No water, no problem: Why U.S. Senior Open site is agronomic anomaly
The spotlight is on Minnesota’s mighty Mississippi River at this week’s U.S. Senior Open at the 400-acre Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which will host a USGA championship for the first time since 2009 when Lucas Glover won the U.S. Open there.
Saucon Valley is one of the few courses in the country built on a flood plain. The issues that usually come with building a course so close to water have been almost entirely mitigated by an elaborate drainage system that diverts water away from the course.
“The original design was intentional to keep the water off the course,” said John Zimmers, chairman of the USGA championship committee. “There’s a 25-foot drop-off right over there and there’s a series of pumps and ponds and basins that keep the water from coming onto the course.”