Year-Round U.S. Open Conditioning: How Oakmont Stays Championship-Ready | All Grass Is Local

[@RealEstateManagerBobFriend]

I’ve been a member for 52 years. I served on Grounds Committee for 20 years and the Board for 9 years. Mike, Max and the entire crew do a monumental job of prep each and every day. I’m so very blessed to be a part of such a special place. Your content is awesome! Keep it coming!

[@PFI1957]

This content was amazing. I learned a ton. I played Oakmont CC 7 years ago, and this clip just added another dimension to that experience. Thank you!

[@BruceEllmaker]

Always love the behind the scenes look.

[@PYGolf]

The production quality is above cable tv standards, I'll bet by beloved 56 on that!!! Awesome content my dudes

[@BeauKahler]

These videos are just amazing, please keep making them!

[@mattbalesteri9091]

So well produced. Great insight into one of the best.

[@derekweaver9188]

Highest quality of golf content on YT

[@djohnsongolf]

What a place!

[@thewaddler729]

Seriously good guys … thank you 🙏

[@SpudRunGolf]

When I grow up, I wanna be like Oakmont! Great edit.

[@coreywolfenbarger8992]

Absolutely loved this video. Could watch agronomy stuff and behind the scenes content of running a golf course - whether a fancy club or not, all day.

[@jasjar72]

Great content - if I was a young college student again, I would say, "Sign me up!" The lessons the interns are learning are invaluable no matter where life takes them.

[@thehackclub1779]

Agreed! Such a fascinating field.

[@dalemiller2438]

This is so freakin good. Love the content!

[@brendanulrich6649]

Really well done, thanks for sharing. Do it again! 🤣

[@vanhorn32]

Killer video. I'm ready to go be an intern right now!

[@loslobos9461]

Makes perfect sense. I play there a couple times a year and I am never disappointed unless you’re talking about my score. Lol.

[@peterhironaka]

fantastic video.

[@robertott9925]

Amazing video, ❤

[@seangideon4369]

Great video

[@jedmmoller]

This was excellent!!

[@chrisdellaporta9732]

Love this..

[@allinadaysshred]

Great video. One suggestion, dedicate more time to candid on-course discussion such as what was occurring at 4:11. That would have been very interesting to hear…and could be fit in with a longer run time, or cutting back on some of the repetitive references to a strive for excellence in confessional interviews.

[@FriedEggGolf]

Appreciate the thoughts. Thanks for watching!

[@allinadaysshred]

@@FriedEggGolf I will watch everything you guys do, top class, right up there with the best of the best golf content on yt. Looking forward to what you’ve got for us next

[@JRO1523]

Incredible content. Amazing to hear the investment they have in the crews/interns long term career growth.

[@nicholasbernhardy6375]

OCC is actually in Plum Borough not oakmont fyi

[@joellahrman4557]

I have never played Oakmont. Like any golf fan, I'd love an opportunity for a round there. But I'm wondering if I would like to play it regularly given that it's expected to be at US Open condition / pushing the limits on a daily basis. There are ways to make courses playable for average players while testing good players, but better players than me have said that Oakmont is too difficult for them to want to play every day - it just wouldn't be enjoyable. Wondering what people who have played there think. I should note that it is my favorite US Open site.

[@Smallie888]

Same here. I would love to play Oakmont a few times but wouldn’t like it to be my regular track. They would probably ask me to leave after seeing the beaver pelts I take

[@lukemchugh55]

I saw a post earlier about the green speed at Oakmont rolling a 16.4 or whatever. Then there was a rebuttal about if this were the case then how you could only put the pins in certain spots and how green speed is overhyped. I caddie there almost every single day and this is my take on it and the truth of the matter. The greens are 100% rolling at that speed or faster which is beyond ridiculous. I am neither ragging on Oakmont or glorifying it, I’m just explaining it. They are not putting the pins in flat spots only (there are basically none of those anyways), they continue to put them in normal positions, even hard positions often. I don’t think it always makes for a “fair” round of golf for the amateur player but this is their thing and part of the OCC experience. The members not only love it and love talking about it but also laughing as guests are baffled by it. Well struck golf shots are not always rewarded and often end up in trouble, usually bunkers. For example. Hole #5, the approach shot in is usually about 140 or so yards after a good tee shot. If the pin is in the front it is almost impossible to get it close and the only way to is hit a massively high spinning fade or land it short in the rough and have it bounce on perfectly with some luck. Most times it rolls off the back left of the green no matter how good of swing. Never in my life have I walked on a course that is anywhere near as firm, from teeboxes, to fairways, to greens. The course feels like the grass is on top of concrete. I do believe 100% they slow them down for the US Open or else it just wouldn’t be fair. They grow the rough up for the open (reports say they cut it, completely false). And the combination of the long rough with the daily speed would make it so incredibly difficult that it would undoubtedly spark controversy amongst the players. When it comes down to it, when the course is dry and there is some wind and the rough is longer it is probably and almost definitely the hardest golf course in the entire world. The fact that the pros can shoot any rounds at all under par there even with the greens rolling at a touch slower of a pace is truly incredible. The skill level is infathomable to the amateur golfer. The new guests walk off the 18th green both highly appreciative to have played at such an incredible and historically rich club and also relieved that it is over. And I am sure it is no different for the pros. When I play it I accept the brutality of the golf course, laugh off the ridiculousness, and enjoy every moment that I am out there. So is this true? Yes. Is it fair? Yes but at times no it's not and it's not always supposed to be. That's what Oakmont is. The US Open is the hardest test in the world of golf and that’s why Oakmont is their flagship course and most frequent venue. It requires the utmost amount of skill and also a bit of luck to win. No place is more entertaining for a major and I am so grateful to be out on the course almost every day. I cannot wait for the 2025 US Open.

[@AdelynsDad]

I was a caddie there for 7 years. Yes, it’s as difficult as they come, but there’s just an aura around the place when you play there you forget about the difficulty and play for the history. The thing that makes it playable for normal people though is that they cut the rough down quite a bit, so it’s pretty thick but you can get a 7 iron on it for the most part unless you get unlucky. Also, the fact that you need a caddie helps as well, going in blind is a death sentence, but a good caddie will get you around there in one piece. I promise that you’d want to play there everyday if you could

[@TheMrsLehman]

To bad you didn’t show the guys that keep those mowers cutting

[@nipper-d4i]

Miantenance budget must be sky high!

[@misterrocket17]

Loved it -- but came away wondering: Where are the young women?

[@mrpooppoop420]

Not the most diverse group tbf.

[@DocOoccc]

Presumably they use a very high rate of pgr all year to create the density would be interesting to see if poa related diseases are hard to control for them .

[@robertsjolund449]

I get the feeling that they never get to play the course. I will never work for a place that doesn't allow employees to play the course, what's the point really imo. Crazy high standards, no time to breathe. Just grind them down and get fresh guys to come in and work for pennies on the dollar compared to experienced workers.

[@cameronhurdus7451]

they play

[@kevinmcgrath6453]

so interesting. Budget must be unbelievable.

[@kanepjk]

Very well done video but after watching it I don’t think Oakmont is a place I’d ever want to play. Seems like it exemplifies everything that is wrong with high end private courses in the US. Huge staff, huge budget, unrealistic maintenance standard, and the ever present private club d*ck measuring contest known as green speed.

[@plex6218]

Stimpmeter was invented there - Oakmont is the original. Everyone else is measuring to Oakmont, not the other way around.

[@lukemchugh55]

It’s fine you’ll never be invited to play anyway so you don’t have to worry about it.

[@robloxvids2233]

Oakmont sucks.

[@valdemaroliveira4768]

Guys wants people to move on because eventually they will take his job if they stay too long

[@MrWigg1es22]

Big budgets, big crews, inflated titles, unrealistic expectations, managing the wrong grass, brainwashed interns... It's everything I work to make the industry not be. Its a terrible culture that runs people out of the industry. Its great you have a bunch of interns, but when only 1 in 10 of them make it to Superintendent, what good have you actually done for the industry? I mean, thanks for making us look good but this is far from the truth. Made for TV in every sense.

[@mattsutherland8583]

I assume the goal here will be to highlight all different approaches to the industry , that’s the way the podcast approaches

[@jaredmercer8413]

I’ve worked at big budget and small budget courses, its not fun struggling for funding. Not being able to the product out you want because of lack of equipment and fert is stresssful.