Is Oakmont fair?

[Clubswinger21]

You are speaking about something you do not understand. A few things:

You may be wrong about that since the 288 yard par 3 8th played as the 2nd hardest hole on the golf course Thursday. We'll see how it plays for the rest of the week. Personally im a little bit disappointed from what im seeing at Oakmont. Its starting to remind of gas prices... The players cant do anything about it but crack jokes at the USGA just like we do the government. Sure its ment to play difficult and the course is a great test and I agree that rough should be penal depending on how much you miss by, but 7.5 inches is a bit over board to me. I believe you should be able to advance the ball back into the fairway if you miss it. In alot of situations your seeing the grass turn the club over and players are advancing from rough to rough or not at all. Literally no control.. personally i dont want to see a course make a spectacle out of the players. Its like the USGA is trying to prove something thats unjust. A good round may be out there but with things firming up even more as the week goes on, and potential for windy conditions. Things are going to get ugly if they dont step in and put some water on those greens.

[golfchief]

If they don't think the course is fair they could've withdraw and let the next person on the list play. only about 1000 people was waiting for a chance.

[erniebanks]

OK par on this beast is 70. It should actually be 75 or 76. Does anyone know the rating/slope?
I think you could really subtract 10 or 12 strokes from par thru 54 holes and the leader would be at minus 9 or so.
I think I will build a 8700 yard course and set par at maybe 42. The field would have trouble staying less than 30 over per round.
Sure Oakmont is tough but par is not realistic there. Do the members play to that? I doubt it.

[erniebanks]

At the end of sunday it doesn't matter if you are "defeated" by the course and shoot 100 over as long as you outscore all the other players.
Good shots are not penalized and bad shots are not rewarded. Sounds fair to me.

[lamebums]

Doesn't matter what par, slope, or the rating is. It doesn't matter how fast the greens are, either. Everyone's playing the same course. As long as you outscore everyone else, you win, fair and square.

[golfchief]

The U.S. open is the toughest course the players see each year, no cake walk that week.
Members play to a par of 71. The rough is cut alot shorter and the greens are not triple cut and rolled twice daily for the members. Oakmont is always listed in the top 50 hardest courses and always between # 3 and # 5, so it's never an easy course.

[Dent]

its fair, bout time the players had a challenge.

[sanforce]

I think Oakmont is fair. These are the best golfers in the world in one of the most prestigouse tournaments, of course it is going to be challenging, even if it is on the extreme side of challenging.

[hurley9192]

The U.S. open is the toughest course the players see each year, no cake walk that week.

actually...have you played the course? It does roll like this and the rough is this bad on a regular basis. They even brag that their tournament coming up is tougher because the greens will be faster. If anything, this course may be playing easier than normal because the USGA is overlooking it to make sure any imperfection has been taken care of and there is absolute consistency on the course.

[golfchief]

No, I've not played Oakmont and must likely never will. The golf channel said the normal rough for members is 3 1/2 to 41/2 inches not the 6-7 inches they have this week. also you said the greens are faster than normal, all that means is the course the members normally plays is not the same as the set up this week. I even said it's a tough course under their normal conditions.

[iacas]

actually...have you played the course? It does roll like this and the rough is this bad on a regular basis. They even brag that their tournament coming up is tougher because the greens will be faster.

No, I've not played Oakmont and must likely never will. The golf channel said the normal rough for members is 3 1/2 to 41/2 inches not the 6-7 inches they have this week. also you said the greens are faster than normal, all that means is the course the members normally plays is not the same as the set up this week. I even said it's a tough course under their normal conditions.

Right and right.

The greens are usually a hair faster for the members and the rough is substantially lower.

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Oakmont was fair. I never really understand that question seeing how all the players have to play the same course. I liked the fact that there seemed to be many high risk/high reward type of holes. The more risk you were willing to take the better chance at birdie. However, you miss it on the wrong side in the rough and you pretty much chalk up bogey or double. I like that. It's a real test and you need all aspects of the game working to win.

The only thing I will say, and it doesn't really have anything to do with it being unfair, more just bad luck is the guys playing in the afternoon on Friday were at a disadvantage IMO. The conditions Thursday afternoon seemed much more benign than they were Friday afternoon.