Oakmont Country Club

Address:1233 Hulton RD
Oakmont, Pennsylvania

If you love golf, make sure to visit Oakmont Country Club. Oakmont Country Club is one of the grand old golf courses of America, and considered one of the best and most challenging in the world. Located outside of Pittsburgh, the club saddles the scenic Allegheny River Valley. Besides being ranked annually in the top 5 of every course list since the 1960s, it was the first golf course to earn merit as a National Historic Landmark in 1987. Oakmont offers lush fairways, tightly framed by punishing rough, and greens that are lightning fast with plenty of movement. Oakmont's membership is famous for relishing the difficulty of its golf course. As befits a great and tough course, Oakmont's list of past champions is among the most impressive in the game, a list that features golfing legends such as Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els, Tommy Armour, and Johnny Miller.

Few venues in the world of golf have the championship tradition of Oakmont. Oakmont Country Club has hosted more major Championships than any other course in the U.S., including eight United States Opens, five U.S. Amateurs, three PGA Championships, and two U.S. Women's Opens. Oakmont also is slated to host the 2010 U.S. Women's Open. This really is the gold standard for championship golf, because it doesn't get any better than Oakmont.

The course, designed by Henry Fownes, was opened in 1903, and is regarded as one of the most difficult courses in North America. With 210 deep bunkers, hard and slick greens that slope away from the golfers, and tight fairways, Oakmont requires the utmost precision. Most famous among the bunkers is one of the most famous hazards in golf, the "Church Pews bunker," which sits between the third and fourth fairways, and can come into play for golfers on both holes. The bunker is so-called because its sandy expanse is broken up by a series of grassy berms that many believe looks like rows of church pews. It's an apt name, because knocking a ball into the "Church Pews bunker" has inspired many a golfer to say a prayer. How difficult is Oakmont Country Club? In 2007, the USGA confirmed what had long been rumored: for the U.S. Open, Oakmont's greens have to be slowed down from the speeds at which members play them. It is said that the greens here is the ultimate place for testing a player's ability to putt.

Oakmont uniquely has virtually no water hazards, and now virtually no trees. Beginning around 1994, the club began removing trees, largely, the beginning, to provide more sunlight to its turf grasses. The original layout was mostly treeless, open to the wind. A "beautification program" in the 1960s led to the planting of thousands of trees along its holes, and Oakmont transformed into a more typical American parkland course. But now after around 5,000 trees have been removed, Oakmont resembles its original self and is back to its original golfing philosophy which, to sum it up in two simple statements, is that "A shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost," and "Let the clumsy, the spineless, and the alibi artist, stand aside!"

One of the highlight moments that took place at Oakmont was the 1962 U.S. Open, when up-and-coming 22-year-old named Jack Nicklaus defeated Arnold Palmer, who was the world's top player at the time. Nicklaus won his first major championship in an 18 hole playoff, dethroning western Pennsylvania native, and crowd favorite, Palmer. Oakmont was also the site of Johnny Miller's final round 63 at the 1973 U.S. Open known as "The greatest round of the 20th century."

Oakmont Country Club is located 14 miles up the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, off of I-76 (the Pennsylvania Turnpike). You should use the two satellite parking areas: Hartwood Acres (Red Lot) and the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills (Blue Lot). More than 165 complimentary shuttle buses run continuously from each satellite spectator parking location between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily, with access to special service gates exiting and entering the Pennsylvania Turnpike available to reduce travel time. These special gates will allow the shuttles to drop spectators off within 100 yards of the main admission gate after just a 20-minute shuttle ride.