On the thread on the firmest conditions I played in 2001 I named Royal County Down and Oakmont as two of the four firm and fast ones. I also said that both of these courses (in the last few months anyway) had the most perfect "maintenance melds" I've ever seen!
But I've been thinking since I played them that these two diverse courses seem very much like close first cousins to me strategically! First of all for those who haven't played Oakmont in the last year the tree removal is unbelievable. I actually know how many trees came out but to protect the innocent I ain't saying.
But with these two perfect "maintenance melds" on these two fantastic courses the architecture is completely highligted so it actually quite easy to pick up a ton of the nuances on both courses in a couple of sittings each! My impression is that both these courses definitely tend to the penal side more than the strategic side but really that's too easy an explanation. They are both very strategic too but not much in the choice of what direction to take but very much in the choice of how much distance you want to try for and how much you trust the accuracy of any particular club in your bag, particularly off the tees!
So both to me are strategic but what I would call "center strategic" or "distance optional strategic", particularly on the tee shots. Although neither actually have bunkers flanking every fairway you certainly get that feeling all day! Basically these are two courses that you really need to concentrate hard on hitting fairways! Neither course has trees flanking the fairways like Pine Valley but you sort of get the feeling you need to keep the ball on the fairways about like the Valley--but at the Valley you have a larger choice of fairway spots or angles to use!
Holes like #10 and #12, maybe #15 Oakmont are quite similar in their strategic ramifications to holes like #3 and #12 and maybe even #13 RCD. With both very firm if you want to play safe with accuracy you can take something other than a driver but you generally have the flanking (and very much collecting) bunkers to deal with. And if you want to try to get beyond the flanking bunkers you can but then you get yourself into some fairway humps and bumps, slopes and contour on both courses where you really have to watch what your doing.
Even holes like #16 RCD and #17 Oakmont have similar strategic ramifications although they look nothing alike. Again, the "maintenance melds" on these two courses was as good as I've ever seen. Both courses can feel initimidating and not exactly warm and friendly, if you know what I mean, but from what I saw the way their "maintenance melds" were it exposed some of the very best and sophisticated architecture I've seen.
So good in fact, that although I hate rating and ranking I would put Royal County Down and Oakmont in my top five in the world for their architecture. That sort of hurts to say because I do have three others in mind in that top five but there are about five more I would like to put in there too!
But RCD and Oakmont were unbelievable! RCD has a new super, BTW, and Oakmont's super is obviously on top of his game too! You're on top of your game too with the course Mark!