THE USGA’ S TWO-YEAR PLAN
If it takes a village to raise a child, then consider Howe and the behind-the-scenes community as the ones responsible for the championship’ s prosperity. They are the unsung, unseen heroes. That includes nearly half of the 300-plus employees from Golf House( the USGA’ s Far Hills, N. J. headquarters) who will trek to Oakmont, members and more than 5,000 volunteers. The majority, in some capacity, will play some role outside the ropes.
With more than 235,000 spectators anticipated to attend the championship June 13-19, there is little room for error. Howe, in concert with Oakmont leadership, has been executing long drawn-up contingency plans that touch on everything from infrastructure to logistics to the mundane.
Take security and safety. Over the past two years, countless meetings have been had with local and state police agencies. Throw in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security, too. Or consider various tent construction minutiae. For instance, Howe has had to be in lockstep with the HVAC( heating, ventilating and air conditioning) vendor over the logistics of the 250 or so tents and estimated 100 trailers that now adorn the grounds.
It’ s hard to get excited about something as banal as restrooms, but they’ re an obvious necessity. There is a placement strategy for each port-a-john, or clustered areas, so that foot traffic moves seamlessly around the course. The goal is to ensure there are no distractions to the action inside the ropes.
“ What takes most of my time, actually, is figuring out the parking and transportation,” said Howe, adding that roughly 16,000 cars will inundate Allegheny County, including the courtesy vehicles given to the 156 players in the field.
“ We can’ t introduce that many cars to the immediate local area. The goal is to have less of a net impact there and have shuttles operating efficiently,” he said.
Plans for transportation and shuttle routes started in earnest almost seven years ago. The decision to return to Henry Fownes’ famed design a record ninth time was announced on-site at the 2009 U. S. Open at Bethpage.( Incidentally, it will also mark the 16th USGA event conducted at Oakmont).
Almost immediately, Oakmont organized a special committee that eventually visited all U. S. Open venues through last year‘ s event at Chambers Bay. It was an eye-opener, said Oakmont U. S. Open Co-chairman Rob Hofmann.
“ When we went to Pinehurst, we really saw how big the U. S. Open has become [ since Oakmont last hosted it in 2007 ],” said Hofmann.“ At the Olympic Club it was much bigger than it had been than any other Open there. So we saw how massive it has become. As a result, we knew we had to do something to prepare for’ 16 and to make sure we could accommodate the USGA.”
A tough, yet essential, decision was made in early 2014 by Oakmont’ s long-range planning committee. Close to 25 acres of property that lay behind the second green and third fairway on the East Course was regraded in the fall two years ago. An unfathomable 700,000 yards of dirt was moved prior to the land being reseeded with fescue last year.
“ These were not little dump trucks at work,” said Zimmers.“ This was major, major excavation with scrapers and pans and big trucks you see in mines.”
The decision to do this was threefold: To accommodate the USGA’ s growing needs; to make it more attractive for future championships; and to give the club options for other activities if a final decision is made— to come after the championship— to eliminate the East Course entirely.
The choice to regrade the acreage cannot be overstated.
Zimmers has been through three USGA championships and understands the course setup process. Graduated rough? Piece of cake. It’ s the stuff that goes on outside the course that proves challenging, and the extra space has been a godsend.
“ Working with the USGA and the partnership we have, we both know how to get out in front of things,” said Zimmers.“ We want to be there to assist the USGA, to
Fans prepare to enter the gates at the 2015 U. S. Open Championship, held at Chambers Bay in Washington.
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22 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M AY / J UNE 2016 vsga. org