Olympic Club - Lake Course

Established in 1860, the Olympic Club is America's oldest athletic club. The club boasts three golf courses that sprawl across the rolling hills between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean. The Lake Course opened in 1927 and stayed true to its design until a renovation headed by Robert Trent Jones in 1955, prior to the course's hosting of the U.S. Open. Rather than altering the layout completely, Jones simply tweaked a few elements to make the course more challenging for competition. Despite the name, water doesn't actually come into play on this course but with narrow fairways and dramatic elevation changes it is easy to forget about the lack of water. The rolling terrain guarantees that golfers will encounter tricky, uneven lies. The expansive rough areas that are strategically placed along the fairways are also waiting to swallow up errant shots.