Oakmont Country Club’s SWAT room
Keith E. Morrison
Oakmont Country Club is dripping with golf history. Tucked in every nook and cranny of the U.S. Open anchor site, and host of the 2025 edition, is a relic, memory or callback to a memorable moment in the sport’s lore.
But Oakmont’s history goes well beyond Johnny Miller’s famous 63 and the “Changing of the Guard” duel between Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
Oakmont Country Club is also home to the coolest money game in golf, known as the SWAT.
“The member’s game is known as the SWAT,” club historian and archivist David Moore said. “It dates back to W.C. Fownes and the founding of the club. It is played weekly and on every holiday.”
The SWAT is played every Wednesday, Friday, weekends and holidays. Oakmont Country Club has a detailed record of every SWAT game dating back to 1955. Those records are handwritten after each match and stored in the men’s SWAT Room. Each year has its own SWAT book, which is stored in a case in the SWAT room. The members arrive and are given their teams, they go out and play and then return to the SWAT room to commiserate and record the day’s game.
So, what’s in these meticulously kept records?
- How much money was exchanged
- How many points were earned
- The teams
Guests are also allowed to play in the SWAT. Several pros have played in the SWAT the week before the U.S. Open, including Arnold Palmer and Julius Boros, who played in a 1973 SWAT the week before they were the 54-hole co-leaders at the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont.
But what is a SWAT? The game is usually a $10 Nassau, with payouts for the front nine, back nine and total. Players go out in teams of four with A, B, C and D players. The A player is the best player and the D player is the worst. Players’ results are recorded, and the groups are rearranged based on their performance to keep the game fair and balanced.
To learn more about Oakmont’s SWAT room, check out the video below starting at the 11:07 mark.
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