"It’s very much a parkland layout, less of an aesthetic joy than a steady, unrelenting test."

Brad Klein files a review of Congressional for Golfweek and he sums up what it is that most players simply don't like about Rees Jones green complexes: compartments for the sake of compartments, with little reward for imagination around those greens.

The greens, all rebuilt in 2009 to US Golf Association specifications and planted in A1/A4 bentgrass, are meticulously sectioned with subtle transverse ridges, so that working the ball across a large part of the green isn’t possible. Shots to back-hole locations or holes tucked behind bunkers will need a parachute to get close. The combination of segmented surfaces and firm, fast greens means that anything hit without spin likely will veer off to the side or go long, leaving an up-and-over wedge shot for greenside recovery.