Chicanery at Oakmont

In motor racing, a "chicane" is a short sequence of sharp turns in a racetrack. Take, for example, the "Variante Alta" at the Imola Circuit, which consists of a right turn followed by a 90-degree left turn.

Chicanes serve a number of purposes in racing: they enhance safety by forcing cars to slow down; they test drivers' skills in braking, steering, and positioning; they create opportunities for overtaking; and they add variety to the design of the track.

In the 1920s and 30s, Oakmont Country Club had its own chicane. On the par-4 seventh hole, the fairway jogged left in the landing zone for tee shots before straightening back out. This chicane posed a strategic question: play safely short of the bunkers on the right, where a long, blind second shot waited; or go left and try to bypass both turns? The latter play offered a stack of potential advantages: a shorter approach, an unobstructed view, and better access to the open front on the left side of the green. But it came with risks. The left fairway was narrow, and finding any of the bunkers guarding the exit from the chicane nearly guaranteed bogey or worse.

This feature disappeared in the decades after World War II. The fairway became narrower and straighter, and the design of the hole more one-dimensional. The only valid option now was to play down the middle.

In his 2023 renovation of Oakmont, Gil Hanse brought back the chicane.

The results on the seventh hole so far this week have been catnip for scatter-plot nerds like me.

The most important thing to notice is the variety of tactics players have used. Plenty have taken the safe route; plenty of others have gone for the shortcut. There's no obvious answer to the question that the chicane asks.

Through three rounds at the U.S. Open, players who have found the well-protected left fairway have gone on to hit the green more often than those who have settled for the right fairway. Aggression without control has led to pain, however. Players who have wound up in fairway bunkers — a likelier outcome, presumably, for those attempting to cheat the chicane — have recorded a green in regulation only 10% of the time.

In other words, the restored seventh hole at Oakmont is a rarity in professional golf: a risk-reward par 4 that actually generates both risk and reward.

So perhaps chicanes should be slightly less unusual in golf, at least on tournament courses. Similar to their counterparts at Formula 1 circuits, they provide variety and strategic challenge, and they force speed demons to consider taking their foot off the gas.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

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