Erin Hills, US Open 2017 site, trip summary
Pictures are uploaded and album is created, so here goes.
I played two rounds at Erin Hills this past Sunday and Monday. The weather could not have been better. Mid 80's, not humid, just a bit of a breeze. Perfect. The caddies were also appreciative.
Executive summary: Erin Hills is a fabulous golf course. Play it if you can.
Visually the course is very nice and there are good sight lines for pretty much all the tee shots. There are a couple of blind tee shots, which I'm normally not a fan of, but there were good aim points off the tee for those as well and view from the landing areas was worth it.
There are a lot of elevation changes with holes that play either flat, uphill, or down hill. Same for the greens. There was also a good deal of contours on some of the fairways. All to say that the course kept you on your toes and there wasn't really any repetitive holes that I noticed.
The fairways weren't overly wide or narrow and were bordered by about 8-10 feet of primary rough. Then comes the fescue. If you are spraying it off the tee be prepared for a long day. The fescue is long and dense, not the wispy kind. You either get lucky and your ball is sitting on a trampled piece or you are chopping out of a bird's nest. It will be interesting to see what the USGA does.
The green complexes were nice. One small one on the short second hole but for the most part they were decent sized with some slopes. Nothing too crazy. The bunkers, both fairway and greenside, are real hazards.
I did my usual thing where I took pictures of the tee marker, the tee shot, and what my approach looked like. I forgot to take the final approach shot on 18. The yardages are for the green tees (6754 on the card). Link to the album below.
https://goo.gl/photos/pt4dmpAbkibGy9eC6
FWIW, I shot 85 on the first day thanks to some crooked driving but hit the ball much better on Monday and shot an 81 which included doubles on 9 and 18. That and I lipped out 3 birdie putts. I'm a 6.3 so the 81 is pretty much shooting my index, which is what I always try to do.
If it plays hard and fast for the US Open and they keep the fescue the way it is now it will be interesting. Just missing the fairway will actually be worse than missing it big into the gallery where the grass will be trampled down.
