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Have any of you played Erin Hills?? Looks like one of the best of all time; kind of like Bandon Dunes. Reports/critiques??

I have not played it yet because I am a poor student and it would eat me alive. But a bunch of Wisconsin papers have done reviews on it and love it. They had Stricker (madison native) play it and he even said it was beyond ridiculously tough. I heard it is being slated for a possible US Open in the future. It looks beautiful though, and I hope I can play it sometime before I go into the real job world.

WOW...that course is beautiful. I think it's cool that they only allow one cart per 4-some. The cart holds everyone's clubs, but they say that to fully enjoy the course, you really should walk it.

Here's the website if anyone want's to have a look

http://www.erinhills.com/

It looks gorgeous, but 7800+ yards from the tips ?

I think I graduated with her!

Beautiful video clip, Thanks

I played the course yesterday, and it was the most challenging course I've ever played. The greens run fast (but true), and you never quite get a flat lie. The holes require a lot of target shots--you can never just stripe it down the fairway on every hole--and there are lots of blind shots.

My caddy said that the 2017 US Open is all but confirmed, and the USGA is having the course close down a month early this year to 1) lengthen a couple holes, even though this course is deadly long from the tips; 2) add about 30-40 bunkers; and 3) burn down the fescue in the rough to replace it with the tall, whispy style of fescue found on British Open courses; and 4) eliminate a blind shot or two so the pros can be more aggressive. The course website says that these additions are made in preparation for the Amateur, but it's plenty tough for that tournament already--the changes are really in preparation for the US Open, but the course can't quite advertise that until it's been announced.

On the one hand, I was glad that they're doing what the USGA asked in order to get the US Open. But I was also a little disappointed that the new changes will require some earth moving. One of the best things about Erin Hills is how natural it is--they moved dirt on only 4 holes to create the course, and moved a significant amount of dirt on only one hole (the first). When they make the changes, there will undoubtedly be a little bit more earth moving involved, and the course won't be quite as natural. I guess being able to say you're going to host a US Open 12 years after opening is a pretty good consolation.

The only fault I found with the course was the Dell hole--the blind par 3 7th. You can't see the green at all (let a along the pin) and must just aim for a rock as the center of the green and trust your yardage. Even with a caddy, it's pretty difficult to give yourself a birdie opportunity with much more than luck.

Wow, that course is ridiculous.

Even though the scorecard shows 5 tees, the hole by hole has the 6th championship tees on it. The championship tees play to 8266 yards. Using the USGA adjustments for unrated tees, this gives a rating of 79.7 and a slope of 146. A scratch golfer could be expected to break 80 only about 1 in 4 rounds. The average PGA tour pro would probably be around 15-20 over par for 4 rounds. And they say they are trying to make it more difficult? If this course gets more difficult, you could see a US Open with the winning score worse than +10.

All the par 5s are over 650 yds from the championship tees. No pro is getting on in 2.
6 of the par 4s are over 500 yds. 2 of them are 535. The average length pro can barely get on a 535 yd hole in 2 IF they have a great tee shot.

I think for the most part, a hole over 250 should be a par 4, a hole over 470 should be a par 5, and a hole over 660 should be a par 6 for a scratch golfer. Using these #s, Erin Hills should be a par 81 from the championship tees. I'm sure in a full field event, several PGA tour pros would fail to average an 80 over 4 rounds from the 8266 yd championship tees.

And for me, about a 24 HC, 38 over 110 would be playing to my HC from the championship tees. Double Bogey would be a good score on any hole.