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Gorgeous Designs You've Gotta See: Erin Hills

Erin Hills will be the site of the 2017 U.S. Open, the first time a course in Wisconsin has held that honor.

Released on 9/12/2016

Transcript

00:00
(contemplative music)
00:05
[Announcer] The 18 holes at Erin Hills
00:07
in Erin, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee,
00:09
were actually created in the Ice Age,
00:12
it just took 10,000 years for them to be unearthed.
00:16
This unique plot of land was discovered by the design team
00:19
of Dr. Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry,
00:22
and Golf Digest Architecture Editor, Ron Whitten,
00:24
back in the early 2000s.
00:27
Once the design trio began their work
00:29
of turning the former cornfield into a golf course,
00:32
they took great pains
00:33
to mow out natural fairways and greens
00:36
from the existing topography.
00:37
Except for when they were digging bunkers,
00:39
they only moved earth on a total of four holes.
00:43
That's how naturally shaped this course is.
00:46
The designers worked hard to make each hole look unique.
00:50
When Erin Hills opened in 2006,
00:52
it was widely acclaimed right away.
00:55
With its rumpled blanket landscape,
00:57
roller coaster fairways of dry fescue,
01:00
flawless greens of bent grass,
01:03
and tall native roughs that swayed
01:05
in the ever present breeze,
01:07
Erin Hills was immediately pronounced
01:09
one of the most natural courses in America.
01:12
The United States Golf Association took note
01:14
even before it opened.
01:16
The USGA held
01:17
the 2008 Women's Public Links Championship here,
01:20
and then in 2011,
01:22
Kelly Kraft won the US Amateur Championship at Erin Hills.
01:26
The USGA liked the layout so much,
01:29
Erin Hills is where the greatest players in the world
01:32
will play the 2017 US Open next June.
01:36
It will be the first time Wisconsin has hosted a US Open,
01:40
and only the sixth time a public golf course
01:43
has been given the honor.
01:45
More bunkers have been added in preparation
01:47
for the toughest test in golf,
01:49
and a few greens have been relocated and others rebuilt,
01:52
but the theme of the original design remains unchanged.
01:57
Erin Hills is golf dictated by Mother Nature,
02:00
rustic and rumbling, quirky in spots,
02:04
with holes that look a lot harder than they actually play.
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