Oakland Hills Print

Linda Hartough painted the 16th on the South Course at Oakland Hills, the par 4 bending around a pond to a green just beyond the water, for the 1996 U.S. Open.

Before the 1951 U.S. Open, Robert Trent Jones remodeled the South, narrowing the fairways and adding bunkers at the distance where players' drives landed. The result was so severe that only two scores under par were recorded all week. Ben Hogan won with a final-round 67 and said afterward that he was glad to have brought "this monster" to its knees; the South has been called the Monster ever since. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner restored much of Ross's original character in a renovation completed in 2021.

The 16th is its most famous hole, a par 4 that bends right around a pond, with the green set just beyond the water. At the 1972 PGA Championship, Gary Player hit his approach over a willow tree and the pond to within a few feet of the hole and went on to win.