Oakmont advice

[George Pazin]

Shouldn't need more than 1 sleeve!

Many finish a round without losing a ball. There really aren't any lost ball hazards, and the Oakmont caddies are master ball hawks. If you do run out, call my cell and I'll lob balls over the fence to you.

A couple folks have inquired off line to me about Oakmont's dress code, so I though I'd share this on the advice thread, but basically the event is expected to be relatively informal. I don't think anyone would be turned away for wearing a golf shirt inside. (Though obviously my words hold zero weight! Follow at your own risk. ).

However, as befitting a club of Oakmont's stature, jackets do tend to be much more the norm, so you may wish to consider that when deciding.

[Powell Arms]

per the WPGA, golf attire is acceptable for all of the events throughout the day. They do note that some will wear jackets at the cocktail event at day's end.

from correspondence with Terry Teasdale, Handicap Director, Western Pennsylvania Golf Association

[John Mayhugh]

Tell everyone in the group that if this round takes more than 5.5 hours you will be kicking some ass.

What is the over/under on the time?  I'm going with 6 hours and 12 minutes.

just riding in... just under 5 hours

[John Kavanaugh]

Tell everyone in the group that if this round takes more than 5.5 hours you will be kicking some ass.

What is the over/under on the time?  I'm going with 6 hours and 12 minutes.

just riding in... just under 5 hours

I am happy to have been wrong.  The people who played in this event are true lovers of the game and their pace of play proves it on one more level.  Congrats.

[John Mayhugh]

I was pleasantly surprised at the pace of play, especially given all of the putts we took!  We started on 4 and never waited at all until there was a small backup on 1 tee.  Without that, I think we would have played in about 4.5 hours.  Just got home after a 6 hour drive.

Before playing Oakmont, I couldn't have imagined having so much fun on a penal course.  But I loved every minute of it.  Most holes seemed to have the ideal landing area restricted by bunkers on each side, but the variety in shaping of the bunkers and the surrounding areas made no hole play the same.  Without walking the course, it's hard to appreciate the use of the rolling terrain.  Other than the turnpike, I can't think of one single thing I would change about the course.  Strangely enough, you barely even notice that.

I ended up shooting 88 with 8 or 9 three putts.  I've putted on fast greens and I've putted on greens with a lot of movement, but the combination at Oakmont is unbelievable.  There was not a single putt that I was ever really confident with.  

If there is ever another outing like this, I think you could count my whole foursome in.

[Powell Arms]

I had the pleasure of playing with Mr. Mayhugh, and completely agree with his assessment.  I was very pleasantly surprised at the pace of play as well.  (and this from a guy that bet the OVER)

We had a wonderful time, and the scores were definitely under what we feared as well.  That said, I think we all probably saved 5-7 strokes, excluding putts, simply from the information gleaned here and from the excellent caddies we had with us.  If we had been out there firing at pins it would have been a disaster.

Greens were as fast as I have ever experienced.  John's two putt across the #9 green is one of the most amazing feats ever tacked with a putter!

And for someone that was a bit wild off of the tee, the lack of trees was a real plus!

It was an awesome day, from great course, caddies, weather, clubhouse, history, and company.

And kudos to the WPGA for  an extraordinarily well run event.  

[John Kavanaugh]

Did the WPGA give any advice to the players that may have helped with pace of play?  Were rules set down?

[Powell Arms]

Did the WPGA give any advice to the players that may have helped with pace of play?  Were rules set down?

They were proactive.  They started promptly at 12:00, sending us out at 11:55.  They did give a quick breifing about pace of play.  The caddies got a similar talk from their caddiemaster.  Also had a polite but diligent monitor on the course who was, even three holes into the day, monitoring gaps on the course.

No specific rules that I recall, although having the event as a stableford did help - not that anyone was picking up after a double.

[John Mayhugh]

Powell and I both had to deal with suspiciously embedded balls just behind the green on 1.  Both of us wisely decided to play down the 9th fairway and hit very good blind approaches.  Too good, as the green hadn't yet been vacated.  Unfortunately, we didn't think about that and the caddies assumed players ahead were gone.

So if the group in front of us is reading this, sorry.  Didn't do it on purpose.  And you guys are probably a little too old to be stomping on people's golf balls!

My most memorable hole might have been the 5th, also my worst of the day.  Just missed the green by a couple of yards on the right and could barely see my ball.  The green slopes severely from right to left and I was trying to hit a high, soft shot from my lousy lie. Ended up squirting it right into the bunker, hit a nice bunker shot that ran downhill about 40 feet.  Following that, I three putted from 25 feet or so.  Welcome to Oakmont!  This showed me just how unforgiving the course could be.

Thanks to John Vander Borght for pairing me up with fellow GCAers Powell & Gary Baker.  Made a good day a great one.

[Pete_Pittock]

  The staff at Oakmont did a terrific job preparing the course especially with Pittsburgh having the first hard freeze of the season. We made it around in 5 hrs because the rough was about 1 1/4", which is why I did not lose a ball.
  Our GCA pairing of Bill Steele, Paul Jones and Carryl Cluster started out on the 8th hole. Great partners, thanks for the company. Personally I lost track of time wandering through the clubhouse and got ready to practice. Aargh, 11:50.
  A smooth driver to 13' 6" got me in a great mood and a realistic put on #9 lipped out. It stood as KP for most of the day. (Ari Techner had KP on #6). Then three putts,a four putt shanks, and smother hooks took over. Needed to divide my golf bag into sections for play glubs, clubs serving misconduct penalties and a space for game misconduct. Five fairways, four greens, five one putts for a 91 with nothing higher than a 6.
  I was accused of playing for the church pews on purpose. It was just a bad shot. A poor stance and shifting sand put me three aisles from the end and my caddy Billie got apoplectic when I used a five wood. After the shot he apologized.
  I'm a lot less critical of some of the plays I saw last June.
  I also relearned how important it is to find a course which has character in its greens.
   

[Ari Techner]

Count me as another who had an amazing time at Oakmont.  What a very special place.  I also agree that I didnt think I could have such a great time on such a penal golf course.  It was as hard as you would ever want but it was not unfair.  If you hit perfect shots you are rewarded.  You just cannot miss.  
My favorite part from a GCA standpoint was all of the fall away greens.  The amount of them on this course was not something I had ever seen and the challenge they present was something I really enjoyed.  Similar to the great hard fast links of europe any shot that is not perfectly struck likely will not hold the green.  I was really struck at how much most modern GCAs could learn about making a course hard and fair by studying Oakmont instead of just building more water hazards and more longer holes.  I also loved the great mix of short and long par 4s.  I really hate courses where all the par 4s are 400 yards and Oakmont has a great mix which makes you hit a great variety into the greens.  
I was very happy with how I hit the ball overall especially with my driver.  I somehow managed to hit 10 of 14 fairways and somehow managed to make 3 birdies.  (6, 12 and 15 which was our last hole)  I also 3 putted a few times and made a few doubles.
Overall it was an amazing experience and I thank all those that were involved.  I would definitely jump at the chance to do something like this again.  

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