The USGA keeps returning to Winged Foot Golf Club for many reasons, not the least of which is its two A.W. Tillinghast courses. The East and West courses at this Mamaroneck, N.Y., landmark offer some of the sternest tests in the game. The West Course will once again take center stage in 2020 when Winged Foot hosts its sixth U.S. Open. The East Course has hosted two U.S. Women’s Opens, a U.S. Senior Open and the match-play rounds of the 2nd U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Few can argue the challenge Winged Foot presents for the game’s best players. When the U.S. Open was contested there in 1974, conditions were so difficult that noted sportswriter Dick Schaap wrote a book titled “Massacre at Winged Foot.” Hale Irwin won that Open with a 7-over-par total of 287. Thirty-two years later, Geoff Ogilvy claimed the championship with a 72-hole total of 5-over 285.

Torrey Pines Golf Course, one of the country’s premier municipally owned facilities, will look to replicate the drama and excitement it produced in 2008 when Tiger Woods – hobbled by a torn ACL for which he would undergo surgery shortly after the championship – defeated Rocco Mediate in a memorable 19-hole playoff for his third U.S. Open triumph and 14th major championship. It was another successful chapter for the Southern California native at Torrey Pines, where he has won seven Farmers Insurance Opens and one Junior World title on the William F. Bell layout. The North and South courses annually host the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open and the IMG Academy Junior World Championships. The South Course was also the site of Trevor Immelman’s 1998 U.S. Amateur Public Links victory. The future Masters champion defeated another future major winner, Jason Dufner, in the 36-hole final.  

Will a 20-year-old amateur rise up and shock the golf establishment when the U.S. Open returns to The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., for a fourth time? One of the game’s most important moments took place at The Country Club in 1913 when Francis Ouimet, a 20-year-old amateur and former club caddie, defeated British professional stalwarts Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in an 18-hole playoff. Ouimet became the first of five amateurs to hoist the trophy and his triumph stands as one of the greatest upsets in sports history. The 122nd edition of the U.S. Open will be the 17th USGA championship conducted at one of the USGA’s five founding clubs. Interestingly, all three previous U.S. Opens staged there have ended in playoffs. Julius Boros prevailed over Arnold Palmer and Jackie Cupit in 1963, and Curtis Strange outdueled Nick Faldo in 1988.  

When the USGA brought the 2017 Walker Cup Match to The Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, many in the outside world finally got a glimpse of this George C. Thomas gem. The biennial competition, which the USA won, 19-7, also served as a prelude to the club hosting its first U.S. Open. For many years, L.A.C.C.’s 36-hole facility (which includes the South Course) was a virtual unknown to anyone outside its small circle of members and guests fortunate enough to play there. The club, which resides on some of the country’s prime real estate, hosted the 1930 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1954 U.S. Junior Amateur, but did not host many major outside competitions. The membership decided it was the right time to showcase this magnificent facility to the world after the North Course underwent an extensive renovation by Gil Hanse in 2010. It reached out to the USGA expressing interest in hosting the 2017 Walker Cup, which led to the club landing the 2023 U.S. Open.

Pinehurst Resort & Country Club is set to add another illustrious chapter to its championship history by hosting its fourth U.S. Open and 11th USGA championship. Founded by Boston soda fountain magnate James Walker Tufts in 1895, Pinehurst quickly evolved into one of the premier resort destinations in the country. Legendary architect Donald Ross created Course No. 2 in 1907 and constantly tinkered with the design until his death in 1948. The USGA began its long association with the resort in 1962 with the U.S. Amateur, and 37 years later a memorable U.S. Open was contested, with Payne Stewart holing an 18-foot par putt on the 72nd hole to edge Phil Mickelson by a stroke. In 2014, Pinehurst and the USGA made more history by staging the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open in consecutive weeks on Course No. 2. In 2019, the U.S. Amateur returns to the resort for a third time. 

What better way to celebrate the 125th playing of the U.S. Open than by staging it at the venue that has hosted the most Opens? Oakmont will host the championship for a record 10th time in 2025, three times more than any other club. It will also be the club's 17th USGA championship, which ranks one behind fellow Pennsylvania venue Merion Golf Club for the most all time. Henry Clay (H.C.) Fownes designed Oakmont to challenge the best golfers in the world and that philosophy hasn’t changed since Oakmont member S. Davidson Herron defeated Bob Jones in the championship match of the 1919 U.S. Amateur. Oakmont continues to be one of the most challenging championship layouts, most recently on display in Dustin Johnson’s 2016 U.S. Open victory.

The USGA appreciates the championship test provided by Shinnecock Hills so much that it awarded the Southampton, N.Y., venue the 2026 U.S. Open before it hosted the 2018 Open. The 2018 champion, barring some unforeseen circumstance, will have the opportunity to win again at Shinnecock Hills, as winners receive a 10-year exemption from qualifying. The historic, links-style course that overlooks Great Peconic Bay is one of the country’s iconic venues. Shinnecock Hills hosted the 1896 U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur, as well as the 1900 U.S. Women’s Amateur before being redesigned by William Flynn in 1937. In 2013, the noted design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw enhanced the course for the 118th U.S. Open.

Few places on the planet can match the beauty of this picturesque Monterey Peninsula venue. Some have called Pebble Beach one of the greatest meetings of land and sea, which is one factor in the USGA’s longtime affinity for hosting championships on the course. Pebble Beach, which is the annual site of the PGA Tour’s AT&T National Pro-Am, has provided some of the game’s legendary moments, from Jack Nicklaus hitting the flagstick with his tee shot on the 71st hole of the 1972 U.S. Open, to Tom Watson’s chip-in from greenside rough on the 71st hole of the 1982 U.S. Open, to Tiger Woods’ record-setting 15-stroke victory in the 2000 U.S. Open. In 2017, the USGA announced that the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open will be contested there, the first Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.