Winged Foot: The toughest US Open course
By Bill Felber
Average sub-pars per event
This is perhaps the simplest, most straightforward test of difficulty. Were we to reduce our process to only one standard, a course’s ability to resist sub-par shooters probably would be it.
This measurement is, to a degree at least, compromised by the fact that over time par has become a more available target on Tour. For the most part, however, the U.S. Open resists that trend. It also works in the favor of the courses — with the single exception of Shinnecock Hills — whose relationship with the Open dates back as much as a century, a period when few players evened dreamed of breaking par.
Here’s the list.
Average sub-pars per event
Winged Foot 0.40
Shinnecock Hills 0.75
Olympic 0.80
Merion 1.00
Oakland Hills 1.50
Oakmont 3.00
Pebble Beach 3.83
Baltusrol 4.00
Right away we can recognize how seriously difficult the Open is, especially when it’s played on these courses. On none of them can even a handful of players expect to beat par for four rounds.
Yet even among these elite taskmasters, Winged Foot stands at the head of the class. Over the span of its five previous Open championships, just two men –Fuzzy Zoeller and Greg Norman in 1984 – defeated par. They tied for the title that year at four-under, Zoeller beating Norman in an 18-hole playoff.
The next best score that week, and also the next best ever registered at Winged Foot, was Curtis Strange’s one-over.
Bobby Jones won in a playoff in 1929, but even Jones only managed to shoot six-over. Billy Casper’s winning score in 1959 was two-over 282. Hale Irwin shot seven-over 287 to win the 1974 “Massacre at Winged Foot, and George Oglivy benefitted from Phil Mickelson’s self-destruction to win in 2006 at five-over.