Some of the crew at The Olympic Club, including GCSAA Class A director of golf maintenance Troy Flanagan (second from right) Photos by Jeff Jensen
The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. hosted the 125th USGA United States Amateur August 11-17. The club’s Lake and Ocean courses offered 36 holes of stroke play qualifying, with the low 64 players advancing to the match play portion of the championship on the Lake Course. It marked the 12th USGA championship in Olympic’s storied history.
“The U.S. Amateur is the longest running USGA Championship, so the opportunity to host really means something,” says Troy Flanagan, GCSAA Class A director of golf maintenance at the Olympic Club. “While it’s a daunting task to produce championship conditions on two courses, it’s something that I and the staff take a lot of pride in.”
Flanagan’s crew of 49, joined by more than 30 volunteers and USGA West Region Director Brian Whitlark, battled San Francisco’s famously fickle weather to provide a course worthy of the moment. Greens reached speeds of 13.5, with fairways cut at .375 and the rough reaching five inches during the week of the championship.
“The biggest challenge at Olympic is the weather,” says Whitlark, who served as the championship’s agronomist. “The fog can make maintenance difficult morning and evening, but we were fortunate to get all play in on time. The course played firm and fast.”
The team works on the course ahead of the 125th U.S. Amateur.
The Lake Course, which previously hosted five U.S. Men’s Opens (1955, 1966, 1987, 1998, 2012) and a U.S. Women’s Open (2021), recently completed a renovation. Led by golf course architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, the renovation included a greens expansion, widening of fairways, widening of approaches, the addition of numerous fairway bunkers, greenside bunker softening, and a reimagined seventh hole, which features a new green location for greater strategy.
“Gil and Jim preserved the classic character while elevating it for both members and, as we saw this week, some of the best golfers in the world,” Flanagan says.
The Amateur also marked the first in a series of marquee events for Olympic: the PGA Championship in 2028, the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2030 and the Ryder Cup in 2033.
“Hosting the U.S. Amateur will really assist us with these upcoming events,” Flanagan says. “We pushed the course this week and it hung in there really well. The new Pure Distinction putting surfaces allowed us to hit and maintain our desired speeds and that was one of the biggest takeaways of the week.”
As Mason Howell closed out the final match on Sunday, the 125th U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club was more than just another championship in the club’s storied history. It was a testament to preparation, teamwork, and an unwavering standard of excellence. Under Flanagan’s leadership, the staff and volunteers delivered a stage worthy of the game’s greatest amateurs. With even larger events on the horizon, the week served not only as a showcase of world-class golf, but as a preview of what’s to come when the eyes of the golf world return to San Francisco in 2028.
Jeff Jensen is GCSAA’s field staff representative for the southwest region.
