Oakmont Country Club, situated just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds a reputation unlike any other in golf. As it hosts the U.S. Open for a record tenth time, the historic course is once again proving why it’s widely regarded as the most difficult and uncompromising test in the sport. Even the world’s top players are finding themselves humbled by its relentless challenge.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who arrived at Oakmont having recently dominated fields and won decisively, quickly discovered the course plays by its own rules. On the challenging 618-yard par-5 12th, a seemingly good chip from the rough near the green became a lesson in Oakmont’s fury when his ball rocketed across the lightning-fast putting surface and into the deep rough on the opposite side. Despite managing to save par on that hole, the frustration was palpable, culminating in visible dismay after bogeys on subsequent holes.
“The golf course is just challenging,” Scheffler stated simply, specifically noting the difficulty of the greens late in the day. “There’s so much speed and so much pitch… you’ve got to do your best to stay under the hole and stay patient.”
This sentiment was echoed throughout the field. As Thomas Detry put it, Oakmont “puts so much pressure on every single part of your game constantly.”
The Anatomy of a Monster Course
Why is Oakmont so uniquely difficult, even for the elite? Its design, dating back to Henry Clay Fownes’s philosophy that “a poor shot should be a shot irrevocably lost,” combined with the U.S. Open setup, creates a perfect storm of hazards:
Penal Rough: Forget graduated cuts; Oakmont features thick, lush rough that transitions abruptly from the fairway. Often grown to 5.25 inches for the Open, it’s deep enough to cover shoes and thick enough to make finding a ball a significant effort. Players attempting to advance the ball from here often struggle just to move it forward, sometimes hacking out only short distances or, like Rory McIlroy, “chunking” shots from catastrophic lies. Even powerful players like Bryson DeChambeau admit the rough is “incredibly penalizing” and sometimes impossible to escape depending on the lie.
Unforgiving Fairways: The fairways are notoriously “pencil-thin.” Compounding the issue, many slope towards the course’s numerous bunkers, acting like magnets for slightly errant drives or approaches.
Diabolical Bunkers: With nearly 200 bunkers scattered across the property, including the iconic ‘Church Pews’, finding sand at Oakmont is a frequent occurrence – and a severe penalty. These aren’t gentle hazards; they are deep, often described as appearing to swallow players whole. Critically, unlike many bunkers that funnel balls to the center, Oakmont’s sand traps frequently trap balls right on the edges against steep grassy banks. From such a position, advancing the ball towards the green is often impossible; players are forced to blast out sideways, losing a stroke without being dramatically off target. Jon Rahm identifies these fairway bunkers as a major challenge even under normal, non-Open conditions.
Lightning-Fast Greens: Oakmont’s greens are legendary for their speed and complexity. Described as “sheets of glass,” they roll exceptionally fast, often reaching speeds in the upper 14s on the Stimpmeter (an instrument invented partly because of a famous putt running off an Oakmont green in 1935). Massive and undulating, they feature severe slopes, bumps, and twists. Two-putting here is considered an achievement, and staying below the hole is paramount, as putts from above the pin can easily run off the green entirely.
Players Face a Mental and Physical Gauntlet
The course’s inherent difficulty is reflected in its official USGA rating (a staggering 78.1/150) and historical scoring. Winning scores are typically high relative to par; Angel Cabrera won the 2007 Open at five over par, and Dustin Johnson’s 2016 winning score was just four under, despite softer conditions.
For players, every shot at Oakmont is high-stakes. Robert MacIntyre described playing here as being “on a knife edge” with every swing. The challenge extends beyond physical execution to mental fortitude. JJ Spaun, who led after the first round, spoke of harnessing the anxiety the course’s reputation instills to heighten focus. Kim Si-woo admitted feeling like he didn’t even know what he was doing but playing without expectation due to the course feeling “too hard.” Even seasoned champions like Jon Rahm found shooting 1-under par an “incredible accomplishment,” a rare comment for such a score.
While the course is designed to punish, it occasionally yields to brilliance. Rare moments like Shane Lowry’s eagle or Patrick Reed’s historic albatross occur, but they are exceptions that prove the rule. As Reed himself put it after his spectacular double eagle, looking at his overall score, “One hole doesn’t mean jack.” Oakmont “taketh” far more than it “giveth.”
Adding to the potential for even tougher conditions, forecasts for the tournament days include the possibility of rain and thunderstorms, which could make the deep rough even more brutal and potentially bring wind into play, turning the course into a true “bloodbath” as one player feared.
Ultimately, conquering Oakmont requires more than just peak physical form. It demands unwavering patience, strict discipline, pinpoint accuracy, strategic restraint (it’s not a “bomb and gouge” course), and the mental toughness to absorb inevitable setbacks and keep fighting. It’s a test of a golfer’s complete game, pushing even the world’s best to their absolute limits.
