The Country Club at Brookline: A Venue Steeped in History

The saying goes: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That couldn’t be more true when you talk about the Country Club at Brookline: the site for this year’s U.S. Open.

One of the five founding fathers of the USGA, The Country Club features 18 holes of pure, old, New England golf, with blind shots and coaster-sized greens to go along with the thick rough around the greens and fairways.

It was on these grounds in 1913 that Francis Ouimet, a young amateur who grew up across the street from The Country Club, sent shockwaves around the sport by defeating two British titans of the game: Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, in an eighteen-hole playoff, to capture the U.S. Open and change the landscape of American golf forever.

This course also played host to one of the most memorable Ryder Cups of all time. In 1999, the U.S. completed one of the greatest single-day comebacks of all time by defeating the dominant European team to take back the Cup.

The beauty of this place is that despite the age of the course, the actual design has, for the most part, remained unchanged, giving the place a feeling as if it were the 1910s again.

As I mentioned before, this course is filled with history dating back hundreds of years with the course, now, getting restored to look even more like it once did.

Built off an old horse race track, some of the holes are flat, while others are filled with hills and twists.

A theme that seems very present at this golf course is the green size. The aforementioned surfaces are very small, which means hitting the fairway off the tee is a must, as recovery shots can be brutal.

The two holes to keep an eye on down the stretch at this U.S. Open are 14 and 17.

The 14th is a behemoth of a hole. Standing at 619 yards, this par-five has two levels, which makes the tee shot that much more important.

If you miss the fairway, it’s not even a guarantee you’ll make it to the second tier with your second shot.

If that isn’t enough, the green is small and guarded well with bunkers. Four is a fantastic score on this hole, but a five wouldn’t hurt either.

The 17th is the most historic hole on the course, not because of the hole itself but because of what has taken place on it in the past.

The hole isn’t relatively long and long hitters can cut the corner, giving themselves a short approach shot.

Ouimet holed long putts in the final round and in the playoff to knock off both Vardon and Ray on this hole.

However, the most memorable moment happened at the ’99 Ryder Cup when Justin Leonard holed a miraculous cross-green putt to halve his match with Jose Maria Olazabal and clinch the cup for the Americans.

So much history lies within these hallowed grounds and I can’t even begin to think what more will unfold in this year’s playing of the 122nd U.S. Open Championship.