- photo courtesy Oak Hill Country Club
Oak Hill Country Club and its famous East
Course are located in the quaint village of
Pittsford, New York just outside of Rochester.
To properly put Oak Hill into perspective
relative to the heritage of our great game,
consider this: the club employs two historians.
More than ten important championships
have been played here over the years,
starting with the 1949 U.S. Amateur, won by
amateur legend Charie Coe. (A complete listing
follows.) All of the major men’s events
held by both the PGA and USGA have been
held at Oak Hill over the years. Oak Hill is the
only club to hold such a
distinction. And in the gorgeous Tudor
clubhouse are rooms and halls filled with
memorabilia, trophies, and relics of these
events as well as a room dedicated to long
time pro Craig Harmon of the famous Harmon
family.
THE JOHN R. WILLIAMS
INVITATIONAL
The major championships that come and
go, such as the 2013 PGA, are one thing, but
Oak Hill has another longstanding tradition that
is entirely another -- The John R. Williams
Invitational. The four-ball tournament, played
every September, is named for the doctor
that planted the thousands of trees that line
the fairways, tranforming the course from an
old farm into the golf mecca it is today. In
2013 for the 51st annual J.R. Williams players
are going to have the opportunity to
play a course that just hosted a major
championship in similar conditions.
The tournament is also
played on the West Course (more open off the
tee, fast, sloping greens) but in 2013 it will be
conducted on the East Course only due to the
PGA having used the West Course for
hospitality in August. The Williams typically
attracts top mid-amateur and senior players
from the U.S. and Canada plus a long wait list.
Several teams of Oak Hill members get spots,
including the reigning club champion and any
team finishing in the top 12 from the previous
Williams. Many Oak Hill members, however,
have to qualify. No politics - just go
out and shoot one of the lowest scores and
you're in. First alternates come into town
each year just to play a practice round on
each course and take the chance of getting
in. That's saying something.
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J.R. Williams
Invitational Co-Chairman Dr. David Fries
|
I played the East Course at Oak Hill
Country Club just two months before the 2013
PGA Championship, on one of the last days
when members could bring guests onto the
East Course. Dr. David Fries, co-chairman of
the John R. Williams, was my host. After the
game he toured me around the clubhouse with
the kind of pride that can only come from
someone that loves the game and appreciates
the work of those before him.
Fries is a former club-champion who
worked his way up the ladder not only in life,
but at Oak Hill, where his amazing journey took
him from caddie to college and med school,
joining the club, and winning the club
championship. Somehow I think the fact that
Dr. Fries, a cardiologist, is one of the stewards
of a tournament played to honor another
doctor, (the one who planted those famous
trees) is more than just a coincidence.
Williams played an important role in
Rochester public health, conducting research
on milk safety. Later, as chief of medicine at
Highland Hospital, he opened the first hospital
division dedicated to the study of diabetes and
became the American physician to administer
insulin. Donald Ross may have designed Oak
Hill, but Williams did extensive studies on the
best trees for Rochester's climate before
planting many of the trees from seedlings in his
backyard.
PLAYING OAK HILL'S EAST
COURSE - IN MAJOR TOURNAMENT
CONDITION
It was a busy Sunday afternoon and
preparations for the 2013 PGA were apparent
when I arrived to a scene that reminded me a
little bit of "Caddyshack’s"
Bushwood. Or maybe the filming of
"Caddyshack." There were tents,
trucks, and scoreboards. But most importantly
for me, the range was closed. Because when
you step onto the first tee of the East Course
without having warmed up, a hole that many
have called one of the toughest opening holes
anywhere gets even tougher.
I tried to cut a little off the dogleg, but my
ball nicked a big tree and got caught in the
left rough. I tried to pitch out to the fairway,
but when my club made contact I felt as
though I was trying to punch a hole in a
phone book. All of a sudden, my ball was going
dead left, behind a tree. Let’s just say
my first score of the day was
“adjusted” when posting my
round.
It’s hard to get down however
when gorgeous hole after gorgeous hole are in
front of you so I did what I was supposed to
do and played shot by shot the rest of the
day. The greens weren’t putting at
nearly the speed of a championship Sunday.
But I could imagine what a good set of pin
positions, fast and firm greens, and playing the
tees all the way back would do to scoring. Oak
Hill might not be the site of the
“Massacre at Winged Foot” (the
1974 U.S. Open) but it will be very easy to
protect par there.
I enjoyed the stretch of holes 5-7. The 5th
requires a laser tight tee shot with water on
the right and trees/rough on the left. With the
pin just over the water on the left side of the
kidney-shaped green, my partner wisely
played for the fat part of the green on the
right, a smart play. We were then left to
watch as our opponent, Oak Hill golf chairman
Brad McAreavy, holed it
out for eagle from the left rough 170 yards
out!
The
6th hole is a 175-yard par 3 guarded by
Allen’s Creek with a two tiered green
and a rich history – in the 1989 U.S. Open
four
players aced it in less than two hours. The
rough around it is thick and healthy and
short-
siding yourself is ill advised. The 7th is a 460
yard monster with a strategically placed oak
short and right of the green. Even if
you’ve hit the fairway it can be a
bother – I found out the hard way as my iron
shot ticked a limb and bounced straight
down.
 |
The trophies of all
six USGA and PGA Men's Major
Championships |
It becomes pretty clear by this point in the
round that par is a very good score on every
hole on the East Course. The back nine is no
different – there are a couple of short-ish par
fours that most pros would lay up off the
tee
and hit precise wedges into, but then comes
the 17th and 18th, which play close at
about
500 yards each from the tournament tees.
The 17th green can at least receive a long
iron
shot, so the shorter hitters aren't at that big
of a disadvantage especially with their hybrid
skills. But the 18th, well, let’s just say
that I’ve never faced a more daunting
shot into a green where water wasn’t
involved.
After driving into the intermediate rough on
the right and drawing a good lie (this
year’s PGA will be the first time Oak Hill
has used intermediate rough) I figured I would
just go right at the pin, tucked to the right
side of the green. And I flushed a 6-iron right
at it. I’m not sure if I picked the wrong
club or if a bit of late afternoon wind knocked
my ball down, but my bubble quickly burst as I
watched my ball fall out of the air too quickly
to negotiate the uphill slope fronting a green
that says “Donald Ross was
here” as well as any other at Oak Hill.
After almost whiffing my first attempt to
extricate myself from the wiry rough, I shook
hands with my partners, thanked Dr. Fries for
hosting me, and reminded myself that next
time I play there I’ll play for the center
of the green on 18 and almost every other
hole.
I'll leave the last words on Oak Hill Country
Club's East Course to Ernie Els, who said:
"It's the best, fairest and toughest
championship golf course I've ever played in all
my years as a tournament professional."
MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS PLAYED
AT OAK HILL
