Oakmont Country Club

Overview: Oakmont is an inland links-style course east of Pittsburgh, built on open ground rather than coastal dunes. Henry Fownes designed it as a severe examination of every part of the game, with tight strategic lines, firm-running fairways, deep bunkers and putting surfaces that punish poor approach angles. The course’s visual language is restrained, but the demand is relentless: a good score depends on controlling direction, trajectory and the next shot.

History: Henry Clay Fownes established Oakmont Country Club in 1903 after acquiring 191 acres overlooking the borough. In September that year, 150 men and two dozen horses and mules began the work. The first twelve holes were dug in six weeks, the final six were completed the following spring, and the full course opened on 1 October 1904. Fownes deliberately styled the layout after the inland links of Great Britain, giving American golf one of its earliest and most uncompromising championship tests.

Did You Know? The Church Pews bunker stretches between the third and fourth fairways and measures roughly 102 yards long, with about 26,000 square feet of sand. Its scale makes it one of the most recognisable hazards in golf, but its real purpose is strategic: a feature between two holes can influence decisions from both directions. Oakmont’s most famous bunker is therefore also an example of how the course uses shared space to increase pressure.