Which is the tougher test - The US Open or the British Open?

[Rojo0416]

I know you have to take weather into consideration and venue, but it seems like the British is a tougher test than the US. JMO.

[GaijinGolfer]

The British Open is the tougher test IMO. Not only does the weather make it more challenging, the courses look to be tougher too.

[b-squared]

For those of us who aren't used to links golf, the British Open may be tougher. However, some may also consider the US Open to be tougher if they're used to links golf. It's all a matter of preference. I believe that question may be too broad, as you can ask which courses are harder to play, British Open courses or US Open courses.

[popey]

British Open as the weather can either be terrible like this week or really good like last year and makes it impossible to hold it on the greens. It is a completely different course when playing the US Open as the courses are perfect and hardly a breath of wind!

[JaY_B]

I think they are different type of tests to be honest, Links golf and Inlands golf are completely different animals and the courses are set up in different ways.

[alf174]

The weather is besting many at the Open Championship.

[michaeljames92]

I'd say the us open tests longer hitting whereas the british open is a test of character, accuracy and creativity around the greens. On a links course like birkdale, accuracy is key and there is not much room for error. I saw scott on day 2, he had a slightly over drawn tee shot with driver and fell into thick rough and ended up with double bogey. on an american style course he would've been in the first cut of rough

[GaijinGolfer]

  michaeljames92 said:

I'd say the us open tests longer hitting whereas the british open is a test of character, accuracy and creativity around the greens. On a links course like birkdale, accuracy is key and there is not much room for error. I saw scott on day 2, he had a slightly over drawn tee shot with driver and fell into thick rough and ended up with double bogey. on an american style course he would've been in the first cut of rough

Exactly, on an American course you can make small mistakes and still recover but if you miss the fairway on a links course its a lot tougher to recover make par.

[ks8829]

The wind is brutal and will test your nerves and patience just over a putt. I can't image how difficult it must be playing this years open. The cross wind on your driver and approach shots are so difficult and the wind in your face is near impossible to gauge what club to use? I saw Greg Norman hit a chip 5 iron close to the hole.

[GaijinGolfer]

  ks8829 said:

The wind is brutal and will test your nerves and patience just over a putt. I can't image how difficult it must be playing this years open. The cross wind on your driver and approach shots are so difficult and the wind in your face is near impossible to gauge what club to use? I saw Greg Norman hit a chip 5 iron close to the hole.

Thats pretty much what Norman said when they interviewed him after his round today. He said that you have to take way more club than youd think you would because once the ball gets above the sand dunes and gets up in the wind, its like it hits a wall.

[Craig Mac]

I agree with others that they are different tests of golf, you don't really see guys aiming 80 yards off line to adjust for wind in the US Open. Hard to say for me, which is harder. Both are penal for missed fairways(chunk out with a wedge if in the cabbage), British Open setups seem more penal for missed greens(pot bunkers, swales, gravel roads in play, OB 5 feet right), and US Open greens sometimes tend to be borderline ridiculous(speed-wise). But the weather they are facing this week would have worn me out mentaly after a practice round.

[RX Phoenix]

I'll go with the US Open. If Norman was on Oakmont this week he'd not make the cut.

[Crafty]

  RX Phoenix said:

I'll go with the US Open. If Norman was on Oakmont this week he'd not make the cut.

On the same note, some of the Americans who made the cut at Oakmont may have not made the cut at Birkdale.

Its tough to compare them because of the fact that hey are two completely different types of golf, but this would be my evaluation. Putting: Both are very good putting challenges. However, the British might test your mental capabilities on the greens due to the strong winds and other poor weather. Short game: The British is by far a better test of the short game. At the U.S. Open, it has gotten to hte point where you gouge it out and hope it holds the green. You dont get to see all the brilliant shots that The Open Championship offers. You get a lot more guys that keep the 60* in the bag around the greens and play creative bump and runs, and things of that nature. Iron play: Both the U.S. and the British are excellent tests of iron play, but in far different ways. The British reveals who can work it around, vary trajectory. THe U.S. reveals who can hit the miraculous towering fades that can hold the slippery greens. Course Management: The British Open obviously makes one think his way around the course more. I mean, how often to guys hit irons off the tee on a 450 yard par 4? The Long Ball: U.S. open for obvious reasons.... Overall, two good championships. I would have to say that although the scores are often better, the Open Championship is the tougher test of the two.

[RX Phoenix]

In defense of the US Open, the rough is much more penal because you cannot run the ball onto the green. At the Open it seems far easier to gouge the ball out and get it somewhere for a chip. At the US Open its lay up time due to the ultra slick greens.

Approach shots seem much easier at the Open, mis-hits will still bounce and roll, chips, pitches, sand shots, all of them allow for a way to at least get it close. At the US Open you have to hit precisely the right shot to have any chance.

Power and precision vs imagination, different tests.

I'd feel a lot more comfortable playing the Open, the greens are far more receptive to all kinds of shots, if something isn't working, plan B might. But at the US Open if you don't have your A game you will be destroyed.

Of course the weather alters the equation, but that's a variable that's not always there.

[Beach Golfer]

I would say that the British Open is the tougher test because from the fairway at the US open you basically can just get a yardage and play to it whereas at the Britsh Open you can't do that most of the time and you have to hit punch shots, bump-and-runs and you have to work big draws and fades agains the wind.

Also the wind would make driving at the British Open very difficult.

[CG031]

British because of the weather.

[JessN16]

I'd divide it into two categories: With weather and without.

With weather, the British Open isn't so much golf as it is trying to land a hot air balloon on a coffee table in the middle of a hurricane. No question it's the tougher test then.

When the weather is calm, I give a strong edge in toughness to the U.S. Open. The distance factor just wears you down.

Both are incredible mental tests but from different aspects of the human psyche. The British Open tests the imagination. The U.S. Open tests mental endurance. You see your 10th consecutive par four at 470-plus yards and you'll start wondering if it's too late to take up baseball.

And I think you also can't forget this: I think, from purely a pressure standpoint, that being on the first page of the leaderboard on the last day of the Masters has to get an honorable mention, especially once you get to Amen Corner. You get that particular course with those galleries and those greens and it will fold a lot of people up.

Jess