Miguel Angel Jimenez dislikes changes made to the course at the Senior US Open, ‘I liked it before’

The Senior US Open is taking place this week at the Scioto Country Club, a historic course where Jack Nicklaus often played in his youth.

This marks the third time the U.S. Senior Open is held at Scioto, after the event came to the course in 1986 and 2016.

But since the last time the senior US Open was played here, some big changes have been made, and Miguel Angel Jimenez didn’t hold back when talking about these modifications after his opening round.

Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images

Miguel Angel Jimenez slams changes made to Scioto Country Club

Jimenez is T6 after 18 holes at the Senior US Open after shooting an opening round of one-under par, but that didn’t stop him from making complaints about the changes made to Scioto Country Club.

Speaking after his round, he said, “I don’t remember nothing about the course. The look was totally different. I have to say that we play — there I think the winner score was minus 3, when we played in 2016. More narrow fairways.

“I don’t like to compare, but I like the way they were before”

Jimenez continued, “Now, what, I’ll tell you, now it’s completely different. Before, you see more trees, more things, more like trees on the fairway and more natural.

“To me it’s not that the type of fairway what it is now. I liked it better what it was before.”

Changes made to Scioto Country Club part of worrying trend

Jimenez isn’t the first to make this complaint about modern golf courses. The trend of removing trees tends to infuriate players, especially those who rely on accuracy over power.

We saw it at Oakmont at last year’s US Open, when the trees were removed from the golf course and replaced by comically long rough. It took all the strategy away from the course.

Scottie Scheffler has made complaints about tree removal at golf courses in the past, and we saw exactly what we’re missing at the end of 2025 when the DP World Tour went to India.

Delhi Golf Club is built into the jungle, so when players like Rory McIlroy played at the DP World India Challenge, he couldn’t even take his driver to the course because it was so narrow. It was much more intriguing as a challenge, and there should be more of that in America.

Instead, they’re removing trees, which is a crying shame.

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