Oakmont Country Club

Oakmont: This Henry Fownes designed course opened in 1904.  Since then the course has hosted 7 U.S. Opens and 3 PGA Championships and the U.S. Open will return there in 2007 making Oakmont the most played among courses chosen for this country's greatest golf tournament. Over the years this layout outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has seen many changes.  Fownes' son, William made many modifications (the original course had 8 par-5's and a par-6) and eventually the course was divided by the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This writer's introduction to this difficult course came in the summer of 1962 when an upstart Jack Nicklaus dueled the revered "King", Arnold Palmer, down to the wire and then won an 18 hole playoff at the U.S. Open.  I watched the great event on a grainy black and white TV broadcast.  Since then there have been 3 more Opens played there including the memorable final round of Johnny Miller in 1973, when the brash blonde young man in checkered pants fired a torrid 63.  The last U.S. Open at Oakmont in 1994 introduced another blonde young player of distinction.  Ernie Els won a 3-way 18 hole playoff over Montgomerie and Roberts (it took Els 2 extra holes to dispense with "The Boss of the Moss") in the humid heat of a Monday in June.  The layout is long and unforgiving, the shortest par-3 is 185 yards and two more are over 230 yards.  But what gives the course its distinctive competitive character is the fast, arguably the quickest on earth, greens and a wealth of bunkers that have multiplied over the years. Visually the bunkers are fascinating.  They are varied in shape and sometimes linked together as if in sequence.  One of the most distinctive is the large complex between the third and fourth fairways called the "Church Pews" because of the progressive linear islands of grass that divide the expansive sand.

For questions or comments please send e-mail to David.

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Artists' Golf is a conceptual work of art Copyright 1995 - 2008 by David B. Lewis and all original paintings, drawings and art works are Copyright by David B. Lewis. All rights reserved.  Maps of existing courses are original artistic interpretations and impressions from a variety of sources and are not intended to be accurate renderings or representations of the actual courses.  They indicate my interest and study and are intended purely for the pleasure and information of the viewers and are not for sale or profit.