Following Martin Kaymer’s runaway victory at Pinehurst No. 2 this past weekend, you can be sure Mike Davis is readying Chambers Bay for a much tougher challenge – hopefully one that will not be dominated by one great player as it was in 2014.

The 2015 tournament at Chambers Bay will mark the first US Open ever played in the Pacific Northwest, and the 2017 championship will mark the first ever played in the state of Wisconsin.

For my original articles/reviews of Erin Hills Golf Course, please visit the following links:

Erin Hills is well on their way to being prepared for the 2017 US Open. With several recent improvements – a new green complex on the third hole being the most noticeable – the course is already playing as it will for our country’s most prestigious golf tournament.

Erin Hills hosted their annual media day yesterday. 40 members of the local and national golf media, including myself, were treated to a day of fantastic golf on the tenth rated course in the country, just 35 miles from downtown Milwaukee.

A press conference kicked off the media event, and was hosted by Erin Hills’ Competitions Director John Morrissett, General Chairman Jim Reinhart, and Superintendent Zach Reineking.

The topics covered varied from comparisons of Erin Hills to other great US Open venues, to the course’s focus on sustainability and being the beacon of stewardship for environmentalism in the golf world.

Here are some of my key takeaways from yesterday’s press conference:

Comparisons/Differences Between Erin Hills and Pinehurst No. 2:

Both courses have a similar look at golf course maintenance and environmental sustainability. They also have a similar design mentality: Each course has been allowed to grow in naturally.

Both courses feature fine fescue turf, which makes for a fast and furious playing surface! “Burning out” is promoted, and speeds up play and shortens par fives, especially, while requiring much less water (Erin Hills has not watered since May 28). Fine fescue requires less irrigation, no chemicals, dries quickly, and allows the course to be manipulated easily.

Both courses have a ton of physical space. Erin Hills has 652 acres of land, which should allow it to host a tremendous number of spectators (audiences typically range from 25,000 spectators/day to 45,000 spectators/day for the US Open).

Both are removed from metropolitan areas, and are flexible with traffic patterns. While Erin Hills is 35 miles from downtown Milwaukee, Pinehurst is approximately 40 miles from Raleigh/Durham. Merion, the site of last year’s US Open, in contrast, resides in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and getting there and out was much less simple.

While Pinehurst No. 2 has trees, Erin Hills has very few, and while Pinehurst No. 2 has 100+ acres of wasteland, Erin Hills has 140 acres of un-mowed and un-irrigated fine fescue.

While its 7,800 yards will likely be the longest course ever played in a major championship (it officially played at 7,760 yards for the 2011 US Amateur), that number is a bit misleading. With fast fairways and a lot of the distance built in to the mammoth par fives, the US Open at Erin Hills will play much like a typical British Open. Players will need to keep shots between un-mowed areas, and will be rewarded with distance via run-out when achieved.

Virtually unplayable finger bunkers will force players to “Take their medicine” to get errant shots back in play, and I can attest to the huge challenge that is faced when hitting in to this deep fescue. I shot an 89 from the white tees yesterday, including two holes that found me taking three or four shots out of the long stuff just to get back to the fairway (I took eights on both holes).

Even following an inch and a half of rain the night before, the greens were stimping at 11.5. The day before they were 13-13.5. With wind that ranged from fairly calm to about 15-20 miles per hour, the US Open-like conditions we played in and on were truly magnificent.

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