Oak Hill East Renovations

[John Foley]

Had a friend point me to this very well done video on Andrew Green's renovation. Some fantastic work here, hope you enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuHuo8vJyQ8&feature=youtu.be

[Ronald Montesano]

Not many places have an Oak Hill. It's a world-class complex, in a small city. Now, even worldlier.

[Rob Marshall]

I played it in May. They closed it down fairly early this fall because of all the play. Some of my member friends think the course is easier now. That wasn’t my experience but the rough was brutal when I played it and the super must have had a bad night cause the pins were all tucked. Didn’t happen to me but one of the members said that the back lips on some of the bunkers are so steep that you can have no backswing so you have to play away from the green. It looks awesome. I think it came out great.

[Brent Carlson]

It looks fantastic.  I'd love to see the plans.

[Tim Martin]

I was looking over the fence from Irondequoit in the Fall of 2019 and marveled at the amount of equipment that was involved. Looked like they were getting ready to build a shopping center. I’ve seen different versions of Oak Hill East as a spectator for major tournaments over the years by the hand of RTJ and then the Fazios. I hope I get a chance to play and experience Andrew Green’s work.

[Paul Rudovsky]

Played this summer...simply outstanding IMO.  And I was NOT a fan of what had happened to Oak Hill-East over the previous 40 or so years.  Would expect it to really shoot up in rankings over next 3-5 years as it gets enough raters seeing it.

[Mark_Fine]

Great video.  Looks like a well thought out project and a dramatic change from what was there when I last played it.  For those who saw the work in person, do you see some Langford or Strong in those new bunkers.  Many look quite bold and muscle back.  So hard to tell with out seeing them in person but I really liked the work. Must be nice to have those kind of budgets.  They mention Merion in the video.  I think the budget/cost there was $17MM.   Wonder what they spent here? 

[Rob Marshall]

Great video.  Looks like a well thought out project and a dramatic change from what was there when I last played it.  For those who saw the work in person, do you see some Langford or Strong in those new bunkers.  Many look quite bold and muscle back.  So hard to tell with out seeing them in person but I really liked the work. Must be nice to have those kind of budgets.  They mention Merion in the video.  I think the budget/cost there was $17MM.   Wonder what they spent here?

Mark, I don’t think it was anywhere near there. I think I heard 6 million.

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

Having played both the East and West courses at Oak Hill I was always dumbfounded by how much character the greens on the West course had with crazy humps and bumps rising like angry seas and how little character the "championship" East course greens had.
My conclusion was the East course greens had been "open doctored" to death.
Merion East also fell victim to the "open doctor" and many of their greens were de-fanged.
I couldn't tell from the video but I hope that Green's renovation brought back some interest to the green pads on the East course.

Great news that they did serious tree removal. Was it Tom Doak, here, who commented that the golfers had to proceed down the fairways at Oak Hill in single file?

What ever happened to our former frequent GCA poster JNC Lyons who grew up playing Oak Hill? Just wondering.

[Rob Marshall]

IMO, the course was never in my experience tight enough to merit that statement. Rough was always the penalty off the tee. When the senior PGA was won by Jay Haas it was reported players were calling their buddies telling them not to come because the course was playing so tough in the first couple of days in the practice rounds. They went deep in the alternate pool. Nick Price played 9 holes and packed his bags.


John Blain was a member. He could give some pretty good insight.

[John Blain]

Hi Rob-
I don't have a whole lot to add, unfortunately! You are absolutely correct about the 2008 Senior PGA playing ridiculously difficult. The story I heard is that they fertilized the rough a week or so ago before the event and the weather that week was - shocker- predominantly cool and wet and players were losing balls in the rough. It was crazy especially for the seniors.
Regarding the renovation I have not heard one negative comment from anyone. It has apparently been a tremendous success and I was told by a good source that it has brought in a significant number of new members.
Mark Fine- I believe you are correct about Merion, the word on the street is that everything all-in was in the neighborhood of $18 miilion. Oak Hill was $6 million or so I was told.
Malcolm - With the exception of the 4 new Fazio greens  (5,6,15, 18) I believe the other 14 are all original Ross greens. They may not have the "humps and bumps" the west course greens have but they all have LOTS of movement in them.
 John Lyon is now a married man and last I knew was pursuing an MBA, I want to say at the University of Chicago. I don't believe he's playing much golf and it seems like years since he last posted here.
-John

[Kyle Harris]

John Lyon is now a married man and last I knew was pursuing an MBA, I want to say at the University of Chicago. I don't believe he's playing much golf and it seems like years since he last posted here.
-John

All of this is accurate except the last bit. Unless that 9 I played with him yesterday was a fantasy. 

I'll ping him.

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

Kyle,

So where is he hiding??
Sources in Rochester, NY indicate perhaps Chicago, but not sure.
Where in the world is John Lyon??

[John Foley]

Last communication I had from him (and it was a while ago) was he was in Sarasota FL.