From today's Detroit News:
Jones' South Course plays host role well
By Vartan Kupelian / The Detroit News
Robert Trent Jones, the man who put the “monster” into Oakland Hills Country Club’s South Course more than a half-century ago, would have been pleased with his design.
That’s the opinion of his son, Robert Trent Jones Jr., who was an interested observer at the 35th Ryder Cup matches. Jones Jr., like his father, is a golf course architect who designed The Orchards, the wonderful public course in Washington Township, some 30 miles northeast of Detroit.
The elder Jones was hired by Oakland Hills to toughen the South Course for the 1951 U.S. Open. The championship was won by the legendary Ben Hogan, who said afterward he was glad to have been able to bring “this monster” to its knees with his final-round 67.
“I think my father would say, ‘See, Hogan was right — I was the last monster maker,’ “ Jones said. “The golf course and his design have passed the test of time, and he would be pleased it was tested in match play.
“The course is one of my father’s master works.”
Europe figured out how to beat the Monster in its lopsided 18 1/2-9 1/2 victory over the United States.
The answer, not surprisingly, was in the greens. The Europeans putted beautifully on the large, segmented greens. They figured out the slopes and breaks and hit some majestic approach shots. Around the greens, they pitched and chipped like they’d been playing Oakland Hills all their lives.
In contrast, the United States players never seemed to be comfortable around the greens. They were tentative with the putter and misjudged the breaks on many attempts.
“You have to get the ball close to the hole at Oakland Hills,” Jones said. “You can’t make a snake there, like you can at the Belfry. Some of the putts on the Oakland Hills greens sweep eight feet. You saw the putts on the 18th green. These are wonderful greens and elevated. You’ve got to carry the ball to them.
“The greens always were contoured, and there are little targets within the greens. It was always my father’s philosophy — you’ve got to get close to the hole to make a birdie. “
The Belfry is the English course in Sutton-Coldfield which has been host to the Ryder Cup, most recently two years ago.
In his redesign for 1951, Jones replaced some 60 original Ross bunkers with 80 of his own design, most of them pinching the fairways in at about 260 yards.
“Now the bunkering is in play,” his son said.
“The tee shots here retain the sense of integrity moreso than some of the modern courses. It’s not funny, it’s not fluffy. It is a very straightforward, visible golf course. You can see what you have to do off the tee. In that sense, it’s a very classic, real golf course.”
Jones said the match-play format suits the Europeans.
“In match play, Europe always does better because that’s the game they play,” he said. “They play many games we don’t play, like foursomes.”
The best example is the comments made by Chris Riley, the American rookie who turned down a chance to play a foursomes match with Tiger Woods on Saturday afternoon. After posting a huge victory in best-ball with Woods, Riley told Captain Hal Sutton he had never played foursomes and therefore didn’t feel comfortable. Riley told Sutton the team would be better off with a more experienced player in the alternate-shot format.
The United States did come away empty-handed from the Ryder Cup.
“Oakland Hills won,” Jones said. “It’s a wonderful venue. Spectating was relatively easy, the tees are near the greens, and it was handled beautiful. Overall, Oakland Hills did a masterful job of hosting.”