Oak Tree to host more majors?

[Craig Sweet]

I see the PGA is saying Oak Tree might be in line to host more majors.

It sure didn't look like "major" material to me, especially for the regular tour.

The greens did not appear to have a lot of contour. The fairways, for the Senior PGA, looked very wide and slow, and I saw little in the way of fairway bunkering that came into play.

[mike_beene]

Oak Tree is a nonequity club and wants majors and I think members.It went through the real estate bust a few years ago.Helicopters no longer land there daily.Conditions in Aug for a PGA would be different,with 419 fairways as opposed to the sticky overseed.Greens would need newer strain of bent or subair.There is room for more length already.Not all of it was used.Think of the bermuda rough.This could be as tough as any setup.Lots of corporate tent room,and the tents have a stadium view of 1,17 and 8 greens and 9 and 18 tees.Ok City sold out the villas at 150000 a piece.May not be a classic course but PGA could do a lot worse.

[Matt_Cohn]

But would they choose it over Southern Hills? Does Southern Hills have a PGA/Ryder Cup deal already?

[Travis Ripley]

But would they choose it over Southern Hills? Does Southern Hills have a PGA/Ryder Cup deal already?

Southern Hills has a PGA in 2008 or 2009 scheduled.  the 94 PGA at SH was originally to be at Oak Tree but due to not having female members post the Shoal Creek membership firestorm it was moved up the turnpike to Tulsa (Oak Tree GC was originally and nominally called the "Men's Course"--there's an Oak Tree CC across the road that has 27 holes which was referred to as the "Family Course" back inna day.  the CC is pretty solid golf--also Dye--....the 1984 US Amateur 2 day medal qualifying was played at both the GC and the CC...I caddied).  

the Seniors played the GC at about 7000, and it can play up to about 7400 these days.  for instance, the par 3 17th.  they were hitting 8 and 9 irons....and i've always hit 3-4 iron in the past.  those tees were way up.  

i'd disagree with the suggestion that Oak Tree is flat and the greens non-distinct.  the greens are actually bigger than they used to be and a bit less contour....but they are still pretty salty.  if you watched closely nearly every fairway has players with a ball above or below player's feet lie.  it's a difficult golf course and, frankly, not much fun to play regularly unless you are playing really well.  IMHO.  


edit: and just to add:  my dad (was an Oak Tree member for about a decade) said the rough was pretty tame even compared to everyday member play which may have given the image the fairways seemed so wide.  I don't know.  i watched both the Saturday and Sunday rounds on TV and felt the placement of the cameras made the layout difficult to understand if you were not already familiar with the golf course.  
 

[Chris_Clouser]

Southern Hills will host the 2007 PGA.

The reason the 94 PGA was moved had a lot more to do with the financial situation of the Oak Tree GC than with their membership policy.  The owners at the time were going under due to the S&L scandal and the availability of the site for the championship was in serious jeopardy.  Or at least that is the story that has been reported in the Daily Oklahoman and by Del Lemon in his book about Oklahoma golf.  

[Glenn Spencer]

Chris,

Find out somehow when they changed their membership policy and you will have your answer. No course was(post 1990) or is getting a tournament with exclusionary policies. If their's was still in place in 90,91 or so, it doesn't matter what Del Lemon has to say, the policy was the reason.

[Chris_Clouser]

Considering I have copies of a Daily Oklahoman article that quote Southern Hills and Oak Tree club officials and a spokesman from the USGA that say that the reason involved the financial situation of the club, I would tend to think that was the overriding factor.  

The article has nothing at all to say about their membership policies being in question.  Perhaps that was a behind the scenes issue, but all I can say about the matter is what has been reported in several locations.

[Matt_Ward]

If a future major does come to Oak Tree I'd like to see the course play to its full length instead of the capitulation the PGA brass pulled when the '88 PGA was there.

I can remember covering the event and all the angst key PGA people had because of the fanfare going into the event that Oak Tree would prove to be a very demanding site.

Unfortunately, the typical August winds didn't occur and the course was soaked with enough water to keep anything from bouncing around.

No doubt with Southern Hills in the neighborhood the competition for majors will be a tough one to overcome.

[Glenn Spencer]

Chris,

Not challenging anything that you say at all. I am just saying that there was no two ways about it. If there policy was still in place, then they weren't having the tournament, if it wasn't, then it was the financial issue. It is cut and dried.

[Chris_Clouser]

I'll look at the articles for a date of when it was announced.  I'm thinking it was to mid-1993.  If I remember right the announcement was very late in the process and the reason Southern Hills was chosen was due to geography so that not all of the logistics would need to be drastically changed.

I don't have any knowledge of Oak Tree membership practices and when they switched.  But from the accounts I've read it sounds like the issues causing the move were unrelated, especially with the timing of when the switch was announced.  Again, it could be that they didn't want to draw attention to the membership practices and had a good enough reason with the financial situation of the club at the time.

[Glenn Spencer]

Chris,

It could be. I agree, it will be a cold PGA at Southern Hills before you see an Oak Tree member saying that the reason it is going to Southern Hills is because of their membership practices. The same goes for the club that is getting it.