Ranking the six public U.S. Open venues, from Pebble Beach to Bethpage Black

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Playing any U.S. Open venue is a special day. Whether you're shanking at Shinnecock Hills or making bogeys at Baltusrol, you're going to brag about and cherish playing a course spectacular enough to host our national championship.

I've been lucky enough to tee it up at all six public U.S. Open courses. They're all cool in their own way. Some provide better experiences than others. Let's be honest: Would you rather play the South Course at Torrey Pines than Pebble Beach Golf Links? Yeah, I didn't think so.

I've ranked them from worst to first for this story simply based on my experiences at each club. It's not a coincidence that I've played the top three courses multiple times. Once I got a taste, I wanted to visit again and again.

If you've played any of the six, how would you rank them? If you haven't, why not rank them in order of which ones you want to play the most? Let us know in the comments below.

U.S. Open host: 2008 (Tiger Woods) and 2021.
This ranking comes with a caveat. Just about everything went against me the day I played Torrey Pines South in the late 1990s, several years before Rees Jones redid the course, much to Phil Mickelson's chagrin. It was scruffy back then, like a $50 muni. The check-in process was chaotic. The golf professional who was supposed to set up my tee time forgot, forcing the staff to squeeze me in as a walk-up single. All day, my foursome battled a gray overcast marine layer. There were no views of the coastal cliffs TV viewers enjoy so much. Hopefully when I return, Torrey Pines can win me over with a little more sun, better service and improved playing conditions.

U.S. Open host: 2002 (Woods), 2009 (Lucas Glover).
Getting a tee time at Bethpage Black has gotten easier since I visited in 2015. Gone is the phone system that often left out-of-state residents shut out from making a tee time. Today, you can simply go online and book. It's much more 2020 than 1985. The check-in remains amazingly awkward for first-timers. Golfers walk into the clubhouse and have no clue as to which line to get in. It's golf's version of the Department of Motor Vehicles. Thankfully, they've stopped giving golfers receipts at check-in to hand to the starter. I lost mine and had to go back through the line again. It took almost 15 minutes to print a new receipt and cancel out the old one. Under the new system, every golfer gets a bracelet. As for the golf on the A.W. Tillighast course, the warning sign at the first tee sets the tone for the day. There's just no way to shoot to your handicap. The rough is juicy. Almost all the greens are elevated. The bunkers look intimidating. It's rare I want to go back to a course where I couldn't break 90. Bethpage Black is one of them. Getting tortured is part of the fun.

U.S. Open host: 2017.
I've visited Erin Hills Golf Course -- located 30 miles northwest of Milwaukee -- twice, almost a decade apart. The experiences couldn't have been more different. The first time in 2010, I arrived late in the day, joining a twosome that included Alex Miceli, formerly of Golfweek. We played about seven holes before the mosquitoes became unbearable at dusk. Walking the glacier-cut hills the next day proved to be a backbreaker, literally. My back gave out during a round the following day in the Wisconsin Dells, an injury that forced me to hang up the clubs for several weeks that summer. My second visit in June, 2019, couldn't have been more special. I lucked out with the weather, my playing partner, the caddie and even made par on arguably the two toughest holes - the par-5 7th and par-3 9th. Both visits I stayed in the small dormer rooms in the lodge above the Irish Pub. All my meals at the pub and on the porch overlooking the entire property have been excellent. I like that Erin Hills continues to improve the amenities for overnight guests. They've opened the caddie barn in the evening to stay-and-play golfers, who can hang out playing pool, ping pong, Golden Tee and more. A putting course - lit for night play - will open in August.

U.S. Open host: 2015.
I'm a big fan of Chambers Bay, the Pierce County muni managed by Kemper Sports and conceived by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Jay Blasi. I played it three times from its opening to the lead-up to the 2015 U.S. Open, watching it evolve as the USGA continuously tinkered with every last detail. Every time I visited, I played at least one temporary green, although I'm hearing good things that the new poa greens debuting earlier this year are a significant upgrade from the inconsistent, original fescue greens. The day starts with a shuttle ride from the small clubhouse set on a ridge into the bowels of the old rock quarry. The wild dunes and shaping within this bowl tend to blow away anybody who's never been to Scotland or Ireland. It's so different from anything they've seen. Some golfers consider the runners and cyclists using the park's trails and the train running along the shore to be a nuisance during the round. To me, those encounters authenticate Chambers Bay's ties to links golf. As far as unique golf experiences go, Chambers Bay rates among the best in America. The one minor complaint is it's a monster walk. If my dad and best buddy -- two very mediocre golfers -- can do it, then so can everybody else.

U.S. Open host: 1999 (Payne Stewart), 2005 (Michael Campbell), 2014 (Martin Kaymer).

Whenever anybody used to ask me about overrated courses, Pinehurst No. 2 always came up. I didn't fall in love with the Donald Ross design the first time I played it in 1999 prior to the first U.S. Open in the Sandhills. It felt like a five-hour calculus test. There was no charm, as far as I was concerned, only rough and impossibly tough greens. My opinion flip-flopped after seeing the 2011 redesign by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in the fall of 2013. Pinehurst has been revived, not only strategically but also visually. The "sandscapes" filled with wiregrass that line the fairways make the entire setting come to life. The greens are still a menace. I putted off two of them: Once into a deep bunker that tragically ended in a BIP, Ball in Pocket. The chance to stay at the Carolina Hotel, followed by a drink and chipping into the fireplace at the Pine Crest Inn in the village, is a big part of Pinehurst's allure.

U.S. Open host: 1972 (Jack Nicklaus), 1982 (Tom Watson), 1992 (Tom Kite), 2000 (Woods), 2010 (Graeme McDowell), 2019.
I've played Pebble Beach Golf Links four times -- in 2003 and 2009 and twice in 2019 -- almost always bathed in exquisite sunshine. There are few words to describe the majesty of playing along Stillwater Cove. I remember feeling anxious each time. You start thinking long before the round about the holes and shots you've seen on TV a hundred times. Critics might be able to argue that the $550 green fee is overpriced. What they can't call Pebble Beach is overrated. Not all of the inland holes are great, but they're all different. The new driving range built in 2014 is a big step up. Four greens were redone for the 2018 U.S. Amateur and 2019 U.S. Open. That Open -- the 100th anniversary of Pebble Beach -- should be special.