Purity and pain
If you are or have ever been a member at a private golf club, you understand that club politics can be as much a part of the experience as lunch in the grillroom and Saturday morning tee times.
The best clubs tend to utilize the benevolent dictator model, following the whims and convictions of one person whose vision drives the path forward, whether that means adhering to what has grown into the club’s fabric over decades or pushing constructive evolution even if it means the most dreaded word in club golf – assessment.
Those few clubs are the lucky ones.
... Gil Hanse told the story of being hired to handle the latest renovation to the golf course and being given a simple order: Don’t make it any easier.
Some clubs are constantly reinventing themselves because of changing leadership and there are golf courses that tend to go under the knife every few years when a new group wants to put their own unfortunate stamp on the place.
Fountains are a common mistake as are green speeds based on vanity (“Our greens are running 13” can be like a restaurant bragging its steaks are too expensive).
Greens and/or golf committees can be the game’s version of those “Real Housewives” shows especially when the misguided think they know what they’re doing.
The subject comes to mind because of how Oakmont operates. It is proud, almost too proud, of having what is considered the most difficult golf course anywhere. But that is what the club was intended to be when Henry Fownes began building it in 1903 and for more than a century it has taken joy in dispensing double bogeys and bad moods.
At a Rolex-sponsored breakfast last week, Gil Hanse told the story of being hired to handle the latest renovation to the golf course and being given a simple order: Don’t make it any easier.
There is a perverse purity to that idea. Most of us like to think we live by the admonition to always be who we are.
That’s the Oakmont way and it was on glorious display at the U.S. Open. In that sense, it is an American original.
It’s a golf course with no water hazards, very few trees and a carefully cultivated reputation, overseen by leaders who know exactly what they want and don’t want.
Oakmont fits Pittsburgh in the same way the Steelers fit the city.
Jon Rahm was asked if he lived in the Pittsburgh area would he like to be a member at Oakmont.
“I would say yes just because you’d be able to say you’re a member at Oakmont and play it whenever you want. Would I play here every day? No,” Rahm said.
At Oakmont, that’s a compliment.
Ron Green Jr.
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Top: Jon Rahm's expression tells all about the trials of playing Oakmont.
WARREN LITTLE, GETTY IMAGES