When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
The 2017 U.S. Open's 607-yard seventh covers some rolling terrain and promises to offer some unlevel stances along with opportunities to reach in two shots.
Fourteen bunkers dot the landscape, yet the green isn't heavily protected by sand. The green is enormous.
The Erin Hills flyover better captures the contours, while the USGA flyover better captures the green and surrounds thanks to some nice drone work.
A 208-yard par-3 with multiple teeing grounds, the sixth plays to a green sloping slightly away from the player.
The USGA website suggests front holes will be played from the shorter tees.
The sixth hole original included a Dell option hole that was eliminated.
The flyover:
The 505-yard par-4 5th features width and classic strategy: turn it over and open up a better view of the green. Bail out right and lengthen the hole/lose visibility.
The width is more evident in the Erin Hills flyover below, though the USGA flyover (not embedable) shows off the hole in better light.
The flyover for this year's U.S. Open 5th hole:
The 439 yard par-4 fourth is heavily bunkered and features an uphill approach with trouble long.
The Erin Hills flyover:
According to USOpen.com, the 508-yard third hole is one of the most heavily renovated holes since the 2011 U.S. Amateur. The green was shifted to the player's right.
The foggy flyover from Erin Hills:
Things get very interesting early in the round at Erin Hills with the 338-yard second. It's a potentially drivable par-4 with a blind landing area and crowned green that I believe has been softened since the course's opening. Those taking a conservative route will face an obstructed view approach.
The flyover from Erin Hills:
Golf.com's Jeff Ritter attended U.S. Open media day at Erin Hills and came away with impressions that may help those trying to wrap their head around such a little-known, little-understood venue.
He writes:
The USGA also plans to dry things out. The designers would like to see their course play firm and fast (read: brown), but there's simply too much rainfall in central Wisconsin this time of year to get things crispy. The course won't be as verdant as you see in my photos, but don't expect a repeat of Chambers' dusty landscape, either.
2. Goodbye, flat lies . Maybe wind isn't Erin's only defense. Because the architects tried to maintain the natural terrain, there aren't many level stances out there. It's another way the course keeps players on edge. And when they finally pull the trigger, the terrain will kick the ball in unpredictable ways.
"The fairways themselves are bouncy," Davis said. "They're predominantly fescue. There's some ryegrass and some other grasses in there, but the soil or the subsoil here is a gritty, well-draining soil, so the combination of the grasses and the subsoil really do make this a bouncy course, so you're going to see balls hit and move."
Though we're just a bit more than 18 days away from U.S. Open week, why not get the analysis going with a flyover of the beautiful 560-yard first hole, courtesy of Erin Hills:
As we wrap up the Players and move to the next big golf event, Gary D'Amato and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel are doing a deep dive into the creation of Erin Hills, site of next month's U.S. Open.
The descriptions from this ambitious series that concludes Sunday with part 5.
Part 1: 'The most perfect site.' How this intoxicating patch of land came to be Erin Hills, site of golf's prestigious U.S. Open next month, is a story filled with drama and conflict, triumph and tragedy. But it started with a small ad in the newspaper.
Part 2: 'You should really give him a call.' Delafield businessman Bob Lang is looking for a piece of land to build a small golf course for his employees and friends. Steve Trattner is looking for a job in golf. Together, they embark on a journey that will transform hundreds of acres in the Kettle Moraine.
Part 3: 'Best piece of golfing property I'd ever seen.' Bob Lang passes on Jack Nicklaus and other big-name course architects to design Erin Hills. Instead, based solely on a gut feel, he hires the relatively unknown trio of Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten.
Part 4: 'It was just craziness, is what I remember.' Years pass without a shovel of dirt being turned and the architects have their doubts that Erin Hills will ever be built. Then Bob Lang attends the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and everything changes.
Gary D'Amato talks to Mike Davis about Erin Hills and he compares this week's U.S. Amateur site with Pebble Beach, Shinnecock Hills and Oakmont, saying, "This stands up with all of them."
He also loves the scale of the place.
"I guess I'd put it this way: If I compare this to, say, Bethpage or Pinehurst, which would be our biggest U.S. Open sites, this makes those sites look tiny in terms of what you can do," Davis said. "It is a huge site.
"This might be the first U.S. Open where we don't have to put a cap on tickets. . . . Think about a University of Michigan football game. You could put that many people on this golf course and they would move around just fine."
Ed Sherman also declares Erin Hills a hit, and notes the setup early in the week was a far cry from last year and has been important in winning over players.
The United States Golf Assn. went fairly easy with the pin placements during the first two rounds of match play, resulting in some low scores. The USGA also is learning about the place. But tellingly, USGA Executive Director Mike Davis told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, "This is a course we could set up so that 15-over par would win a U.S. Open. I'm not kidding you."
I believe him. I was out there Wednesday afternoon when the wind was blowing 20 to 25 mph. I didn't see many birdies as the players were doing their best to hang on.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
