Curt Coulter has a deep connection to Oakmont Country Club and the U.S. Opens played there.

The golfing bug bit him early, at just 7. By the time he was 13, he was a junior member at Oakmont living a chip shot away. Coulter, 59, went on to win seven club championships there in 40 years and is the current senior club champion.

“I just became infatuated with it very early and quickly at a young age,” Coulter said.

He lives in Oakmont in that house across the street from the country club.

Coulter is what you might call a golf superfan — not a pro, but living a life centered around golf, playing amateur tournaments and hobnobbing with some of the game’s big names.

And, while few fans have Coulter’s experiences, he’s not alone in a life enriched by the sport.

Dave Snyder of Delmont worked his way into super fan status and the storied grounds of Oakmont.

Snyder was 9 when his father brought him a scorecard, a pairings sheet and a local newspaper highlighting the 1962 U.S. Open hosted at Oakmont. An upstart Jack Nicklaus won the first of his 18 majors, besting hometown favorite Arnold Palmer in front of “Arnie’s Army.”

Snyder was hooked.

Now 72, he remembers his father’s souvenirs from the tournament leading him to become a lifelong fan of the sport and Palmer — a man Snyder ended up meeting more than once before the golf legend’s death in 2016.

“I admired (Palmer) until the very end,” Snyder said.

He got to see a couple of Opens via tickets from family or work, but he got a golden ticket when he began working for security at Oakmont, giving him a nearby parking spot and the opportunity to watch the Opens and talk with athletes and other high profile public figures.

Over the years, Snyder watched attendance double and triple. More than 200,000 golf fans are expected to walk through the Oakmont Country Club gates next week.

Imparting some knowledge

Coulter plans to play a practice round with Denny McCarthy, a pro in next week’s field, to explain Oakmont’s many intricacies.

He even hosted Bryson DeChambeau, who was just a budding star in the 2016 Open and returns this year as the defending U.S. Open champion.

Coulter began golfing by hitting plastic balls around his backyard with his father’s clubs. Noting the interest, his father took him to a women’s golf clinic at Riverside Park to help develop his game.

He began competing at 10. Then, when he was 13, his family moved to the house across the street from Oakmont Country Club.

Coulter became a junior member at the club at 12 in 1977, four years after attending his first U.S. Open.

He’s been to every major hosted by the club since, including two U.S. Women’s Opens. This will be his sixth men’s Open.

Coulter played golf for the University of Virginia from 1984 to ‘88. He tried his hand on the Space Coast Pro Tour for about nine months in 1989 until he realized he didn’t want to golf for a living, he said.

But Coulter still loves the competition, playing as an amateur in tournaments around the country.

In 2016, Coulter and his wife, Catherine, hosted DeChambeau for nine days after the now-major champion had just made his professional debut that April. Coulter was friends with DeChambeau’s mentor at the time and opened his home to the two.

“We had two extra bedrooms at the time, so we said, ‘sure,’” Coulter said.

Coulter remembered different company representatives coming to court the promising new pro and how busy DeChambeau remained even on the days the tournament wasn’t taking place.

Now, DeChambeau comes to Oakmont Country Club as defending U.S. Open champion.

“We got to see all the craziness that goes along with being a big-name player on the tour,” Coulter said. “It was quite exhausting and quite entertaining at the same time.”

When Coulter plays his practice round with McCarthy, he might be able to share some what the pro will be up against at a course that’s difficult on a normal day, let alone when it’s set up for U.S. Open play.

Coulter’s cousin, Jim Furyk, had a similar strategy in 2007 and 2016. He stayed with Coulter prior to those Opens and played the course with him. Furyk came in second place both times; he won the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields.

“The golfing world is small,” Coulter said. “There’s one degree of separation.”

He said the competitions never get old.

“It’s fun for me to be able to see the best golfers in the world be challenged by the course and try to shoot under par on such a hard venue,” Coulter said.

Coulter recommends first-time attendees watch the golfers warm up at the driving range.

“None of them have the same swing,” he said. “It’s fun to watch how the best in the world do it.”

”Another thing is walk the golf course and see the beauty of all the different holes,” he said. “… Wear some comfortable shoes and walk as much as you can.”

Working his way in

Next week, Snyder is hoping to see his sixth U.S. Open at Oakmont, but he’ll have to overcome a condition that limits his mobility.

Snyder went to his first Open at Oakmont in 1973 with his brother-in-law. Johnny Miller won that year, shooting a then-record 63 on Sunday. Snyder returned in 1983 when a friend’s dad offered them tickets. Larry Nelson won that time.

“I was just a normal fan then,” he said.

In 1994, he attended with business clients using tickets from his company.

After the four regulation rounds, there was a Monday playoff between Colin Montgomery, Loren Roberts and Ernie Els. Snyder was walking around the course when he ran into pro golfer Tom Lehman. Lehman had been laying low, watching the match with a press band on his arm when Snyder recognized him.

“He and I ended up spending most of the day together and making general and golf conversation,” Snyder said. Els won that year.

Snyder thought outside the box to get better access to the Open in more recent years.

In 2007, he began working security at the Open. The position allowed him to park across the street from the club, and he was stationed at an entrance behind the club, where he encountered athletes, local celebrities and politicians.

“You had to be observant and smart enough not to stop someone that didn’t need to be stopped,” he said.

He was at his post at the driveway area behind the clubhouse when he met the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor. The two spoke for about five minutes, he said, and their conversation remains one of Snyder’s favorite memories from the Open.

Snyder worked security again in 2016. He said the event had doubled in size.

“It felt like I was entering Disney World with the entries the USGA set up,” Snyder said.

But this Open was much less fun for Snyder than his previous experiences. It rained constantly and parking was a challenge for the workers. He ended up jumping on an opportunity to guard the locker room overnight for two nights.

“This assignment was both fascinating and boring,” Snyder said. “The bulk of the job was simply being there. I would stroll up and down the aisles of the dull green lockers. Then I might sit in a window seat looking out at the 18th green in the pouring rain.”

He returned to regular duty on the weekend and was able to see Dustin Johnson claim the trophy.

“It was exhilarating to watch,” Snyder said.

Snyder isn’t sure whether he’ll be able to attend next week’s U.S. Open, even though he already bought tickets for Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s practice rounds.

He is battling multiple sclerosis and is unable to get around without his electric wheelchair. If it rains, he can’t take the wheelchair out.

And he would have to get to the tournament in his wheelchair van that has to be operated by a trained driver.

“This all adds up to it being a longshot for me to attend the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club,” Snyder said. “However, I am going to give it my best shot.”

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