A religious experience (Part one)

OAKMONT has plenty going for it. For a start, it has history. It was here that Ben Hogan famously finished with three threes to crush Sam Snead in the 1953 US Open and here that nine years later Jack Nicklaus landed his first professional and Major victory. Johnny Miller also played what is widely recognised as the best round ever at the Pennsylvania venue in 1973.

It also has tradition. This year the USGA brings its showpiece here for a record eighth time. Not surprising perhaps when you learn it features something like 200 bunkers, has maybe the fastest greens anywhere on the planet and has only seen 23 players finish under par in seven previous Opens.

It is safe to say the four days at Oakmont in the middle of June are likely to live long in the memory. Most golf fans' last recollection of the place will be of Ernie Els' maiden Major success and another close shave by Colin Montgomerie in
sweltering heat and humidity 13 years ago but the look of the course will be somewhat different to the one on which the South African prevailed.

Over 5000 trees have been removed in recent years, allowing the course to be lengthened and new bunkers to be added. It was also carried out to help recapture Henry Clay Fownes' original 1903 design. Fownes, Oakmont's architect, guiding spirit and first president of the country club, believed that Pittsburgh needed a 'proper' golf course and set about buying a piece of land which had a railroad running straight through it. The Pennsylvania Turnpike now runs alongside the railroad.

By the autumn of 1904 the course was opened and it soon became clear, that at 6,600 yards and with some 350 bunkers, this was no place for the faint hearted. Many of the existing trees were ripped out to give it a British linksy feel and this year the look will mirror that of its early years - only just two elms remain in the interior of the course.

Oakmont superintendent John Zimmers joked: "The elms, I don't know how long they'll make it. People say, "Man, oh, man, they must be nervous trees."

The trees may have gone but the bunkers remain. The par-three 288-yard 8th (yes, 288 yards!), the only green to have been moved from the original design, boasts the 'Sahara' which is 75 yards long and 35 yards wide while the best known are the 'Church Pews'.

The course's signature consist of a block of lateral bunkers, running between the third and fourth holes and placed to catch anything pulled left. To add to the fun two pews have been added on each side for the championship and the area restored to its original depth.

In previous Opens Fownes and his son William C Jnr implemented the 'Oakmont Rake', two inches long and two inches apart, to make the heavy river sand stand neatly up, taking away the option of advancing too far down the fairway from the shallow traps.

One thing that has remained constant though over the past century are the greens. The fastest, truest and most difficult all rolled into one - the plan for June will be to have a stimp reading of 13-13.5.

Mike Davis, who has worked on 17 Opens and is now the Senior Director of Rules and Competitions for the USGA, is already preparing himself for some frightening displays on the short stuff.

"You can definitely describe Oakmont as having some of the scariest greens in golf. Players will be keenly aware that even the short putts can be three-putted. Further, approach shots to the greens require very thoughtful planning - many times a 30-footer uphill is preferable to a five-footer downhill."

In the early days Fownes had them rolled with a 1500-pound roller, which required eight men to pull, and they were then cut to a sixteenth of an inch while an area within six feet of the cup was cropped to one thirty-second!

It is fitting therefore that the stimpmeter originated here after a spectator at the 1935 US Open, Edward Stimpson, watched Gene Sarazen putt off a green and into a bunker. He was soon inspired to devise a method for measuring the speed of greens.

To read part two click here