
US Open '25: Decades ago under dark of night, Oakmont began removing trees and started a golf trend
Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong — removing trees from courses.
This week, the world's best player and favorite to win the U.S. Open will play a course that did just that, but didn't become one bit easier the way some layouts do when the trees go away. Under the dark of night three decades ago, the people in charge of Oakmont Country Club started cutting down trees. They didn't stop until some 15,000 had been removed.
The project reimagined one of America's foremost golf cathedrals and started a trend of tree cutting that continues to this day.
While playing a round on YouTube with influencer Grant Horvat, Scheffler argued that modern pro golf — at least at most stops on the PGA Tour — has devolved into a monotonous cycle of 'bomb and gouge': Hit drive as far as possible, then gouge the ball out of the rough from a shorter distance if the tee shot is off line.
'They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,' Scheffler said. 'And so, the only barrier to guys just trying to hit it as far as they want to or need to, it's trees.'
Scheffler and the rest in the 156-man field that tees off Thursday should be so lucky.
While the latest Oakmont renovation, in 2023, did make greens bigger, fairways are never wide at the U.S. Open and they won't be this week.
Tree-lined or not, Oakmont has a reputation as possibly the toughest of all the U.S. Open (or any American) courses, which helps explain why it is embarking on its record 10th time hosting it. In the two Opens held there since the tree-removal project was completed, the deep bunkers, serpentine drainage ditches and lightning-fast greens have produced winning scores of 5-over par (Angel Cabrera in 2007) and 4 under (Dustin Johnson in 2016).
In an ironic twist that eventually led to where we (and Oakmont) are today, the layout was completely lined with trees in 1973 when Johnny Miller shot 63 on Sunday to win the U.S. Open. That record stood for 50 years, and the USGA followed up with a course setup so tough in 1974 that it became known as 'The Massacre at Winged Foot' -- won by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par.
'Everybody was telling me it was my fault,' Miller said in a look back at the '74 Open with Golf Digest. 'It was like a backhanded compliment. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont. Oakmont was supposed to be the hardest course in America.'
It might still be.
In a precursor to what could come this week, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott played practice rounds last Monday in which McIlroy said he made a 7 on the par-4 second and Scott said he hit every fairway on the front nine and still shot 3 over.
Nicklaus: Trees should only come down 'for a reason'
While Oakmont leaned into tree removal, there are others who aren't as enthused.
Jack Nicklaus, who added trees to the 13th hole at Muirfield Village after seeing players fly a fairway bunker on the left for a clear look at the green, said he's OK with tree removal 'if they take them down for a reason.'
'Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?' he said. 'Like Oakmont, for example. What's the name of it? Oak. Mont. What's that mean? Oaks on a mountain, sort of. And then they take them all down. I don't like it.'
A lot of Oakmont's members weren't fans, either, which is why this project began under dark of night. The golf course in the 1990s was barely recognizable when set against pictures taken shortly after it opened in 1903.
Architect Henry Fownes had set out to build a links-style course. Dampening the noise and view of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the layout, was one reason thousands of trees were planted in the 1960s and '70s.
'We were finding that those little trees had all grown up and they were now hanging over some bunkers,' R. Banks-Smith, the chairman of Oakmont's grounds committee when the project began, said in a 2007 interview. 'And once you put a tree on either side of a bunker, you lose your bunker. So, you have to make a decision. Do you want bunkers or do you want trees?'
Oakmont went with bunkers – its renowned Church Pew Bunker between the third and fourth fairways might be the most famous in the world – and thus began a tree project that divides people as much today as it did when it started.
'I'm not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal,' Scott said. 'I feel a lot of courses that aren't links courses get framed nicely with trees, not like you're opening it up to go play way over there.'
Too many trees, though, can pose risks.
Overgrown tree roots and too much shade provide competition for the tender grasses beneath. They hog up oxygen and sunlight and make the turf hard to maintain. They overhang fairways and bunkers and turn some shots envisioned by course architects into something completely different.
They also can be downright dangerous. In 2023 during the second round of the Masters, strong winds toppled three towering pine trees on the 17th hole, luckily missing fans who were there watching the action.
'There are lots of benefits that trees provide, but only in the right place,' said John Fech, the certified arborist at University of Nebraska who consults with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
When Oakmont decided they didn't want them at all, many great courses followed. Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol and Merion are among those that have undergone removal programs.
Five years ago, Bryson DeChambeau overpowered Winged Foot, which had removed about 300 trees, simply by hitting the ball as far as he could, then taking his chances from the rough.
It's the sort of golf Scheffler seems to be growing tired of: 'When you host a championship tournament, if there's no trees, you just hit it wherever you want, because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I'm in the thick rough (but) if I miss by 20, I'm in the crowd," Scheffler told Horvat.
AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed.
___
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hamilton Spectator
36 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Rourke, Beverette and Riders' line earn first CFL weekly honour roll awards
TORONTO - B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, Montreal Alouettes linebacker Tyrice Beverette and the Saskatchewan Roughriders' offensive line all earned top marks in the CFL's first weekly honour roll. Rourke was the top offensive player with a grade of 90.8 after leading the Lions to a season-opening 31-14 win over the Edmonton Elks. Rourke completed 27-of-36 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns. Beverette earned top defensive player honours with an 85.2 grade. He had four tackles and an interception over 50 total defensive snaps while also recording a 87.7 grade on 23 coverage snaps in Montreal's 28-10 victory over the Toronto Argonauts. Saskatchewan's offensive line had a 67.9 unit grade in the Riders' 31-26 win over the Ottawa Redblacks. Jermarcus Hardrick (72.0), Payton Collins (71.3) and Trevon Tate (69.0) were the top three performers while Hardrick also earned the top individual mark. The CFL honour roll highlights players in nine positions based on data points registered and compiled by Pro Football Focus, an American sports analytics company. The other individual winners included: Saskatchewan running back Thomas Bertrand-Hudon (80.3); Riders receiver Samuel Emilus (88.9); Lions defensive lineman Mathieu Betts (83.2); Lions defensive back Garry Peters (84.1); Hamilton Tiger-Cats returner Isaiah Wooden (90.3); Elks punter Cody Grace (74.4); and special-teams player Tyron Vrede of the Ottawa Redblacks (91.3). This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025.

NBC Sports
40 minutes ago
- NBC Sports
Best U.S. Open groups: Lefties; best putters; longest and shortest
OAKMONT, Pa. – Matt Vogt, the 34-year-old dentist and former Oakmont caddie who hails from Pittsburgh, will strike the opening tee shot Thursday morning to commence play at this 125th U.S. Open. It will be a notable moment for Vogt, the club and the city. But the action will really get going about 45 minutes later when some of the star power tees off. Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele are grouped with newly minted Fireball and reigning U.S. Amateur champion Josele Ballester. And starting early Thursday off No. 10 will be European Ryder Cuppers Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose. The afternoon wave on Thursday is highlighted by Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler, and Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson. Golf Channel Staff, Those aren't the only notable groupings, though. Here is a six-pack of other great groupings: 7:18 a.m. (1)/1:03 p.m. (10) – Harris English, Tommy Fleetwood, Keegan Bradley One could argue that aside from the stars, these three guys with U.S. Open games have three of the best chances to win this week at Oakmont. 7:51 a.m. (1)/ 1:36 p.m. (10) – Akshay Bhatia, Matt McCarty, Robert MacIntyre This all-lefty trio is a favorite of longtime USGA writer David Shefter, who hits from the wrong side of the ball as well. 8:02 a.m. (1)/ 1:47 p.m. (10) – Cam Davis, Davis Thompson, Thomas Detry Love the evolution here as we go from Davis to David and then from Thompson to Thomas. 1:14 p.m. (1)/ 7:29 a.m. (10) – Sam Burns, Nico Echavarria, Denny McCarthy Who is the best putter in the world? These three guys are ranked first, sixth and seventh on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting – and top three in this field – while McCarthy is a past No. 1 putter on Tour. 7:29 a.m. (10)/1:14 p.m. (1) – Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, Maverick McNealy Captain Keegan will be paying extra close attention to this group. All three are fighting for automatic Ryder Cup berths and will otherwise certainly be in the captain's-pick discussion. 8:13 a.m. (10)/1:58 p.m. (1) – Niklas Norgaard, Brian Campbell, Justin Lower Norgaard can send it, ranking second behind only Aldrich Potgieter in driving distance on the PGA Tour. The longest in this week's field (maybe besides Vogt) is grouped with the shortest in Campbell, who ranks last on Tour at 275.6 yards, 44.4 yards shorter than Norgaard.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Open: Rory McIlroy says it's time to 'get my stuff together'
Rory McIlroy enjoyed his Masters victory in April. Still enjoying it, actually. That can be a good thing. He had been trying to win the damn thing for nearly two decades, after all, so no fault in stopping to smell the flowers. Advertisement But the day job never stops, and when you're trying to win golf tournaments — trying to beat the likes of Scottie Scheffler, who's still chasing his own career grand slam — there's going to be a professional cost. That cost showed up in May at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, when McIlroy finished T47, and last week at the Canadian Open, when he missed the cut altogether. Turns out, even when you're Rory McIlroy — one of only six players to win all four majors in the history of the sport — you still need to put in the practice. "I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year," McIlroy explained Tuesday. "It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labor come to fruition and have everything happen. Advertisement "You have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy what you've just accomplished. I certainly feel like I'm still doing that and I will continue to do that. At some point, you have to realize that there's a little bit more golf left to play this season. ... Weeks like Quail Hollow or even weeks like last week, it makes it easier to reset in some way, to be like, okay, I sort of need to get my stuff together here and get back to the process." That process will continue Thursday morning at Oakmont Country Club, where McIlroy will try to avenge the brutal defeat at last year's U.S. Open at the hands of Bryson DeChambeau. If you don't remember the two short putts he missed in the closing holes that would have won him that tournament, he does. Had he not won at Augusta in April, that would have been the storyline heading into this tournament. He would have been asked about it a dozen different times in a dozen different ways. But he wasn't asked about it once on Tuesday. Funny how a Masters victory can reshape an entire narrative. Rory McIlroy signs autographs after his practice round prior to the 125th U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. () (David Cannon via Getty Images) Instead, he talked about spending more time on his hobbies — he and caddie Harry Diamond played a lot of tennis last weekend — and taking trips with his daughter — "Giving Poppy that opportunity to see the world at such a young age I think is a wonderful opportunity for her" — and just having fun, the kind of fun one allows themselves when a certain weight has been lifted. Advertisement "Just trying to do things that I enjoy and get back to having hobbies and filling my time with the things that I want to do," he explained. But now, fun's over, and it's back to the grind — a grueling, 6-inch-thick, rough-infested slog in the form of Oakmont where, lucky for him, he'll tee it up Thursday morning with fellow Irishman and good buddy Shane Lowry for the first two rounds. "I think chasing a certain goal for the better part of a decade and a half, I think I'm allowed a little bit of time to relax a little bit," he said. "But here at Oakmont, I certainly can't relax this week."