Congressional Blue Course

The verdict

Congressional's Blue Course is one of the most decorated championship venues in America, and after Andrew Green's restoration it is finally a course whose architecture matches its tournament record. The layout began as a Devereux Emmet design in 1924, was lengthened and toughened by Robert Trent Jones in the late 1950s, and was tuned by Rees Jones for the US Opens of 1997 and 2011. Critics had long praised its difficulty while questioning its charm. Green's 2019 to 2021 project changed that, restoring width, rebuilding far more interesting greens and reintroducing bold, rugged bunkering, so the Blue now defends par with strategy as well as length.

For the travelling golfer, Congressional matters as a chance to walk genuine US Open ground just outside the nation's capital. This is championship parkland at full scale: long, leafy and demanding, with a famous downhill finish toward the lake that has produced some of the game's defining moments. Ken Venturi's heat stricken march in 1964, Ernie Els in 1997 and Rory McIlroy's record breaking runaway in 2011 all happened here, and the club added the 2024 US Women's Open to its honors. Access is the catch, as this is a private members club, but for a golfer who values major championship history it ranks among the great clubs of the Mid Atlantic.

The holes worth the trip

The finish is what makes Congressional famous, and it now plays with more drama than ever. The closing holes run downhill toward the lake that sits below the grand clubhouse, where for the 2011 US Open the par 3 played as the 18th and produced a stunning amphitheater of a finish. In the members configuration the long par 4 18th tumbles to a green hard against the water, a brutish, beautiful closer that has settled championships and tests the nerve of anyone standing on the tee with a card to protect. The lake is in play, the green falls toward it, and there is no bailout that does not cost a stroke.

Through the heart of the round, Green's restoration has transformed the experience. Fairways were widened to restore angles and choice, the greens were rebuilt with the kind of contour that rewards a player who attacks from the correct side, and the bunkering was given a rugged, natural edge that frames the holes far more handsomely than the manicured look it replaced. The par 3s are a particularly strong and varied set, and the rolling Maryland terrain gives uphill and downhill shots that demand precise control of distance. It is still long and still hard, but it now asks the golfer to think, not merely to grind.

At around 7,245 yards from the tips the Blue Course remains a full championship test, yet its renewed strategy means it is no longer a course you simply survive. The defense is length, tree lined corridors, deep bunkering and a finish that punishes the timid, balanced now by width and interest that make every round a genuine examination of decision making. It is the rare major venue that grew more compelling with age.

Where to stay nearby

Congressional sits in Bethesda just northwest of Washington, so the natural bases are the hotels of Bethesda and the DC suburbs, the city of Washington itself, or the Maryland countryside toward Baltimore. The capital gives the easiest air access through Reagan National and Dulles along with a wealth of evening options, while a Maryland base puts you nearer the other great courses of the state.

Most visiting golfers fold Congressional into a wider Mid Atlantic trip, given its private access. Pair a DC or Baltimore stay with the Tom Fazio championship test at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills and the public Pete Dye challenge of Bulle Rock Golf Course up in Havre de Grace for a Maryland week with real championship pedigree.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Bethesda and Washington.