How are pin placements decided for U.S. Open? It's science

Golfers Gary Woodland, Corey Connors and Adam Scott check the slope of the 14th green and their putting lines.

Staff Writer

Published June 15, 2023 Updated June 16, 2023 10:52 AM PT

Location, location, location.

There’s both an art and science to picking ideal hole locations for the four days of the U.S. Open, and those discussions begin years before the event.

“It’s a 72-hole puzzle,” said Scott Langley, a former PGA Tour pro who is now senior director of player relations for the United States Golf Assn.

Langley is part of the setup team that decides on the precise Los Angeles Country Club hole locations each day, then at daybreak moves from hole to hole, setting those pins. The team needs to move quickly because the first wave of players is right on its heels.

The USGA allowed a Los Angeles Times reporter to tag along Thursday morning for the setup of a hole for the opening round.

New holes are cut on the greens each day, with the caddies getting pin sheets the night before so they can prepare their players. It’s a secretive and nuanced process that includes tiny adjustments depending on the weather. After all, millions of dollars can ride on the half-rotation of a golf ball.

“We have a plan that was pretty well set in March,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA chief championships officer, who hops in a golf cart at 5:45 a.m., oversees the daily process and brings a putter with him to test the locations. “We refined it again a couple times in May. Then we got here last week and really fine-tuned it and finalized the four that we wanted to use.

“It’s just a constant process based on the weather and really what the wind is going to do.”

The process is in no way haphazard. “We’re not throwing darts out there,” said Shannon Rouillard, senior director of championships.

The setup team might not be throwing darts, but sometimes the players are. Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele each shot 62 in the opening round, one stroke shy of the North Course record. Hours earlier, during setup under misty gray skies, Bodenhamer expressed concerns that low scores could be on the way.

Jason Day hits out of a green-side bunker on the 8th hole during the first round of the U.S. Open.

“It really does come down to how firm this golf course is,” Bodenhamer said early Thursday morning. “We’re probably not going to get it as firm as we want today. That to me is the whole key to this place, having it be bouncy. Maybe it will be as we get into Friday or the weekend.

“People will assume when we set the golf course, that as the day goes on the greens will get faster as they dry out. They don’t, they get slower, because the grass grows.”

Of Thursday’s June gloom, he said: “Hate it. This kills us. It slows us down a lot on the putting greens. Just the mistiness makes it slow, like a dew on the putting greens.”

Bodenhamer said it’s also a common misconception that the USGA — by lengthening holes, growing the deep rough and picking the trickiest hole locations — is attempting to make a course as difficult as it can be.

“It really isn’t,” he said. “If we wanted to, we could set the golf course up where 20 over would win. We could make it really stupid hard. We don’t do that. We want it to be tough but fair.

“We want the guys to hit every club that’s in their bag, including the one between their ears. Make them think. Give them choices and angles and different looks.”

That said, the USGA wants to make this the consummate test. It isn’t going to take it easy on players.

“The thing about about these pin positions is that it is the way for the USGA to get in the heads of the players, and the players hate having the USGA in their head,” said Michael Bamberger, longtime golf writer. “It’s the emotional fight between the player and the USGA. They kind of respect the USGA, and they kind of resent the USGA because, `They’re trying to get in my head.’ ”

The U.S. Open setup team also includes Jeff Hall, managing director of rules and the U.S. Open, and Darin Bevard, senior director of championship agronomy. The process involves strings and tape measures to pinpoint the exact locations, leveling tools and the like. Two LACC greenskeepers cut the actual hole, spray-painting it white inside to make it more visible for players and TV, and setting the pins.

Just as Sunday pin placements tend to be more difficult, heightening the drama down the stretch, there are reasons to put holes in certain locations in the opening round.

For instance, players exit the third green on the left side to walk up to the fourth tee box. That side of the green gets a lot of foot traffic. So it makes sense that the Thursday hole was on the middle left, because that spot was at its freshest. The setup team wouldn’t want to put a hole in that trampled area later in the tournament.

The USGA wants to see players use different clubs on the same holes from one day to the next, so no one gets too comfortable. At some point this weekend, the plan is to configure the par-three 15th so it’s a 78-yard hole, which would be the shortest in U.S. Open history.

“We have to get the right weather and the right wind,” Bodenhamer said. “Can’t have too much wind from the southwest or it doesn’t work. The green’s just too narrow in the front.”

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Wyndham Clark holds the U.S. Open championship trophy after winning at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark celebrates immediately after winning the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Rory McIlroy hits from the 10th tee during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Rory McIlroy gets a ruling from a golf official after lodging a ball into the side of a greenside bunker on the 14th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rory McIlroy looks at his golf ball on the 12th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler hits from the 13th-hole fairway during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark chips out of the rough and on to the sixth green during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler looks at his golf ball while on the 12th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler reacts after hitting seventh-hole tee shot during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rory McIlroy hits out of the rough on the 14th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark hits from the second tee during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark celebrates with his caddie after winning the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark, right, celebrates with his caddie after winning the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark covers his face with his hat immediately after winning the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 18. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Fans cheer after Xander Schauffele sinks a 35-foot put on the second hole during the third round of the U.S. Open on June 17. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler hits from the 10th hole tee during the third round of the U.S. Open on June 17. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark reacts while putting on the 10th hole during the third round of the U.S. Open on June 17. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Rory McIlroy hits from the third tee during the third round of the U.S. Open on June 17. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark hits from the eighth tee during the third round of the U.S. Open on June 17. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Harris English watches his shot from the 15th tee during the third round of the U.S. Open on June 17. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Jason Day chips out of a greenside bunker on the 14th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler hits from the eighth tee during the third round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on June 17. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler hits from the 11th tee during the second round of the U.S. Open on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark hits from the seventh tee during the second round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Austin Eckroat, left, and Wyndham Clark walk though the rough on the fourth hole during the second round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Jon Rahm hits out of the rough on the 15th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Wyndham Clark chips onto the second green during the second round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Joaquin Niemann hits out of the rough near the sixth green during the second round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler walks to the 18th green during the second round of the U.S. Open on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Alex Noren hits out of a greenside bunker on sixth hole during the second round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 16. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Tony Finau hits out of a greenside bunker on the 16th hole during the first round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler consults with his caddie before hitting out of the sandy rough on the ninth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rory McIlroy hits from the 16th tee during the first round of the U.S. Open on Thursday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Despite the gloomy weather, spectators walk along the North Course at the Los Angeles Country Club during the first round of the U.S. Open on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Jason Day hits out of a greenside bunker on the eighth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler walks on a bridge to the ninth green during the first round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 15. Fowler shared the lead with Xander Schauffele after the first round following a stellar eight-under-par 62. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler hits out of the rough on the ninth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Golfers Gary Woodland, Corey Connors and Adam Scott check the slope of the green and their putting lines on the 14th hole during the first round of the U.S. Open on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rickie Fowler, third from left, walks with Jason Day to the seventh green during the first round of the U.S. Open on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Brooks Koepka, left, and Rory McIlroy walk up to the ninth green during the first round of the U.S. Open. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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An excited golf fan tries to get an autograph from Xander Schauffele as he walks to the 17th tee box during a practice round at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 14. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Golfers line up their putts on the 11th hole during the first round of the U.S. Open on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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June gloom shrouds the downtown L.A. skyline as the first round of the U.S. Open gets underway at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Rory McIlroy hits from the 16th tee during the first round of the U.S. Open on Thursday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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With the downtown L.A. skyline in the background, Rory McIlroy walks along the 14th fairway during the first round of the U.S. Open on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Spectators walk the course near a grandstand during the first round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 15. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Golf fans watch Rory McIlroy putt on the second hole during a practice round for the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 14. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Golf fans cross a bridge over Wilshire Boulevard to exit the course after attending a practice round for the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on June 14. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

What’s more, a lot of planning and coordination goes into a hole location in relation to the next tee box. For reasons of player safety and potential for distraction, it makes no sense to put those too close to each other. So putting a hole in a certain location might require moving the next tee box. It’s all connected.

“It’s really fascinating process,” Langley said, “that takes quite a bit of thought to put together over 72 holes to end up presenting what is a balanced test, one that maintains architectural intent and also kind of makes sense when you play it.”

Sometimes, history is a factor when it comes to hole locations. In 1982, eventual champion Tom Watson famously chipped in for birdie on No. 17 at Pebble Beach to take the lead over Jack Nicklaus in the final round of the U.S. Open. So in subsequent Opens, the USGA put the Sunday hole in the same spot.

Same goes for the winning putt by the late Payne Stewart at Pinehurst in 1999. His celebration was memorialized with a statue, with his leg in the air and fist thrust in the sky. That hole location became a Sunday staple.

But LACC is playing host to the Open for the first time.

“We don’t have that history here,” Bodenhamer said. “We’ll pick a hole location and maybe make a little history on Sunday.”