Ex-major champion offers harsh criticism of U.S. Open venue

Calcavecchia then gave some specific reasons why he does not like Pinehurst No. 2.

“Greens. No OB. No water and almost impossible to hit a tree. And pot luck if u miss fairways,” Calcavecchia wrote to one follower.

The turtleback greens at Pinehurst No. 2 punish a lot of good shots, as holding them is almost impossible at times. That is especially true during the US Open, where the greens are intentionally sped up. We saw how fast and undulated the greens are with the insane bunker shot Collin Morikawa hit during the first round on Thursday.

As Calcavecchia mentioned, players also have to rely on a lot of luck when they miss the fairway. While other courses have differing lengths of rough off the fairway, Pinehurst has native areas with sand and tufts of grass. Sometimes the ball ends up fine, but other times, it settles in or against a thick tuft of grass and sets up an incredibly challenging shot.

The US Open is the toughest test in golf, so there are numerous complaints about it every year. One player in the field had a great quote about the challenges after the first round. Calcavecchia obviously prefers when the tournament is held somewhere other than Pinehurst No. 2.