Congressional Country Club (Blue)

Devereux Emmet's 1924 Bethesda course, host of three U.S. Opens and restored by Andrew Green for a schedule of PGA of America events running to the 2036 Ryder Cup.

Congressional opened in May 1924 with Calvin Coolidge at the ceremony and a Devereux Emmet course on rolling Maryland land outside Washington. Robert Trent Jones reworked it in 1957 and added a third nine, and Rees Jones made further changes in 1989 and 2006. The Blue course has hosted three U.S. Opens: Ken Venturi in 1964, Ernie Els in 1997 and Rory McIlroy's record-setting win in 2011.

In 2019 the club hired Andrew Green to restore the Blue, with the aim of preparing it for ten PGA of America championships over roughly two decades, ending with the 2036 Ryder Cup. Green worked from the 1924 course as his reference, reshaping bunkers and greens toward Emmet's intent. The first events under the new plan were the 2022 Women's PGA Championship and the 2025 Senior PGA Championship.

The Blue is long, hilly and heavily bunkered, and from the back tees it measures more than 7,800 yards. The finish is the hole most associated with the club: a long par 4 that plays down toward a green pushed into a lake. For years it was the members' 17th and the championship 18th; after the old par-3 18th was reversed in 2009, it became the closing hole full-time.

Holes to know

18

Par 4 · 523 yd

A long downhill par 4 to a peninsula green on the lake, used as the finishing hole for Congressional's major championships.

Championships

• U.S. Open 1964, 1997, 2011
• PGA Championship 1976
• Women's PGA Championship 2022
• Senior PGA Championship 2025
• Ryder Cup (scheduled) 2036

Design history

• 1957: Robert Trent Jones remodel and new nine
• 1989 and 2006: Rees Jones changes
• 2019–21: Andrew Green restoration ahead of a run of PGA of America championships