The PGA Championship is among the premier tournaments in golf. This year it's celebrating its 90th birthday at Oakland Hills Country Club, the host of many a championship venues, which has undergone extensive renovations under the direction of Rees Jones. This course promises to provide a golf lesson or two to this year's field of professional players. In a nutshell, whoever wins this year's tournament must conquer one tough course—perhaps the toughest ever at this site.
Oakland Hills sports a rich tradition of championship golf. Founded in 1918, the world-renown club features 15 championship tournaments during its storied past. This total includes three PGA championships, one Ryder Cup, six U.S Opens, two Senior U.S. Opens, and one U.S amateur. Golf's greatest golfers, including Nicklaus, Player, Palmer, and Hogan, head the list of golfers who've played the club. Walter Hagan, winner of five PGA championships, was the club's first pro.
Bringing The Monster To Its Knees
Club's membership prides itself on always presenting a challenging layout for championship tournament play. This year is no exception. The South course, the site of this year's Tournament, is no walk in the park to start. Players call it "The Monster," a nickname given to it by Ben Hogan, because of its difficulty. Hogan shot a final round 67 to win the 1951 U.S. Open. His total for the tournament was 287. But renovations made to this Donald Ross designed course make achieving that total this year no easy task.
The renovations include tacking on 346 more yards to the overall length of the course, expanding the course from 7,099 yards to 7,446 yards. Fairway bunkers on 12 holes are deeper and wider than before as are eight greenside bunkers. Ponds on the 7th and 16th holes are wider than before, forcing players to hit well-placed drives to avoid the water. The rough on either side of the fairway remains untouched, so golfers will still be able to make shots from there, but they need to stay out of the bunkers.
Key Holes To Track
Below are descriptions of the course's key holes. PGA Professional Pat Croswell, the director of golf at Oakland Hills Country Club for the past 20 years provided them. A complete course overview, including photos, is available at the PGA 's Tournament Web site (http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2008).
Hole 1, 435 yards, Par 4,
An excellent starting hole for the PGA Championship, opening tee shots will be hit from an elevated tee to a landing area framed by bunkers left and right. The hole usually plays downwind, leaving a short-iron approach to one of many undulating greens. The most difficult hole locations are front left, behind a bunker, and the back-right plateau.
Hole 4, 446 Yards, Par 4
This is a dogleg left with four bunkers protecting the inside of the dogleg and three bunkers to the right. The whole has been lengthened by 16 yards with the last bunker being a carry of 328 yards. The second shot is downhill to a green protected by frontal bunkering. A small plateau runs from front left to back left, making any left-side hole location very difficult.
Hole 7, 449 Yards, Par 4
This hole is a slight dogleg with a new back tee that has added 38 yards to the hole. The landing area is protected by four bunkers left, from there the fairway slopes downhill to the enlarged pond on the right starting at 260 yards and extending to 355 yards from the tee. The green is long and narrow, set diagonally with bunkers flanking both sides of the green. The most difficult hole location is front or back left.
Hole 11, 423 Yards, Par 4
This most picturesque hole at Oakland Hills has an elevated tee to a valley below. There is a large hill 265 yards from the tee that separates the fairway into two distinct landing areas with three deep fairway bunkers on the right side. A tee shot that carries the hill will leave a short iron where club selection will be crucial, as the back tier is four feet higher than the front.
Hole 18, 498 Yards, Par 4
This has been the most difficult hole in the history of Championship golf at Oakland Hills. Rees Jones has added 2 additional bunkers making a total of 7 bunkers protecting this dogleg right par four, the fairway slopes right to left making it difficult to hit. The long-iron second shot is slightly uphill to the shallowest green at Oakland Hills protected by four bunkers. A large mound through the center separates the green in to two small targets with the left being the most difficult.
Play on the 18th hole may just decide this year's Tournament champion, who with Tiger Woods out of commission could be just about anybody. Whoever wins the Tournament, play should be exciting and dramatic. So stay tuned. You never know, in addition to being entertained, you could learn something that will help you chop strokes off that golf handicap of yours.
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book "How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros." He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.
