Congressional Country Club

Congressional Country Club's Blue Course sits on Maryland suburban-Washington land that Devereux Emmet routed in 1924 for a founding membership of congressmen, cabinet members, and Washington-establishment figures. The original routing was lengthened and redesigned multiple times — Rees Jones did the most significant modern work in advance of the 1997 U.S. Open and again before the 2011 U.S. Open. The Blue Course is the championship routing; the club also operates a Gold Course and a 9-hole short course. Congressional's tournament-hosting history includes three U.S. Opens (1964, 1997, 2011), one PGA Championship (1976), the Kemper Open through the 1980s and 1990s, and the Quicken Loans National.

The Blue Course plays around 7,600 yards par 72 from the championship markers, with bent fairways and a slope in the upper 140s. Ken Venturi won the 1964 U.S. Open in heat that almost ended the championship — he played the final 36 holes Saturday in temperatures over 100°F. Ernie Els won the 1997 U.S. Open over Colin Montgomerie. Rory McIlroy won the 2011 U.S. Open at -16, a championship scoring record at the time. The tenth — a 218-yard par-3 across a natural creek — and the eighteenth, a 523-yard par-4 with a green set above a lake that wraps the entire approach, are the routing's most-discussed holes.

Congressional is private and access is members and accompanied guests only. The membership has historically included Washington political and corporate establishment figures, and the club's policy of opening for major-rotation hosting has kept the Blue Course in continuous championship readiness for nearly a century. The 2031 PGA Championship is scheduled for the Blue Course.

Mid-Atlantic climate gives Congressional a playing season of April through November. Bethesda summers run hot and humid; the smart member play is morning rounds through July and August. The course closes through brief winter cold snaps. The Blue Course's continuous lengthening through the decades has produced what is now one of the longest par-72 routings on the major rotation.