Oakmont Country Club: Hole by hole guide to the 2025 U.S. Open

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OAKMONT, Pa. - The Oakmont Country Club membership is just built different. For them, shooting a high number and catching a beatdown from one of golf's most fearsome tests is a badge of honor.

Are the best players in the world ready for such humility?

When Oakmont hosts its record 10th U.S. Open this week, it will do so following a significant restoration by Gil Hanse. Will this new - yet throwback - 7,372-yard, par-70 golf course be the same meat grinder that has devoured players for generations?

John Lynch, president of Oakmont Country Club, said the membership sure hopes so.

"We have to do everything in our power to make sure that score is over par when we are all done," Lynch said at media day in May.

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Hanse is the hot name when historic clubs want to retro-fit and restore their classic Golden Age courses for future major championships. Oakland Hills South, Baltusrol Upper and Lower, Los Angeles Country Club North, Merion East, Southern Hills, The Country Club, The Olympic Club Lake, Winged Foot East and West - Hanse has tinkered with them all.

Oakmont's transformation might be the crowning achievement because the club constantly evolved during its first few decades. William C. Fownes Jr., the 1910 U.S. Amateur champion and USGA President in 1926-27, was constantly tinkering with the 6,406-yard, par-80 design laid out by his father, Henry C. Fownes, in 1903.

"The restoration did not tie to a specific year in the history of Oakmont," said Jeff Hall, the managing director of U.S. Open Championships. "It really is a 'best of' from 1903 to 1946. They [the Hanse team] studied the changes that were made during that period and really just put the 'best of' together. You'll get to see the greatest hits of Oakmont out there.

"There are some fairway contours that are different. The driving zone is a bit wider. I know that sounds crazy, but it's not playing any easier just because it's wider. It's far more strategic in a number of spots."

The new length won't be the issue. The new routing is only 153 yards longer than the 7,219 yards Oakmont played in its last U.S. Open in 2016. Everything else will be tougher: the fairway bunkers, greens, ditches and the mental hurdles required to navigate such a minefield.

Early reports from social media by players suggest the ethos of Oakmont will remain intact. Breaking par will be an incredible achievement. USGA Chief Executive Officer Mike Whan revealed this incredible nugget at media day: of 1,385 players who have competed in a U.S. Open at Oakmont, only 27 of have shot under par over four days - just two percent.

"The DNA of this place is so unique," said USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer. "They revel in the toughness that is here and they tell stories about how they made an 8."

The rough will be kept at 5-plus inches, which is the longest in years, although it grew to 7 to 8 inches in 1983 when Larry Nelson won at Oakmont, finishing at 3-under.

During the 2016 U.S. Open, the fearsome ditches that line certain holes were cleaned out so that players could escape. Not this year.

The bunker count actually shrank from 175 to 168, but many of the lost bunkers have been replaced with thick rough, which is a much tougher escape. Plus, the front walls of certain fairway bunkers have been fortified so high that playing out sideways might be the only way out. "It is the nature of the architecture," Bodenhamer said.

The new greens all have at least one new pin location available. Considering the greens will start out running at 15 on the stimpmeter, every putt will be a test of touch, will and patience.

As for Oakmont's most famous hazard - the Church Pews between the third and fourth holes - Hanse reshaped the grassy rows within the bunker in a haphazard fashion to mimic how they slithered a century ago. For an interesting before and after tour of Oakmont's changes, check out these aerial USGA photos prior to the 2021 U.S. Amateur.

U.S. Open champions who finish over par are rare in the bomb-and-gouge era. Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose and Webb Simpson shot one-over at Shinnecock Hills in 2018, Merion in 2013 and the Olympic Club in 2012, respectively. You have to go back to Cabrera's five-over at Oakmont in 2007 to find the last big number. It could happen if Oakmont is as firm and fast as the members and USGA officials want it to be.

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Hall calls Oakmont the "most demanding mental test of golf of any U.S. Open venue."

"If your game is not on, and missing something, Oakmont will expose it in spades," he said. "You cannot pretend your way around this golf course."

One of the toughest opening holes in golf, Oakmont's first ranked no. 1 in scoring resistance at the 2016 U.S. Open, averaging 4.45 strokes during the championship. The interesting thing is USGA officials hinted at media day that some players could drive the green if conditions are firm enough. Shorter hitters will face a blind approach over a ridge at the aiming post. The longest hitters, though, could use the fairway's downhill speed slot to feed balls toward the rectangular green.

After players walk over the bridge, they're faced with a stretch of seven demanding holes on the other side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Hanse's work created sections of the second fairway that are slightly wider, enticing players to take on bunkers on the right or the ditch on the left to find them or lay up to ensure landing in the short grass. Hall hopes to see players use different clubs on different days to hit into these different spots in an attempt to set up better angles into certain hole locations. A new back left pin placement looks like it's cut off the green. Legend has it that W.C. Fownes Jr. would drop a ball at the back of this green every morning, and, if it didn't roll off the front of the green, he would request the greens be cut again.

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This tee box introduces the restored "Church Pews" along the left side, but players should also be wary of the bunker complex farther up the right. The fairway climbs skyward to the severely elevated rectangular green marked by an aiming post. Dangerous, squared-off edges force misses to squirt off the back of the green. Tiger Woods made his only double of the week during the final round of the 2007 U.S. Open, finishing a stroke behind champion Angel Cabrera.

This hole sweeps right tempting players to take a more direct route over bunkers and thick rough, but it's wise to stay left as long as players don't pull their drives into the church pews. Bombers could reach the green in two by avoiding the four greenside bunkers. A finger jutting out back right could be a wicked pin placement. A rare birdie hole, no. 4 played as the second easiest hole at the 2016 U.S. Open.

A blind tee shot shouldn't cause too much trouble for players on this medium-length par 4. Most will have short irons and wedges into a green heavily fortified by one of Oakmont's famous ditches in front and a handful of difficult bunkers.

The number of bunkers in play grew from four to six during the Hanse restoration. The tee is slightly elevated, allowing players a good look at the target, an odd-shaped green.

Players will have to pick their poison at the seventh - take on the bunkers up the left side (carrying anywhere between 280 to 295 yards, depending on the tee markers) or stay short to set up a blind shot into a multi-tiered green. Some of the fairway bunker walls are so steep that escaping sideways may be the only option.

At some point, this hole will stretch past 300 yards, forcing players to strike it pure to clear the Sahara bunker on the left. Several bunkers long and right were actually removed and replaced with some of the thickest rough on the course, making an up and down much more difficult than past Opens. A bogey or worse will make the bridge walk over the highway a frustrating one.

Normally an uphill par 5 for the members, the ninth climbs toward the iconic clubhouse. The ditch on the left visually intimidates most golfers to bail out into the bunkers and heavy rough on the right. The ginormous green bleeds directly into the practice putting green, messing with players' depth perceptions. It ranked as the second-toughest hole (4.43) in 2016.

This downhill par 4 features one of Oakmont's narrowest fairways. Hanse extended the ditch running along either side of the hole into the fairway, creating a diabolical cross-hazard that could ruin any player's round. A green that slopes severely right to left and front to back holds only the most precise approaches.

Climbing back up the hill in the opposite direction of no. 10, tee shots on the 11th that favor the left side of the fairway offer the best look into the green. That's easier said than done as the fairway slopes right and a cache of fairway bunkers lurk on the left side. Another ditch crosses the line of sight about 30 yards short of the green if players mishit a gouged approach from the rough. Green slopes can feed balls into any of the three greenside bunkers.

Even if it does play downhill, ditches, bunkers and thick rough guard both side of the course's longest par 5. Par will be a good score here. The green, which slopes severely front to back, features so many nuances that USGA officials found hole locations by dropping a ball and seeing where it stopped.

Four greenside bunkers surround a wildly sloping putting surface. With the hole playing uphill, most players will need a well-struck mid-iron to hit it in regulation. Misses long or right will be tough up and downs as the green tilts back toward the tee.

Despite the intricate bunkering on either side of a narrow fairway, the 14th was a rare hole that played under par in 2016. Hanse's restoration removed the subtle mounding on the green's edges that had built up over the years from sand splashes and kept balls on the putting surface. Now, poor approaches will carom into greenside bunkers or worse, unpredictable lies in heavy rough.

After the uphill blind tee shot to a fairway that slopes left to right, would you rather try to make music from the 'Piano Keys' bunker on the left or sing the blues from a ditch on the right? You'll see players attempt one-hit wonders from both throughout the week. The four bunkers around the topsy-turvy green should see plenty of action when these recovery attempts go awry.

Certain hole locations will bring the 'Coffin' bunker left of green more into focus off the tee. The uphill climb will require an extra club to a green that slopes hard from left to right. Like several other par 3s, the low-side bunker on the right was removed. Gone are the cushy lies in the sand, replaced by treacherous lies from heavy cabbage. Larry Nelson made a 65-footer during the final round en route to winning the 1983 U.S. Open.

The USGA's strategy for the potentially drivable 17th is to start off the back tee on Thursday and move the markers up throughout the championship, tempting players to be more aggressive as the leaderboard evolves. The climb uphill is arduous over a pair of large fairway bunkers (which used to be a complex of six) to a table-top green surrounded by more sand. The 'Big Mouth' bunker on the right is perhaps the deepest on the course. The four decisions off the tee - as well as the execution - could very well dictate who wins. The hole relented a tournament-high 129 birdies in 2016, but surprisingly champion Dustin Johnson didn't make a single one.

It takes one final climb to reach the mountaintop of our nation's national championship on Father's Day. Angled fairway bunkers are deep enough that not even multi-shot leads are safe heading home. The large putting surface is loaded with pin positions, once again making accuracy and precision a premium for solving Oakmont.