Bloomfield Township – It’s not for me.
But membership in the famed Oakland Hills Country Club certainly hopes the risk-and-reward play of the South Course’s revamp will lead to another US Open.
“There is an energy in the world of golf … to go back to the classics,” said Mike Tirico, honorary member and one of the voices of golf on NBC and the Golf Channel.
“It’s like a bear in a jar of honey. It’s a comfort food for the fans.”
“This place will continue to be the crown jewel of golf in a great golfing state.
“This is an amazing place to identify a champion.”
The South Course has been closed since the fall of 2019 and won’t open until around July 2021, perhaps a couple of weeks earlier, after a massive renovation that included the removal of around 137 trees, the stealing of around 40 bunkers, although there are many new bunkers and many larger bunkers, then a 100% increase in total sand and the installation of a state-of-the-art weather system under each green.
The club’s goal was to bring the route back closest to its original design, from the legendary Donald Ross, the architect of the early 18, which opened in 1918. Robert Trent Jones and Rees Jones were involved in the upgrades over the years.
Acclaimed course designer Gil Hanse, most recently known for designing the Rio de Janeiro Olympics pitch used for the 2016 Summer Games, has been tasked with updating Oakland Hills South.
Oakland Hills has hosted six US Open, but not since 1996. Since then, it has hosted the Ryder Cup in 2004 and the 2016 US Amateurs. It has also hosted three PGA Championships (1972, 1979, 2008).
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“It’s not like this golf course was broken,” said Hanse, who has some ties to Michigan since his early days of golf course design, most notably working in the Traverse City area when he loved behind a Kentucky Fried. Chicken, and also spending time in Gaylord.
The goal here, Hanse said, was to make the path harder for the best players in the world by making it more playable for members. The project was to find that “sweet spot,” he said.
The removal of the trees was huge, in both cases. For members, there will be less time to recover from a wooden wall, as well as the ability to take shots all the way to the green.
For pros, many of the trees and old bunkers didn’t come into play much, so now they’ll have to tackle bigger, strategically placed bunkers and longer, juicier bunkers from the narrow fairways. For the pros, Hanse said, it’s all about the rough and the green. The Oakland Hills greens are historically difficult and the contours haven’t changed much.
“They love predictable results,” Hanse said of the pros. “These are results they cannot predict. This is how golf courses become difficult.”
The course can also be stretched to more than 7,600 yards, keeping pace with the PGA Tour’s continuous and staggering increase in driving distance, highlighted this year by the upgraded Bryson DeChambeau, who turned the Detroit Golf Club into a pitch-and -putt course towards Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Every hole south of Oakland Hills has been modified, at least to some degree – and, of course, some more than others, such as Nos. 3, 4 and 7. A pond is outside, a stream is inside. Every green was ripped out to install the state-of-the-art Precision Air Weather System.
The weather system allows for super fast discharge, even after huge amounts of rain, and can blow fresh air into the greens during the scorching summer months and warm air in the colder months at the beginning and end of the season.
That system cost more than a third of the project’s $ 12.1 million budget, which was funded by the members. Members had the option to pay $ 10,000 upfront or $ 100 per month for 12 years or $ 12,000. It was a great financial and logistical commitment on the part of the members, who booked the solid North Course for several months this year. There will be more sacrifices next year, with floats not allowed until 2022.
Aesthetically, the removal of the trees also allows you to admire the majestic white clubhouse from numerous points on the South Course.
The USGA, which is said to be already planning a visit to the club, possibly as early as this summer, has its venues booked for the US Open until 2027 and the PGA championship is accounted for until 2031. Oakland Hills clearly hopes it will get one o both, perhaps even a US Open before the decade was out. A regular PGA Tour event is not the goal, and never has been, and especially with the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour schedule down the road.
The Presidents Cup, which pits the United States against the world (except Europe), is available starting in 2030.
“We’re here to host a major championship,” said Steve Brady, the pro head, adding that even if Oakland Hills doesn’t get another major, enrollment will find the renewal worth the effort.
“We don’t just want to enrich the Tour players.”
Remembering Kupelian
At the start of Monday’s submission, Brady asked for a moment of silence for Detroit News longtime golf writer Vartan Kupelian, who died last week at the age of 73.
Brady said, “Mr. Kupelian was a friend of many of you, and he was very involved in the game of golf.”
One of Kupelian’s books was “The Monster,” which celebrated Oakland Hills’ 100th anniversary.
A private commemoration for Kupelian is scheduled for this week, with a public commemoration scheduled for a later date.
Majors in Oakland Hills
►1924 US Open (Cyril Walker won)
►1937 US Open (Ralph Guldahl)
►1951 US Open (Ben Hogan)
►1961 US Open (Gene Littler)
►1972 PGA (Gary Player)
►1979 PGA (David Graham)
►1981 US Senior Open (Arnold Palmer)
►1985 US Open (Andy North)
►1991 US Senior Open (Jack Nicklaus)
►1996 US Open (Steve Jones)
►2002 US Amateur (Ricky Barnes)
►2004 Ryder Cup (Europe)
►2008 PGA (Padraig Harrington)
►2016 US Amateur (Curtis Luck)
Twitter: @ tonypaul1984
