“We’re members of Oakmont, but we don’t belong.”
So goes a running joke among a small group of good-natured guys who have long had lockers at Oakmont Country Club, host of the 2025 U.S. Open.
True to the steel-mill spirit of the Pittsburgh area, these are men of humble backgrounds who went on to substantial career success but retain a working-class air about them. They still pinch themselves at times in cheery disbelief that the powers-that-be at Oakmont allowed them in the club. Their cheeky line about not really belonging is another way of saying “We’re blue-collar, not blue-blood.”
Kidding aside, though, Oakmont is not a starchy place. History runs deep across its grounds and spills from every corner of the clubhouse. Yet compared to what pervades at many century-plus-old private clubs of lofty pedigree, the atmosphere at Oakmont is relaxed. It doesn’t leave you feeling like you’re tiptoeing on eggshells.
Take your hat off, tuck your shirt in and abide by basic etiquette, and you’re bound to be greeted and treated warmly.
Just don’t expect to be asked to join.
For that, you have to know the right people, or enjoy a certain status in golf circles. And if you get invited, you’ll need some extra scratch.
How much, exactly? Funny you should ask.
Over the past few days, GOLF.com has put out enough discrete inquiries about membership costs at Oakmont to arrive at reliable numbers. They read as follows.
Initiation dues at Oakmont are in the neighborhood of $150,000, with monthly fees of around $1,250 and a food-and-beverage minimum of $2,000 a year.
That’s for a basic membership. But at Oakmont, there are other levels of belonging. Of the club’s 835 (give or take) members, 400 are regular members. There’s also a national membership, which fetches $25,000 in initiation dues, and is capped at 75; spousal members, who pay the same initiation as national members; junior members, who are required to start making good on their initiation dues when they turn 25; and social members, who have limited golf privileges.
And that’s not all.
Each winner of the nine previous U.S. Opens held at Oakmont — Tommy Armour, Sam Parks Jr., Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Larry Nelson, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera and Dustin Johnson — has been awarded an honorary membership. Come Sunday evening, or Monday afternoon, if there’s a playoff, another golfer will be added to their ranks. That newly minted champion will join the club, and he’ll belong.
