August 2017Golf World 65says Hurdzan. “We found dozens of possible holes, and
at least 15 very good routings. We worked from the
middle of the property and just kept moving out.”
During the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock Hills,
Lang met with the USGA’s Mike Davis, now the
organisation’s Executive Director. The pair met again
later that year when Davis drove out to see the property
that had Lang so excited, and which Whitten had
actually told Davis about a few years before.
“They had mowed out the holes and flagged teeing
areas and greens,” Davis remembers. “It was truly
spectacular. The land immediately outside Milwaukee
is flat farmland, but as you approach Erin you notice
increasing movement in the ground, and the soil
changes from heavy clay to gritty sand. I left telling Bob
to keep me apprised of what he decided.”
Astonishingly, until Davis visited and showed genuine
interest, Lang had not been 100% certain he was going
ahead with the course. “I didn’t know until several years
later that Bob hadn’t fully committed to building it,”
says Davis. “I think my visit encouraged him to finally
pull the trigger.” Whitten agrees. “I’d told Bob Erin
Hills had the potential to host a US Open one day,” he
says. “But he wasn’t really convinced until Mike visited.”
The day after Davis finally set foot on Erin Hills,
Lang asked the bank for the first part of the $3m it
would cost to build the course. Construction began in
2005 and the course was open in August 2006 – the
$150 green fee three times more than what had
originally been decided. But business was good, and
likely to improve. Erin Hills had already been awarded
a USGA championship – the 2008 Women’s Amateur
Public Links Championship, whose previous winners
included Michelle Wie and Yani Tseng. Though it
rained for most of the week, the WAPL was a success
and the USGA was pleased with how the course held
up. Davis did, however, suggest a few minor alterations.
Not surprisingly, given how stimulated he had
become by the prospect of hosting national
championships, Lang was eager to make the changes...
and more. To put it mildly, over the next few months,
he went berserk, adding dozens of bunkers (rumour has
it over 100), and making many large-scale alterations.
“I think Bob misinterpreted what Mike said,” says
Whitten. “He went a little overboard. Bob wanted to
build a new 3rd green because it wasn’t draining right.
I said we could either solve the drainage problem for
$500, or build the new green for $50,000. Of course,The undulating
green and
rolling fairway
of Erin’s
476-yard par-4
3rd hole.US OPEN