Oakland Hills approves South Course renovation by Gil Hanse

[Tom_Doak]

Nice observation Anthony. 

Have a look at #3 green in the aerial.  It appears to have bunkering more in line with the '29 sketch than Hanse's website plan.  This project appears to be a truer restoration than originally planned.

I think that happens often on restorations.  Same thing at Bel Air - they wanted me to stop a bit short of complete restoration when the members voted, but after that, the green chairman and the board encouraged me to restore it 100% if I felt that was the right thing to do.


In many other restorations (Yeamans Hall, The Valley Club, SFGC), when we stopped short for political reasons, eventually the club had us back in to restore the last 3%.  But some get caught up going back and forth on what version of a hole to restore.

[Brent Carlson]

Courtesy Metro Detroit Golfers:

https://youtu.be/O3ZEa-SnWjI

[Kurt Everett]

Courtesy Metro Detroit Golfers:

https://youtu.be/O3ZEa-SnWjI

Wow.  I've never played in Michigan but what a gorgeous golf course

[Mike Schott]

Courtesy Metro Detroit Golfers:

https://youtu.be/O3ZEa-SnWjI

Wow.  I've never played in Michigan but what a gorgeous golf course

Nice PR video if very light on the actual GCA aspect of the restoration.


A few words about Metro Detroit Golfers. They have a huge Michigan presence on social media and have done a lot to promote public golf in our state. Mike Sullivan who is a local sports radio celebrity is behind this and was heavily involved in communicating with Phil Mickelson to mend fences over the unfortunately timed story in the local newspaper during the recent Rocket Mortgage tournament.

[Tom Bacsanyi]

Place looks awesome. Noticed the range bunkers are still in the RTJ/Reese Jones style. There's always something more to do!

[Anthony Gholz]

Brent:  Thanks for the video.
Tom: [size=78%]I'd keep your eye across the street.[/size]


Anthony

[Brent Carlson]

Here are some informative articles about the completion of this project:




Detroit news article about the archaeological work by Hanse and team.  The pdf of the 1929 Women's Am program is linked.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/golf/2021/07/19/how-old-yellowing-program-1929-became-bible-oakland-hills-restoration/8014622002/


An excellent article by Dr. Klein in Golf Course Architecture magazine:


https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/the-july-2021-issue-of-golf-course-architecture-is-out-now


An article on the playing experience at the restored OH-South from Golfpass:


https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/articles/oakland-hills-south-renovation-2021


Finally aerials from 2019, 1937 and 2021:




[size=78%][/size]
[size=78%][/size][size=78%][/size]

[Carl Nichols]

The tree removal, cross-course views, and apparent widening of the fairways seems very similar, as a general matter, to the renovation at Congressional Blue (which Brad Klein has called a "transformation"). 

[Brent Carlson]

A month after the fire it appears Oakland Hills will be receiving good news.  John Bodenhammer, Andy North and Gil Hanse will all be at Detroit Athletic Club on Tuesday for an announcement.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/golf/2022/03/16/month-after-fire-oakland-hills-could-getting-good-news-u-s-open/7061041001/