Opinions on Erin Hills, which didn't open for public play until 2006, will flow from players after practice rounds early next week.
Some, though, already have made up their minds.
NBC analyst and 1973 U.S. Open champion Johnny Miller toured the course last fall on foot. His take?
"I don't think you'll see (a U.S. Open at) Erin Hills again," he said in November at the Western Golf Association's Green Coat Gala in Chicago. "It was really windy when I was there. It's tough, really long. It's a nice course but really hard."
Defenders of Erin Hills _ ranked 44th on Golf Digest's list of greatest American courses _ will view Miller's previously unpublished comments in this context: Miller lost the chance to call the U.S. Open when Fox Sports outbid NBC on a 12-year deal, beginning with the 2015 event at Chambers Bay, a major-championship newbie like Erin Hills.
"Fox had to cover Chambers Bay, but nobody knew one hole," Miller said. "It's so hard compared to Augusta National, where you know every lie and hole and break. The viewer really gets more enjoyment out of it. There's a history there.
"It's better to stay with historical courses. Medinah fits that mold. Olympia Fields, where Jim Furyk (tied) the scoring record (in 2003), that was not a quote-unquote great Open course. But it was all right."
Vince India, the 2011 Big Ten Player of the Year at Iowa and a Web.com Tour player, competed in the 2011 U.S. Amateur in Wisconsin. He shot a 75 at Blue Mound near Milwaukee and an 81 at Erin Hills.
"That was a few years after it opened, and it was kind of juvenile," India said. "I'm sure they have done a few renovations because they needed to kind of tidy up the golf course. It was a bit of a circus out there."
India pointed to the eighth hole, where a draw is essential to hold the fairway, which slopes left to right.
"It was almost impossible to hit," India said. "You had to hit it in the left rough, and there was fescue just left of that. It was goofy, like a carnival on some holes."
