Erin Hills Golf Course in tiny Erin WI, was recently awarded the 2017 US Open. It is unprecedented for the USGA to award their premier event to a course that is so new and relatively unknown. They are currently preparing to host the US Amateur in 2011. Erin Hills originally opened in 2006, and then underwent extensive renovations beginning in the fall of 2008, and finishing in 2010 in order to satisfy USGA requirements. They reopened for play on July 31 this year. Living only about an hour away, and having never played a US Open course, I wanted to check it out. I played on Labor Day, Sept. 6, 2010 and came away from it amazed at the challenge that Erin Hills presents.
For some reason, I decided to play from the Black tees, which measure 7820 yards, and feature no par 5s under 600 yards, and only four of the 10 par 4s are under 460 yards. There is another set of tee boxes behind the Black tees, but the yardages are not listed on the scorecard, and I assume that the course has not been rated from those tees. I would guess that from there the course would play 8300+ yards. On the day we were there, it actually played longer due to heavy rains the night before. The terrain is very hilly, and the result is numerous uneven lies in the fairways. It is a challenge to walk (no carts are allowed), and will reinforce the fact that Tour players are indeed athletes. Conditioning will be a major factor at the 2017 US Open for sure. I was sore for 3 days and I can't imagine walking this course under tournament conditions for 4 straight days plus practice rounds. Despite the hills, there are not many blind shots, which is a great design feature in my opinion, and makes the course play fair. Wind will be a significant factor during the 2017 open, as the course is exposed and unprotected from the winds.
Some of the overall design features include: elevated tees that provide players will great views of what lays ahead, dozens of deep awkwardly shaped bunkers that are perfectly played in landing areas and around greens, and fescue. Long fescue surrounds the fairways and greens, and can easily steal your ball. I found this long grass a few times--a couple good lies, and a couple horrible lies. In my opinion, the best design feature is the lack of sharp dogleg holes. (Is there anything worse than a 400 yard hole with a 90 degree dogleg, that forces you to hit two 200 yard shots?) The holes have gentle curves, but everything is laid out for the player to see. Some of the greens have long rough surrounding them, while others have closely mown areas around them. Forces players to have to hit a number of different shots.
Despite it's length, Erin Hills is an extremely fair test of golf, and personally my two worst holes were #2 (the shortest par 4 at 363 yards), and #9 (the shortest par 3 at 165 yards). So you have to be able to hit it long, but there is also a premium placed on accuracy off the tee, and into the greens--which are perfect. Absolutely perfect. Challenging, but not overly rolling and undulating. You feel like you have a chance to make putts on these greens. On some courses, if you're more than 15ft away, you're just trying to lag it close because of the undulations and mounds in the greens. Not the case here. There are some greens with multiple tiers, but the majority of the greens have gentle breaks that are challenging, but not impossible.
The most memorable holes for me are:
- #2--Shortest par four on the course at 363 yards. Tee shot is semi-blind as the left side of the fairway is blocked by a hill. Numerous bunkers on the right side of fairway about 100 yards from the green. I tried to carry these bunkers which would have gotten me down the hill and almost to the front of the green. I buried my ball in the face of one of the bunkers, tried to get it out, buried it worse, and had to then declare it unplayable, leading to a 7.
- #5--Long uphill, into the wind par 4--493 yards. I hit a great drive and still had about 230 in. Longest second shot of the day.
- #8--Long, into the wind dogleg left par 4--487 yards. One of the few dogleg holes at Erin Hills. I remarked to my playing partner (a low handicap, long hitter) that it's unusual to play a dogleg hole, and not think about how much of the corner you can cut off. #8 is about 300 yards to the corner. No shortcuts here.
- #10--Longest par 4 on the course at 504 yards. Large hill in the fairway that adds length to your drive if you can hit it about 290. My drive made the hill, but the wet conditions didn't allow my ball to make it to the bottom of the hill, leaving me a major side-hill, downhill lie.
- #12--Long par 4 by other courses' standards, but medium length for Erin Hills at 466 yards. This green is fairly small, (narrow but deep) and sits in a valley between two hills. No bail out areas around the green, numerous bunkers, and tall fescue await your ball.
(The 12th Hole at Erin Hills)
- #15--Short par 4 (370 yards) with a large ridge in the green. I would not be surprised if the USGA decides to move the tees up here to allow players to go for the green. There are numerous bunkers in the fairway and short of the green, so most US Open players would have to lay up short of them off the tee if played at 370 yards.
- #18--Long into the wind par 5. Tee shot plays downhill, but rest of hole plays uphill. At 660 yards, I hit a good drive, great three wood, and was still 165 yards from the green, and had to hit a hard 7 iron for my third shot. The green is large, and fairly flat, so expect some long putts to be holed here, and it will make for an exciting 72nd hole. This is another hole that the USGA might move up the tees to encourage players to go for it in two.
As it stands today, Erin Hills is a tremendous test of golf. You have to be able to hit all the shots, from all types of lies using all the clubs (the only clubs I did not hit during my round were 9 iron and gap wedge). If the USGA sets up the course the same way that I played it, there is no doubt that the Erin Hills identify the best players in the world. And it's only going to get better in the next 6+ years until the 2017 US Open.
Written By: Guest Author and PGA Professional Brant Kasbohm
About the author: Brant is a PGA Professional and Director of Instruction and founder of Fixyourgame.com, a revolutionary online teaching website. For more information on Brant Kasbohm, visit his site at fixyourgame.com.
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Click here for the Erin Hills Official Website
Playing a course like this makes you realize how hard the tour-caliber courses are. Also makes me laugh when the commentators will talk about how bad a guy played after shooting 75. If you shot 75 regularly at Erin Hills, you'd be a +3-5 handicap!
Brant Kasbohm, PGA
Director of Instruction
Fixyourgame.com
info@fixyourgame.com
Posted by: Brant Kasbohm | 09/15/2010 at 04:47 PM
Great point Brant! When I see a guy shoot over par on Tour I often think he had a terrible round. We should give a little more credit to the course. I'm looking forward to playing a US Open course to see what these guys go through.
Thanks for contributing!
Posted by: WAM Golf | 09/16/2010 at 07:09 AM