A Rotation of US Open Courses?

[Jeff_Lewis]

10 course rota for US Open - Shinnecock Pebble Oakmont Winged Foot Pinehurst Merion Bethpage(which needs to be restored, by the way)  LACC TCC and one modern course every ten years.  The next one may not have been built yet.


10 course rota for Open - Portrush Troon TOC Lytham Carnoustie RSG Liverpool Muirfield Turnberry  and let's have a rotating wild card - How about Dornoch or Deal?  or take it to Ireland and play Ballybunion or Portmarnock or have a go at something more recent like Kingsbarns - could some of the inland gems handle it?  Ganton or Sunningdale or Walton Heath or even, heaven forbid, maybe one time at County Down? 

[Matthew Essig]

Don't count Chambers Bay out; they are still interested in hosting another one. The two main concerns about the course were the greens and the spectator experience. Well, they are fixing issue number one as we speak.


I just recently read an article stating Chambers Bay is making the greens all poa. After a quick email and response, they confirmed this. Hopefully, the greens will be in functioning condition for the US Four Ball in 2019. If the Four Ball is a failure, then you can count on the USGA not bringing their most coveted tournament back.

[Sean_A]

Well...the courses I would not include for the US Open are LACC, Merion and #2.  #2 and LACC were just renovated...why screw them up for an Open?  Merion...one more Open could see the death knell of this place.  I am also fearful for Shinny.

The places already screwed up should be  the venues...Oak Hill and Oakland Hills. Others are big beefy joints that fit the bill...Bethpage and Olympic. 

Pebble and Oakmont are tough to screw up so they are in.  I liked Chambers on tv far more than any of the above so it is in. 

Brookline Open course doesn't really exist so it is in. 

So far...

Brookline
Chambers Bay
Olympic
Bethpage
Oakmont
Pebble
Oakland Hills
Oak Hill

Ciao

[Adrian_Stiff]

10 course rota for US Open - Shinnecock Pebble Oakmont Winged Foot Pinehurst Merion Bethpage(which needs to be restored, by the way)  LACC TCC and one modern course every ten years.  The next one may not have been built yet.


10 course rota for Open - Portrush Troon TOC Lytham Carnoustie RSG Liverpool Muirfield Turnberry  and let's have a rotating wild card - How about Dornoch or Deal?  or take it to Ireland and play Ballybunion or Portmarnock or have a go at something more recent like Kingsbarns - could some of the inland gems handle it?  Ganton or Sunningdale or Walton Heath or even, heaven forbid, maybe one time at County Down?

Infrastructure plays a massive part of the deal. With the UK rotation, there are plenty of courses good enough as golf courses and these are on the Amateur Championship Rota.

[Niall C]

Adrian


Spot on about infrastructure but demographics also count which is why Turnberry has always had question marks against it. And if Turnberry has question marks then Royal Aberdeen, Nairn etc have no chance I'd have thought, particularly with Scotland being so well represented already.


Niall

[Michael Wolf]

My $0.02...

East
Brookline
Winged Foot
Bethpage
Merion


Southeast
Pinehurst 2


South
Shoal Creek


Midwest
Oakmont
Chicago Golf
Camargo


Southwest (TBH I have not visited this region much)
Southern Hills


West
LACC
Riviera
Olympic
Pebble


Northwest
IDK


That's 15. Gives every significant player a chance to get thru the rotation once in his career. Also gives the clubs and communities a chance to work up an appetite for the huge commitment that hosting a modern major requires. If I was the USGA I'd require a couple of other caveats; the courses above must also host the Womens Open, and they must allow as least a token number of annual unaccompanied players similar to Muirfield or Troon.


I love what the USGA has done with the Walker Cup, hoping they continue murderer's row with SFGC, Somerset etc in the future.


An Open rotation would give the PGA a chance to define it's major as a showcase for new and different courses.


One final thought for the board - with the improvement in coverage technology, and the mega $'s from the TV contracts, is it possible the USGA will consider scaling back ticket sales in order to make a ChicagoG or Camargo a realistic option?


Never understood for the life of me anyway why 40k people would cram into a course on a Sunday with almost zero chance of having a decent view of the deciding shots. Go for a practice round to walk the course, camp out on a hole on Thursday or Friday to see all of the players, but watch on TV if you wanna follow the outcome on the weekend.


MW

[Adrian_Stiff]

Adrian


Spot on about infrastructure but demographics also count which is why Turnberry has always had question marks against it. And if Turnberry has question marks then Royal Aberdeen, Nairn etc have no chance I'd have thought, particularly with Scotland being so well represented already.


Niall

Yeah Niall we has discussed this times over. The R&A are really only looking for a Wales or SW venue that does not currently exist. Maybe there will be one eventually.