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    USGA

    This list of future U.S. Amateur venues will have you working extra hard to lower that handicap index to qualify

    By Ryan Herrington
    August 15, 2024
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    Chris Keane

    Lining up courses to host major championships well in advance of the year they’re actually being played has become standard operation procedure for the organizing bodies that run these events. The USGA has the U.S. Open booked through 2042, the PGA of America’s next available spot to host a PGA Championship isn’t until 2031 and the Ryder Cup in the U.S. is locked up until 2033. Officials say efficiencies in returning to historic courses, where infrastructure investments can be made that will provide long-term benefits, explain why these groups have been SO proactive in name future sites.

    But what about for an event like the U.S. Amateur, the USGA’s oldest championship and arguably the one that golf purists have the softest spot in their hearts for? Sure enough, the USGA has slowly but surely been filling out a dance card for venues that it will bring the Havemeyer Trophy to in the next decade. The latest addition came this week when the USGA announced that Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits will the primary site for the 2028 U.S. Amateur, the only hole in the USGA calendar for the event between now and 2034.

    Suffice it to say, the list of courses that lined up as future U.S. Amateur venues is an impressive one, the vast majority ranked among the top 50 on Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Best Courses and all having hosted either the U.S. Amateur or another professional men's major in the past.

    As you glance at the list below, you might be like us and wonder about doubling down on practice to somehow get that handicap index below 2.4 in order to be eligible to enter.

    2025: Olympic Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 35

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1958 (Charlie Coe), 1981 (Nathanial Crosby), 2007 (Colt Knost)

    The Olympic Club: Lake
    ev
    Private
    The Olympic Club: Lake
    San Francisco, CA, United States
    4.8
    243 Panelists
    It seems fitting that, in a town where every house is a cliffhanger, every U.S. Open played at Olympic has been one, too. For decades, the Lake was a severe test of golf. Once it was a heavily forested course with canted fairways hampered by just a single fairway bunker. By 2009, the forest had been considerably cleared away, leaving only the occasional bowlegged cypress with knobby knees, the seventh and 18th greens were redesigned and a new par-3 eighth added. Despite those changes, the 2012 U.S. Open stuck to the usual script: a ball got stuck in a tree, slow-play warnings were given, a leader snap-hooked a drive on 16 in the final round, and a guy name Simpson won. If the past was predictable, the future of the Lake Course might be more mysterious after Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner completed a remodeling in 2023 in preparation for the 2028 PGA Championship. The holes are even more breathable than before with additional tree decluttering, the greens have been expanded for more hole locations and the bunkers don't seem so deep and disconnected with the greens as they did. What hasn't changed is the Lake Course's secret ingredient, the mysterious atmosphere surrounding it that makes balls fall out of the air and the holes play much longer than the yardage.
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    2026: Merion Golf Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 6

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1916 (Chick Evans), 1924 (Bobby Jones), 1930 (Bobby Jones), 1966 (Gary Cowan), 1989 (Chris Patton), 2005 (Edoardo Molinari)

    Merion Golf Club: East
    Stephen Szurlej
    Private
    Merion Golf Club: East
    Ardmore, PA, United States
    4.9
    272 Panelists
    Merion East has long been considered the best course on the tightest acreage in America, and when it hosted the U.S. Open in 2013, its first since 1981, the present generation of big hitters couldn’t conquer this clever little course. They couldn’t consistently hit its twisting fairways, which are edged by creeks, hodge-podge rough and OB stakes and couldn’t consistently hold its canted greens, edged by bunkers that stare back. Justin Rose won with a 72-hole total of one-over-par, two ahead of Jason Day and Phil Mickelson. With Gil Hanse's extensive two-year renovation making even more improvements at Merion's East Course, the design should be even more polished when the Open returns again in 2030.
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    2027: Oak Hill Country Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 22

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1949 (Charlie Coe), 1998 (Hank Kuehne)

    Oak Hill Country Club: East
    Private
    Oak Hill Country Club: East
    Rochester, NY, United States
    4.9
    81 Panelists
    Back in 1979, George Fazio and nephew Tom were roundly criticized by Donald Ross fans for removing a classic Ross par 4 on Oak Hill East and replacing it with two new holes, including the bowl-shaped par-3 sixth, which would later become the scene of four aces in two hours during the second round of the 1989 U.S. Open. They also built a pond on another par 3 and relocated the green on the par-4 18th. The club hired golf architect Andrew Green to remodel those holes to bring them more in line with Donald Ross’ original style. In addition to putting the final touches (at least for now) on a significant tree removal program, Green re-established Ross's original par-4 hole, then the fifth and now playing as the sixth (pictured here). Reconstruction occurred after the 2019 Senior PGA Championship on the East Course and was completed in May 2020. Oak Hill's East Course hosted the 2023 PGA Championship won by Brooks Koepka.
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    2028: Whistling Straits

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 26

    Past U.S. Amateurs: N/A

    Whistling Straits: Straits Course
    Public
    Whistling Straits: Straits Course
    Sheboygan, WI, United States
    4.7
    362 Panelists
    Pete Dye transformed a dead flat abandoned army air base along a two-mile stretch of Lake Michigan into an imitation Ballybunion at Whistling Straits, peppering his rugged fairways and windswept greens with 1,012 (at last count) bunkers. There are no rakes at Whistling Straits, in keeping with the notion that this is a transplanted Irish links. It has too much rub-of-the-green for the comfort levels of many tour pros, which is what makes it a stern test for top events, such as three PGA Championships, the 2007 U.S. Senior Open and 2021 Ryder Cup.
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    2029: Inverness Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 58

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1973 (Craig Stadler)

    Inverness Club
    Patrick Smith
    Private
    Inverness Club
    Toledo, OH, United States
    4.7
    191 Panelists
    Inverness is considered a classic Donald Ross design. In truth, it’s one of his best remodeling jobs. Some Ross fans were outraged when the course was radically altered by George and Tom Fazio in preparation for the 1979 U.S. Open. The uncle-nephew duo eliminated four holes (including the famous dogleg par-4 seventh), combined two holes to make the par-5 eighth and created three modern holes on newly acquired land. In 2018, golf architect Andrew Green replaced the Fazio holes with new ones more in the Ross style, relocated greens on two other holes and added new back tees everywhere.
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    2030: Atlanta Athletic Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 148

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 2014 (Gunn Yang)

    Atlanta Athletic Club: Highlands
    Dave Sansom
    Private
    Atlanta Athletic Club: Highlands
    Johns Creek, GA, United States
    4.4
    131 Panelists
    No course on our rankings has highlighted the value of new turfgrasses better than the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club. It sets the standards for quality everyday conditions as well as for major championships at Southern venues. Its tees and fairways are newly-developed Zorro Zoysia, which can withstand Atlanta’s coldest winter days. Greens are state-of-the-art TifEagle Bermuda, smooth and pure. Approaches and surrounds of greens are TifGrand Bermuda, which allows them to be mowed very tight for additional bounce. The rough is Tifway 419 Bermuda, a great old standby. The club also recently upgraded its irrigation system. Because each turf has different water demands, a precise individual-head system was installed, each head controlled by the superintendent with a smart phone app, applying moisture only where needed and thus saving water and money. No longer will an errant shot at AAC land behind an irrigation box. There are none anymore.
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    2031: The Honors Course

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 31

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1991 (Mitch Voges)

    The Honors Course
    Private
    The Honors Course
    Ooltewah, TN, United States
    4.7
    151 Panelists
    Considered radical in the early 1980s because of its acres of tall, native-grass rough, durable Zoysiagrass fairways and terrifying greens perched atop bulkheads of rock, today The Honors Course is considered a well-preserved example of Pete Dye’s death-or-glory architecture. Other than reducing the contours in a couple of greens (particularly the 18th) in the late 1990s, and adjusting the bunkering in 2008, Dye left the course alone for most of his career. Georgia architect Bill Bergin did create a new practice facility at the club in 2015, and Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner touched everything up again in 2022.
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    2032: Bandon Dunes

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 40

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 2020 (Tyler Strafaci)

    Bandon Dunes
    Stephen Szurlej
    Public
    Bandon Dunes
    Bandon, OR, United States
    4.7
    362 Panelists
    Chicago recycled-products mogul Mike Keiser took a gamble when he chose then-tenderfoot architect David McLay Kidd to design a destination daily fee on the remote southwestern coastline of Oregon. But the design Kidd produced, faithful to the links-golf tenets of his native Scotland, proved so popular that today Keiser has a multiple-course resort at Bandon Dunes that rivals Pinehurst and the Monterey Peninsula—or perhaps exceeds them given that all fve Bandon courses are ranked on our 200 Greatest, four in the top 100. None of that would have happened if McLay Kidd hadn’t produced a great first design that drew golfers into its orbit.
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    2033: Chambers Bay

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 125

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 2010 (Peter Uihlein)

    Chambers Bay
    Courtesy of Jon Cavalier
    Public
    Chambers Bay
    University Place, WA, United States
    4.4
    173 Panelists

    Prodded by his partner, Bruce Charlton, and their then-design associate Jay Blasi, veteran architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. agreed to a radically different, vertical-links style when building Chambers Bay in an abandoned sand quarry near Tacoma. By the time Golf Digest named it as America’s Best New Public Course of 2008, the course had already been awarded the 2010 U.S. Amateur and 2015 U.S. Open. In the Amateur, Chambers Bay proved to be hard, both in the firmness of its dry fescue turf (Jones called his fairways, “hardwood floors”) and its difficulties around and on the windswept greens. For the U.S. Open, the firmness and surrounds were more manageable, but the greens were notoriously bumpy. That’s now been remedied, as the fescue turf on the putting surfaces has been replaced with pure Poa Annua. What's irreplacable are the views of Puget Sound from nearly every hole, multi-level fairways that entice bold driving to gain second-shot advantages and two holes running parallel to a railway that's invokes feelings of early Scottish and Irish links courses.

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    2034: The Country Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 19

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1910 (William C. Fownes Jr.), 1922 (Jess Sweetser), 1934 (Lawson Little), 1957 (Hillman Robbins), 1982 (Jay Sigel), 2013 (Matt Fitzpatrick)

    The Country Club: The Main Course
    Brian Oar
    Private
    The Country Club: The Main Course
    Brookline, MA, United States
    4.3
    160 Panelists
    The Country Club’s 18-hole course that was the scene of the 1963 and 1988 U.S. Opens is not the 18-hole course ranked by Golf Digest. Those events were played on a composite course, utilizing a few holes from the club’s third Primrose nine. We rank the combination of the Main Course, clearly good enough to be one of the top courses in the world. Gil Hanse performed some course restoration prior to the 2013 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club. The USGA used a new configuration of 18 holes for the 2022 U.S. Open, won by Matthew Fitzpatrick, eliminating the par-4 fourth and adding the tiny par 3 11th, the first time the hole was used since the 1913 Open won by Francis Ouimet.
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    2036: Scioto Country Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 60

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1968 (Bruce Fleisher)

    Scioto Country Club
    Evan Schiller
    Private
    Scioto Country Club
    Columbus, OH, United States
    4.7
    82 Panelists
    The Donald Ross design at Scioto was the site of three prominent tournaments—the 1926 U.S. Open, won by Bobby Jones, the 1931 Ryder Cup and the 1950 PGA Championship (Chandler Harper). That course was gone by the time the ’68 U.S. Amateur came to Scioto (Bruce Fleischer), replaced in 1963 by a modern design from Dick Wilson who delegated one nine to associate Joe Lee and the other to associate Robert von Hagge. Several other renovations by Michael Hurdzan and Jack Nicklaus, who grew up playing the course, followed in the 2000s creating yet a third iteration of the course. Enough, the club said. They hired Andrew Green in 2021 to restore the course to the full Donald Ross version based on drawings, photos and an old aerial illustration from the '26 Open. Green lowered green complexes, emboldened contours, recreated Ross’ sharp-faced bunkering and returned the small green at the par-3 17th to the near side of a creek where it originally was.
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    2038: Pinehurst No. 2

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 29

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1962 (Labron Harris Jr.), 2008 (Danny Lee), 2019 (Andy Ogletree)

    Pinehurst No. 2
    Stephen Szurlej
    Public
    Pinehurst No. 2
    Pinehurst, NC, United States
    4.6
    447 Panelists
    In 2010, a team lead by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw killed and ripped out all the Bermudagrass rough on Pinehurst No. 2 that had been foolishly planted in the 1970s. Between fairways and tree lines, they established vast bands of native hardpan sand dotted with clumps of wiregrass and scattered pine needles. They reduced the irrigation to mere single rows in fairways to prevent grass from ever returning to the new sandy wastelands. Playing firm and fast, it was wildly successful as the site of the 2014 Men’s and Women’s U.S. Opens, played on consecutive weeks. Because of its water reduction, the course was named a Green Star environmental award-winner by Golf Digest that year. In 2019, Pinehurst No. 2 and No. 4 hosted another U.S. Amateur Championship, and the USGA announced Pinehurst No. 2—in addition to hosting the 2024 U.S. Open—will also have the 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047 U.S. Opens.
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    2041: Bandon Dunes

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 40

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 2020 (Tyler Strafaci)

    Bandon Dunes
    Stephen Szurlej
    Public
    Bandon Dunes
    Bandon, OR, United States
    4.7
    362 Panelists
    Chicago recycled-products mogul Mike Keiser took a gamble when he chose then-tenderfoot architect David McLay Kidd to design a destination daily fee on the remote southwestern coastline of Oregon. But the design Kidd produced, faithful to the links-golf tenets of his native Scotland, proved so popular that today Keiser has a multiple-course resort at Bandon Dunes that rivals Pinehurst and the Monterey Peninsula—or perhaps exceeds them given that all fve Bandon courses are ranked on our 200 Greatest, four in the top 100. None of that would have happened if McLay Kidd hadn’t produced a great first design that drew golfers into its orbit.
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    2047: Oakland Hills Country Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: 20

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 2002 (Ricky Barnes), 2016 (Curtis Luck)

    Oakland Hills Country Club South Course
    L.C. Lambrecht/Oakland Hills
    Private
    Oakland Hills Country Club South Course
    Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States
    4.8
    104 Panelists
    Donald Ross felt his 1918 design was out-of-date for the 1951 U.S. Open and was prepared to remodel it. Sadly, he died in 1948, so Robert Trent Jones got the job. His rebunkering was overshadowed by ankle-deep rough, and after Ben Hogan closed with a 67, one of only two rounds under par 70 all week, to win his second consecutive Open, he complained that Jones had created a Frankenstein. Sixty-plus years later, Oakland Hills is even longer, but its bite wasn’t severe when it hosted the 2016 U.S. Amateur. In 2019, the South course closed as Gil Hanse and his team significantly renovated the course with the intention of removing the Jones influences and restoring its Ross feel. They did that by expanding greens to recapture what are some of Ross's best contours, removed trees to show off the rolling landscape and shifted bunkers back to where Ross, not RTJ, placed them. The course re-opened in Spring 2021, and though a crippling fire destroyed the club's iconic clubhouse, the USGA delivered some kind news to the club, bringing the 2034 and 2051 U.S. Opens to Oakland Hills—as well as a number of upcoming USGA championships.
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    2051: Saucon Valley Golf Club

    Golf Digest America's Greatest Courses ranking: N/R

    Past U.S. Amateurs: 1951 (Billy Maxwell)

    Saucon Valley Country Club: Weyhill
    LC Lambrecht
    Private
    Saucon Valley Country Club: Weyhill
    Bethlehem, PA, United States
    4.2
    117 Panelists
    Saucon Valley Country Club's Weyhill Course in Bethlehem is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Pennsylvania. Discover our experts reviews and tee time information
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