Oak Hill Roundup: Perfect Fairways, Thick Rough & That 15th

Joe Passov files a spot-on assessment of Oak Hill's architecture (thanks reader Patrick). I can wholeheartedly endorse his views after having walked most of the East course today. The number of different design styles and the complete lack of any attempt by the chiselers who've carved away at Donald Ross' original should be studied by aspiring architects to better understand how not to practice the profession.

It's a pity, as this is a fantastic club with the best conditioned fairways I've ever seen. Many players have offered a similar endorsement of the conditions. Unlike Merion's sustainable, anti-roll 1/2 inch fairways, these are like carpet, allowing the ball to run.Tip of the cap to Oak Hill grounds manager Jeff Corcoran for a job well done in a tough growing season.

Back to the architecture.

I have to disagree with one thing Passov wrote:

Still, it was the major surgery undertaken by George and Tom Fazio in 1976 that alienated pros and critics alike. They eliminated the well-regarded 5th and 6th holes to help with gallery flow. Bunker styles changed, as did green contours. The Fazios also created a new green at the par-3 15th, with an attractive pond positioned front-right. Later, a stone wall was built to edge the lake. The good news? The 15th is now a more beautiful hole. The bad news? It doesn't resemble a Donald Ross original.

I would propose in lieu of the PGA of America's pin placement selection poll that a dynamite placement contest be held to determine how best to detonate the 15th.

After coming off the beautiful, uphill and distinctly Rossian looking par-14th, this disaster awaits. And to think the green contours have been softened!

Not only is the 15th so horribly out of character with this understated, rolling property, but everything about the feature-set is dreadfully forced. And with the rough as thick as it is this year, we may see someone just miss the green and be faced with a lie that causes them to hit a ball into the pond. Silly stuff.

The beautiful 14th with Oak Hill's half-and-half fairway cut (Clck to enlarge)In the remarks of Tiger Woods Tuesday, he made an interesting point about the half-and-half fairway cut employed here while also adding a new word to the Woods lexicon "sections."

It's playing quick. These fairways, especially on the left side, they obviously cut it downgrain on the left side so you can get a lot of chase to it. Some of the holes, you run out of room quick. It's playing, even though it's a little bit longer than what it was in '03, it might be playing a little bit shorter because it is drier. The balls are really running out there.

How I'm going to attack is I I'm just going to play to my little sections and go from there. I just think that depends on wind and some of the holes, how far I decide to go down on some of these fairways. Obviously sometimes I may lay back with a 5 wood or 3 wood on some of these tees.

Woods also said he will be hitting between 2-5 drivers depending on how much things firm up.

13th hole graduated rough that will collect plenty of balls because of the fairway tilt (click to enlarge)Phil Mickelson told the assembled scribblers that the vulnerability of the course will come down to the greens and how much faster they get, if they speed up.

Comparing this year to 2003:

I feel like the graduated rough was cut in places that did not overly penalize shots that were well struck but just missed its target.  I feel like if you play well, you can score lower than maybe '03.  But if you hit wayward shots, I feel like the rough is a little bit thicker, and taller, longer, making it harder to salvage pars.

So all in all, I thought it was a great test.  I'm curious to see how quick the greens will be, because they are a lot quicker today than they were when I was here a week ago, and the challenge of this golf course is the severity of the back to front pitch of most of the greens.  That to me is one of the biggest challenges that Oak Hill provides, because if you do miss it long, getting that chip shot to stop close, especially out of difficult rough where it's hard to control the ball chipping, that's the big challenge.  It forces you to want to leave every shot underneath the hole so you can get up and down.

If the greens stay under 12, under 11 and 1/2, 12, you can get the ball close to the hole.  You can get the ball from behind the greens close.  So I think the biggest X factor or unknown is just how quick the greens are rolling.

The one point where I would question Mickelson's assessment is with the graduated rough. Every time I saw a wider swath of the mid-length stuff it gave the impression of a mistake, as if the areas really should have been fairway but it was too late to cut the grass to fairway height and this was the compromise made.

As for the man doing the setup, the normally reserved Kerry Haigh kindly took Morning Drive's Gary Williams through the holes in some exclusive looks at the Oak Hill setup. You can view them here:.

Comments

[BFD]

I agree, from what I've seen so far it sure doesn't look much like a Donald Ross course. There are some pretty good photos of the course at The Itinerant Golfer as well:

http://theitinerantgolfer.com/oak-hill-country-club-east-course/

[3foot1]

Geoff, Can you post any before and after photos of the 15th? In fairness to Passov, the new version MIGHT be more visually attractive yet still be architecturally repellent.

[Mashie]

3foot1, the photos of 15 in theitinerantgolfer link are of the 15th green prior to the most recent renovations. The green was smaller and had more left to right pitch. The most recent re-do extended the green back, moved it more to the lake and put a new bulkhead on the lake. Geoff is reporting the green movement is "softer" than before. It better be because the original Fazio green was a joke. The Ross green was way to the left up into the hill and there was no pond. The hole is 4 yards longer than '03 due to green extension. The tee is as far back as possible due to a steep hill leading down to Irondequoit CC. As I noted elsewhere, the Fazio greens, 5, 6 and 15, bear no resemblance to the Ross greens. In '68, the 5th hole was the little par 3 up in the corner of the property at the main entrance. The hole is still there and maintained, but not used in the current routing.

[Gate 74]

First played it in '72. The 'mish-mosh' of the design changes is sad. The reality, though, is that the trees are the most significant hazard and it could be a windstorm or two away from being off the majors rotation.

[Chris from DE]

Can someone explain the phantom par 3 hole that I see on google maps that should be the 5th hole, but isn't?

[Mashie]

Chris, the Par 3 in the northeast corner of the property by the entrance to the Club was in play in the 1968 US Open as the 5th Hole. Play continued on to the 6th, a Par 4 in the spot where the current 5th hole sits. This was a Ross hole (prior to the Fazio work in the late '70's) and did not cross the creek, as the current 5th does now. I can't recall, but they must have skipped the old Par 3 (now the 6th) and went straight to No. 7, which is also the current 7th. So, in effect, they used the little Par 3 in the corner as a substitute for the old Ross 6th hole Par 3. The Fazio work was presumably to fix congestion in the area around the old 6th hole. That area had the maintenance facility and road, the 5th Green, 6th Hole, 7th Tee, 12th Tee and 9th Tee. I'm not sure if they built that little Par 3 in the corner specifically for the '68 Open, but they may have. They keep it maintained and I think they stick it into play when they re-do greens, as they seem to always be re-doing the Fazio greens. Can't see them pulling an Oakmont with their trees as the Club still reveres Dr. Williams and his oak trees and has the big amateur four-ball tournament named after him.

[Chris from DE]

Mashie - Thanks! I am surprised we haven't heard more about it. It's not hidden and it's still maintained in playing condition.

See...this is what Morning Drive could discuss rather than Damon Hack making a 9 on a par 3!

[Mashie]

I first set foot on Oak Hill at that '68 Open. I was a kid and jumped the "snow fence" on Kilbourn Road right by that little extra Par 3. So those were the first players I saw. Wonder if one could sneak in today! First played in the Williams in '79 so I never got to play the "Ross" course as amended by Trent Jones. All I ever got to play was the course with the Fazio holes inserted. Back then, and I assume to this day, the old timers bemoan the changes. I guess the Ross 6th hole, the Par 3, was pretty nice with a little up hill to it. It was out of play in '68 and bulldozed by '79. I guess they've done the best they can with tree removal, considering the name of the place is OAK Hill and the love affair with Dr. Williams. They've allowed sun to reach most of the greens, except 13 with the "Hill of Fame" and the green in a pocket. A bit off topic, but Craig Harmon is a great golf professional. Oak Hill is lucky to have him.

[Abu Dhabi Golfer]

"Play to little sections."??

How about playing to that "little section" 300 yards out in the dead middle of the fairway?

[vwgolfer]

One of the signs of great or even good designer/architect during a remodel is to have a seamless transition between old and new. The Fazios failed on all aspects of this redo. IThey should be embarrassed at the awful job they did even if it was done in 1976.

[mkdrep]

@mashie: I was a kid at Oak Hill as well in 1968 but I was a member's son so I was fortunate to play the course in it's original Donald Ross design many, many times. The design changes that were made came about because a few influential people at Oak Hill were worried that the USGA would never come back with an Open at OHCC after PJ Boatwright shot 74 from our back tees one day. The changes were made without the members knowledge. They literally tore up the course in October when basically the membership was done playing for the year and we were stunned at what they had done by the time we showed up next spring. Unfortunately, the decision was made to insert a new par 3 6th hole at it's current location, which caused the existing 5th hole to be changed. (The creek actually did cross in front and then to the left side of the original par 4 5th hole by the way). The original par 3 6th was a short hole with a two tiered green, very similar to the short 12th hole at Merion this year, except our 6th hole was about 145 yds. It struck me how everyone raved about the short hole at Merion and felt it stood the test of time and yet we were "told" back in the 1970's that our 6th hole would not stand up to the pros at that time. Funny how things have changed.
If my memory serves me correct, our East Course was the last (if not one of the last) Donald Ross courses that was changed so substantially. After golf course architects saw what was done to our course, most of them came out against it and decided to go the other way and restore many Donald Ross courses to their original form.
Our West Course is a tremendous Donald Ross course that has had few if any changes made to it. We actually brought the 4th and 16th holes back to their original shape a few years ago. Everyone wants to play our East Course, but people should also play the West Course to get a feel for a true Donald Ross course. The West course is easily one of the Top 100 courses in America but the ratings people from Golf Digest seldom, if ever, play it.
Finally, Jeff Corcoran is a fantastic superintendent. If people only knew what our course has gone through this spring and summer and the additional man hours Jeff and his staff have put into getting our course ready they would be amazed. You will see spectacular conditions there this week and were are spoiled because we have these sort of conditions everyday!

[Mashie]

mkdrep, I've been fortunate to play Oak Hill East many times in amateur tournaments, as well as Winged Foot, Baltusrol, Congressional and other courses that host majors. They all seem to have big amateur events as a way to give back to the game as well. Oak Hill is a wonderful Club and the equal of those others I mentioned in my view. You should be proud to be a member. OHCC always struck me as a first class operation and a great course (in spite of the Fazio missteps). As I mentioned, Craig Harmon is a pro's pro. I never heard the Boatwright story, but did hear concern about Trevino's "four scores in the '60's". In all my trips there, I never got to play the West. But I heard from many that the greens are "the best". Best of luck with the PGA and hope you get your courses back soon so you can play your fine courses. BTW, did the Club build that little 3-par by the entrance specifically for the '68 Open?

[DTF]

mkdrep, is there any movement afoot to put the East back to how it was when D. Ross first completed his work?

[DTF]

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/charlotte/

That's a terrific review of a D. Ross course being returned to its' original form (pretty close anyway).

[KG]

Similar to some changes made at Oakland hills. The post card 16th is completely out of character with the rest of the course. I know at Oakland Hills several members prefer the original Ross course across the street to the overly manipulated US open championship course. I wonder how much the members fight these changes or if most just go along with it so they can say their club hosts a major? But what has been lost? I know at Oakland hills the course has gone from great to very good with some crazy changes not belonging on a Ross course. But Oak Hill looks more severely changed by a few guys that should not be allowed anywhere near courses built by masters like Ross, Tilly, Wilson, Mackenzie, etc.
that's my rant.