Though the 2017 U.S. Open is still 21 months away, the planning process has kicked into high gear.
There's much to be done in the areas of parking and transportation, accommodations, vendor contracts, working with law enforcement agencies and planning on-course infrastructure _ in other words, just about everything outside the gallery ropes.
It's a massive puzzle, with thousands of moving pieces.
Eric Steimer and John Palacioz are just starting to put it together. The respective manager and operations manager of the 2017 U.S. Open moved into apartments in Wauwatosa, Wis., last month and have begun the arduous task of planning for the first U.S. Open to be held in Wisconsin.
"We have one shot to do it, one shot to get it right," said Palacioz, 32, a native of Hutchinson, Kan.
Steimer, 28, of Cincinnati, said the first order of business would be to secure parking lots. The United States Golf Association will need to park about 20,000 cars every day during the 117th U.S. Open. While Erin Hills is a massive property, parking cars on-site would be impractical.
"We don't want 20,000 cars using these two-way highways into Erin Hills," Steimer said. "That's going to present a problem. It's going to cause congestion and then ultimately if something happens it's going to shut down (Highway O) and really cause a bottleneck all around.
"I think out here we're going to have to be a little bit creative in how we approach it, as remote as Erin Hills is. Obviously, there's a lot of land around here, which is great, but it's also a lot of farmland."
Off-site parking lots, whether rented farm fields or paved lots at businesses in the area, will allow the USGA to control traffic coming in and out of the course.
"It's easier to manage 300 shuttle buses as opposed to 20,000 cars," Steimer said.
The USGA also will be working to secure contracts with area and regional hotels and motels for more than 10,000 room nights during the week of the championship.
Steimer said spectators would stay in Milwaukee and Madison and as far away as Chicago.
"For the most part at U.S. Opens, it's 60 percent to 65 percent local or day-trippers _ folks who drive up from their houses, attend the championship and drive home at night," he said. "That other 35 percent to 40 percent are coming in from all over and will need to find accommodations."
Volunteer recruitment for the 2017 U.S. Open started July 13 and Erin Hills received 2,000 applications within 24 hours. By Aug. 17, 5,000 people had applied _ 65 percent of them from Wisconsin _ and a wait list was instituted.
The championship will use approximately 4,800 volunteers.
Hospitality packages range in price from $9,225 for a corporate table in the Champions Pavilion for one practice round to $127,250 for a corporate suite for the week all the way up to $235,000 for the platinum package, which includes 100 tickets and 50 VIP parking passes each day and use of an air-conditioned hospitality tent with seating for 80 and other amenities.
Spectator tickets for the U.S. Open at Erin Hills will go on sale after the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont.
The on-course infrastructure build-out will start in March 2017.
"We're building a temporary city," Palacioz said. "You have to build a city with all its utilities and functions and services. That means tent structures to house media and corporate partners, telecommunications, air conditioning and power and restrooms and waste removal.
"There is a lot that goes into this. And it's all temporary, for one week."
When the USGA takes the U.S. Open to Oakmont or Pebble Beach or Pinehurst, there's a blueprint to follow from previous championships. At Erin Hills, everything is new.
"We had the 2011 U.S. Amateur here, which was a great championship in and of itself," Steimer said. "But what we did out there is going to be multiplied tenfold for the U.S. Open. We have a clean slate, which is a lot of fun for us. It gives us an opportunity to get creative in our thinking.
"Overall, this is going to be a great place to host a championship."
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