I agree with the comments about Merion, my one and only US Open experience. Long ago when I hung out here more and made an effort to see a few of the courses discussed here, my son asked me what courses I most wanted to play. I mentioned about 5 or so like Merion and CPC. A few years later his father's day gift was going to the 2013 US Open with him at Merion. He's not really a golfer and after slogging around in the rain and muck and the horrendous USGA setup, he asked me what makes this course so great? We walked around for nine holes or so with frequent stops where I asked him to image playing the hole as I imagined it was intended to be played. I don't know what he got out of the experience, but it scrambled some switches in my brain and I never looked at golf courses the same way as I had before. I'm sure a big part of that was seeing a course set up for a US Open that was so antithetical, so alien, to it's evolved landscape and playing strategies as to be like a line of play spray painted (by the mowing lines) onto this wonderful canvas. Also, having to explain to my son what I was seeing fried some other synapses. It was a big deal for me.
On a completely OT note, we've been having a 3-day IGA/USGA (Idaho) junior golf tournament on our course. Today is the final day. I went out and watched a playoff for 13-14 year old's. 3-way playoff for 2nd and 3rd place. I just felt like doing it, getting out on the course, watching some kids who could really play, enjoy watching the parents watching their kids compete, etc. I just joined in at random, driving my 20 year old golf cart, wearing the same clothes I had on when we had to fix a major water leak at 6 AM this morning. Day-in-the-life stuff. No big deal. From my point of view, it was a really fun playoff: birdie, birdie, par on the first hole, #1 handicap; par, par on the next, #3 handicap; and par, par on the 3rd hole, a par 5 they both reached in two and three-putted. Next up a drive-able par four that Tom Doak really liked. Both kids hit safe conservative shots, hole high, but left with tricky chips, which they both flubbed, then recovered with slightly less tricky chips and made par. My golf course is holding up to two young studs and teaching them the respect they need to learn. They are playing well, walking, packing their clubs, and playing quickly! Good as it gets. A joy to watch. It ends on the next hole when one makes a 25 foot put for birdie on a subtle green. The kids shake hands, hug, and act like they're mates who have played before.
The 14 year-old kid that lost the playoff--3rd place in the tournament, not bad at somewhere around even par--is a kid that might show up again, not just to give an old geezer some pleasure watching kids play his course, but when he grows a little and maybe wants to be a golfer. His name is Cameron Kuchar. His dad Matt wasn't here, off somewhere trying to keep his card, I think. But I'm glad Cam found his way here and made my day.