wins on three of the first four holes to flip the match and take a 2-up lead. Piot stopped the bleeding and the two tied the next four holes before Greaser extended his lead with a par on No. 9. Three-up with nine holes to play in the marathon finale, it seemed like the match was Greaser’s to lose. After all, he hadn’t lost a hole in the afternoon round.

Then Piot got to work with wins on five of the next six holes to take a 2-up lead thanks to two birdies and a handful of mistakes from Greaser. The pair traded pars down the stretch before the match ended on the 17th green after a clutch putt from Piot.

That'll do it at Oakmont! @msumensgolf’s @jamespiot1 is the 121st #USAmateur champion! pic.twitter.com/8FwePI1d7f

— USGA (@USGA) August 15, 2021

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