Location: Bethesda, Maryland, USA | Ranking: #64 — The Global Golfer Top 100
Type: Parkland | Designer: Devereux Emmet (1924), renovated Robert Trent Jones Sr. (1964)
Editor’s Note: Congressional Blue Course has hosted four US Opens and is consistently rated among America’s ten finest parkland layouts. The combination of mature woodland, demanding water features and the famous 10th hole — a long par 4 over a creek to a well-guarded green — creates a test of precision that the world’s best players have found demanding at every US Open. Rory McIlroy’s record-breaking 2011 US Open win here at 16-under is the course’s most celebrated modern moment.
Contact & Access
- Access: Members and guests only | Rating / Slope: 77.0 / 147 | Airport: Washington Dulles (IAD) — 30 mins; Reagan National (DCA) — 20 mins.
Championship Scorecard
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | OUT |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 36 |
| Yards | 455 | 595 | 207 | 461 | 435 | 455 | 223 | 582 | 443 | 3,856 |
| Hole | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | IN | TOTAL |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Yards | 483 | 437 | 180 | 578 | 459 | 448 | 204 | 613 | 496 | 3,898 | 7,569 |
Par 4Par 3Par 5
Key Notes & 19th Hole
- Rory’s Record 2011: McIlroy set the US Open scoring record here — 268 (16-under) — a performance of such precision and power that it effectively announced him as the best player in the world. He birdied the final hole from a bunker.
- Washington DC: The Smithsonian Museums (all free), the Mall monuments, Georgetown waterfront dining and the Library of Congress — all within 20 minutes. DC hotels via Expedia →