Why U.S. Open Host Sites Are on a 25-Year Plan

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The winner of the 2051 U.S. Open may very well not even be born yet.

But as the 126th U.S. Open plays out at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, the USGA already has 22 future host sites mapped out over the next quarter century—all the way through 2051 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan.

John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championships officer, knows that sounds absurd to most people—but says it’s for good reason.

“Previously, we used to think two or three years out for a U.S. Open, a U.S Women’s Open—any of our championships—and now we’re thinking 10, 15, 20 years out,” Bodenhamer told Front Office Sports this past week.

In February, the USGA announced Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, would host the U.S. Open in 2045—actually a shorter lead time than several other future hosts. That’s a much different approach than taken by the two other major championships that rotate venues annually. 

The PGA Championship is scheduled out through 2035. The Open Championship, organized by the R&A, only has host venues booked out through 2028. 

Although the Open Championship does have just a small list of 10 venues in its current rota—and has only been hosted at 14 different courses since its first edition in 1860.

Thinking ‘Far Out’

The U.S. Open has been played at 52 different venues since 1895, and in recent years has started leaning into official “anchor sites” and other familiar venues like Shinnecock Hills, which is already on the docket to host the 2036 men’s and women’s U.S. Opens in back-to-back weeks. 

“We think about it in different ways with different championships,” Bodenhamer said. “But I think we have to think that far out to be able to make meaningful change or require some things or have the club plan accordingly.”

Anchor sites Oakmont Country Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links, and Pinehurst No. 2 are set to host a combined 20 men’s and women’s U.S. Opens over the next two-and-a-half decades. Several other courses will host multiple men’s and women’s Opens as well as other USGA championships.

“Every Club wants a different cadence,” Bodenhamer said. “The Country Club [in Brookline, Mass.] might want it every 15 years—where Pebble, we basically have an open at Pebble every three years between the women and men.”

Special anniversaries often help decide where a specific edition of a U.S. Open is held.

Merion Golf Club just outside Philadelphia will host the 2030 U.S. Open, marking 100 years since Bob Jones completed the career grand slam with his victory in the 1930 U.S. Amateur at Merion. In 2050 at Merion, it will be the 100th anniversary of Ben Hogan’s victory just 18 months from a near-fatal automobile accident.

A Nod to Hogan’s Epic Win

As for that 2051 edition? That will be exactly a century since Hogan’s win at Oakland Hills, after which the legendary golfer delivered his famous quote, “I’m glad I brought this course—this monster—to its knees.”

But that doesn’t mean confirming dates years—and decades—in advance is always that simple.

“It’s not easy,” Bodenhamer said. “We do look at the challenges—it’s important for us to look at. We can’t always make it happen.”

Private clubs have members to keep happy, and hosting a major championship means shutting down open play for several months, often in prime playing months.

There’s also the opinions of the competitors. “A lot of it is fueled by just where the players tell us they want to win,” Bodenhamer said. “That’s a big part of it.”

The USGA’s anchor site strategy allowed the organization to build a second headquarters in North Carolina—dubbed Golf House Pinehurst—and also move the World Golf Hall of Fame to the property in 2024 after leaving its longtime home in St. Augustine, Fla. 

“We can do things within the community, with the partners that we have at our anchor sites because of our willingness to invest and go there more frequently,” Bodenhamer said. “They know we’re coming back, they’ll do the same thing and invest in the game with us.”

Dates to Fill Still

The next years without U.S. Open host sites announced are 2043, 2046, and 2048. The next available U.S. Women’s Open date is 2039. 

“We want to leave some wiggle room for those in the future,” Bodenhamer said. “We want to be responsible there.”

And how far—if at all—is too far out to schedule a U.S. Open? “I think our strategy is a 25-year one,” Bodenhamer said.

Before you know it, 2052 will be on the clock.