Oakmont Country Club is widely regarded as the toughest golf course in America. Its slick greens are legendary. Its Church Pew bunkers are so famous they have their own name. And the rough is deep. So deep balls vanish, players look to be literally knee deep in the stuff and a small dog or two has been known to disappear.
As if that wasn’t enough to punish the players that will try and survive this beast of a course there’s more. The “ditches.”
Yes, the ditches. Oakmont, the exclusive of the exclusive, the high end of the high end, the King of the USGA has ditches. Heck, I play at N.Y. State run James Baird State Park and they may have a ditch or two but Oakmont?
Yes, Oakmont, home to nine U.S. Opens has ditches. These ditches, oh that seems like such a lowly word to use around here, are not some Johnny come lately addition to the course or some ground under repair that the USGA has overlooked. They were part of the original Henry Fownes design.
They were built to help collect and move water around the course. But they are certainly capable of wreaking havoc on the unlucky golfer who visits them.
One oddity of Oakmont is that it has no true water hazards absolutely none, zero. But that’s where the ditches come in. All the ditches are played as either a water hazard or a lateral hazard and the normal rules of golf apply.
Players cannot ground their club, cannot move or touch loose impediments or test the surface. They can touch the wispy fescue as long as their club is not grounded. And they always have the option to not play out of the ditch and take a drop. With a one stroke penalty of course.
Some players are sure to find themselves in a ditch or two and while there is no water in them they are just as penal, possible worse.
The ditches are deep, waist high in some and covered with long, club gripping fescue grass. The walls of some are so steep if a player does have a chance at getting his club on the ball he will need to be a contortionist to take a stance.
There are ten holes that have substantial ditches and they are normally found outside the bunkers waiting for the errant ball to swallow up.
We are sure to see many shots of players chopping it out of the rough and maybe hitting one backwards in an attempt to get out of the Church Pews and all the bunkers will get a ton of action. But the ditches, the less well known of the Oakmont trials, the black sheep of the hazard family are bound to get some action.
The unlucky golfer who finds his ball at the bottom of a ditch may well be cursing out Mr. Fownes and his blasted design. But this could be fun for all of us watching.
Stay tuned.
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