2026 US Open Qualifying at Berkshire Hills Country Club

This past week on May 12^th, 77 players took to the fairways at Berkshire Hills Country Club in Pittsfield, Massachusetts for the second of two local US Open Qualifying tournaments in the state of Massachusetts. The field was playing for a total of four spots to move forward to US Open Final Qualifying with two alternates.

The qualifier brought an interesting group of players together from all over the region and even from afar. Dagbjartur Sigurbrandsson from Iceland was in the field, who currently plays on the Nordic Professional Tour and is the defending Icelandic Open Champion. Others looking to make their way to the next stage included C.J. Winchenbaugh, winner of the 2024 New England Amateur at Laconia Country Club, the 2025 CSGA Dick Tettelbach Player of the Year Bradley Sawka, who also plays at the University of Connecticut, and the 2020 Vermont Amateur champion Garren Poirier.

The conditions on the course were sunny, but not particularly warm. The wind was somewhat calm in the early part of the day but picked up decently throughout the day and played a factor in hitting the right shot.

Equally as special as the field of players on this day was the venue they were playing. Berkshire Hills Country Club is an important golf course in the New England region in that it is the only course in Massachusetts completely designed by the historic architect A.W. Tillinghast, famous for nationally significant courses such as Baltusrol Golf Club and Winged Foot Golf Club. The club has placed a small stone on the first tee to inform the player of this special fact, and it is a lovely touch.

The golf course at Berkshire Hills Club starts at the top of a significant hill, where large areas of the front nine can be seen in a spectacular view. The layout is fascinating, in that while the even par score of 72 is quite typical, there are five par 3 holes and five par 5 holes. This set up is particularly interesting for such a tournament in that with three of the par 5 holes on the back nine, a player could make a potential charge to gain a few shots on the field with birdies or even eagles.

There were several holes that stood out to me at this terrific golf course.

The first hole at the top of the property is a mid-length par 4 of 417 yards that rolls along the landscape beautifully from left to right. The hole slopes nearly the entire length from left to right, and the large fairway bunker on the right and the surrounding rough-cover group around it slopes in that direction quite significantly. Many players chose not to take the bunker on, but those that did and were successful were rewarded with a flat lie to hit their approach shots from. The green, like many at this course, is decently large, but with subtle contours, and going long was simply not an option.

The second hole is the first of the five par 5 holes. The second tee is just behind the first green, and the tee shot is elevated above the fairway, which plunges down into a major valley shared by the nearby fourth hole. While missing right allows for recovery shot to save par, left is out of bounds as there is a road just beyond the hole boundary. The hole moves to the left at the bottom of the valley and up a tremendous hill to the green, requiring a majestic strike to carry the ball to the putting surface. The green features a large slope up front and falls sharply off long and right. Going too long here is also out of bounds.

Another par 5 awaits at the nearby fourth hole, which features some of the most dramatic changes in direction and elevation on the entire course. After completing the par 3 third hole at the top of the hill, the players walked well behind the green and down the hill to a lone tee box. This hole plays back up the hill to the left around a tight cluster of trees, and moves down to the same massive valley shared by the second hole. The tee shot on this hole left the players in many tricky situations. Those that went through the fairway on the right too far were left at minimum with a long approach uphill from the rough, and at worst behind one of the many trees lining the right side of the hole. Others were left to attempt hitting a fairway wood with the ball on a major downhill lie. Regardless, the green is well pitched from back to front, and enormous bunkers guard both sides, with the right side bunker being the most intimidating with a huge ridge just in front of it. Interestingly, no birdies were made at this hole by the four qualifiers.

The par 4 sixth hole is a stunning 434-yard par four featuring an elevated tee shot over a large swath of native grass and swamp land, with a pond well in play out to the right. The hole moves out and to the right in a cape style layout, daring the players to aim as far right as they could to shorten their approach shots. The players that found on the pond to the right were forced to drop and carry their third shots over several trees to hit the green. The fairway on this hole was heavily sloped from left to right, leaving many players with an approach well below their feet. Th USGA was more than willing to put the flag on the toughest spot on this hole’s wonderful green, which was behind a major ridge on the right side.

Driving straight up the hill back to the clubhouse, the ninth hole is a 439-yard par 4. What makes this hole particularly great is the approach shot. The right side of the green is guarded beautifully by a sheer slope covered and rough, as well as a near vertical shelf on the right-front portion. The flag was placed right behind these elements, leaving an extremely testing pitch up to the green if not navigated properly. Many players opted to aim well to the left of the flag, and it demonstrated just how this brilliantly hole could play.

The back nine begins with a downhill par 5 hole, playing down the hill in the opposite direction of the first hole to a new section of the property. Moving down the hill, the hole moves a slopes from left to right, and then in the final portion, back to the right around a cluster of trees to the green. A tee shot that could catch the slope with the proper distance could yield a view of the green to have a go at an eagle, but too far left could easily result in a lost ball. Perhaps the hole’s most intriguing feature was a bunker just beyond the trees that featured several small shrubs in its center. While not necessarily in play for the field, it was a terrific small mark of Tillinghast, and such bunkers can be seen in his designs elsewhere.

As the back nine progresses, some of the course’s most interesting greens and hole layouts are encountered. The short 14^th hole is a par 4 that, if played down the fairway, requires perhaps even just an iron to yield a shot into the green. Some players opted for hitting driver to the right side of the hole beyond a cluster of trees, but this approach did not guarantee an easy shot to get on the putting surface. Despite being on 367 yards, this was the number four handicap hole on the course, and looking at the green it is clear why. It features a bunker short and left that has an enormous lip, and the hole drops of severely to the right into another bunker. The green itself is greatly sloped, with the first three-quarters sloping back to front, and the last quarter front to back. The USGA was more than willing to place the pin right near the transition point.

A short par 5 is encountered on the 15^th hole, and a large creek cuts directly across the point in which the hole moves greatly from right to left up the hill, and it is a chasm. A drive challenging the center of the creek opens up a great view of the green, and the approach is with the ball above the player’s feet and every step up the hill. Being a short par 5, Tillinghast design this green with a significant degree of slope to make bridie an interesting challenge. It is extremely undulating and slopes from back to front, with the slope being exceptionally tough front and right. As one might have expected, the USGA was happy to place the flag perfectly in that spot.

Of the five par 3 holes on the course, the 17^th was perhaps the most fascinating in its design and challenge. The hole plays quite decently uphill and drops off dramatically short and left. Missing left also brings one of the course’s deepest and most sloped bunkers into to play, and the pin was placed as far left as possible. To make matters more interesting, the wind blew across the hole from right to left. With everything factored in, this was truly a great one-shot hole.

The final hole is also the last par 5 on the course, and it is a majestic climb back to the course’s beautiful clubhouse. While less than 500 yards, the terrain on the hole makes it tough, as in addition to being every step uphill, the fairway slopes heavily from left to right, and features heavy rough and a bunker on the right side of the hole. Two more large bunkers guard each side of this green, but a strong running shot up to the center could yield on final birdie to gain position on the rest of the field. It is a tremendous end to a wonderful routing by one of America’s most esteemed course architects.

The day was a triumph for the Vermont contingent in the field. Jared Nelson and Austin Giroux captured first and second place with rounds of 69 and 70, and managed to make birdie on all the par 5 holes except for the fourth. Garren Poirier managed a 71, captured one of the two available alternate positions, and managed to birdie both par 5 holes on the front nine.

In addition to Nelson and Giroux, Iceland’s Dagbjartur Sigurbrandsson also shot a two-under par 70, making eagle on the par 5 second and three birdies on the back nine. Mike Calef, winner of last year’s Rhode Island Amateur Championship, also shot two under par to capture the fourth spot to advance in the most incredible way, making not one, but two eagles on the back nine, the first on the par four 12^th and the second on the par 5 15^th.

These four players, along with Reese Jensen, Matthew Cowgill, Jake Ratti, and Matt Williams from the previous April qualifier at Woodland Golf Club, will now see if they have what it takes to survive golf’s longest day, and make it to the 2026 United States Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.