A year after approving the renovation of its legendary South Course with a design by renowned golf architect Gil Hanse, Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township today announced is will install a PrecisionAire system.
The system uses the latest technology to dry, cool, and heat the green subsurface to ensure high-quality surface conditions throughout golf season. The renovation work will begin Oct. 1.
The course, which has hosted U.S. Open Championships, PGA Championships, and a Ryder Cup match, will re-open in the spring of 2021. The club’s North Course, the recent site of the 2019 and 2012 Michigan Amateur and 2016 U.S. Amateur, will remain open throughout the South Course renovation.
“The PrecisionAire system will help fulfill our vision for a consistently great day-to-day member experience on the renovated South Course,” says Ton Stacy, the club’s president. “This long-term investment received enthusiastic support from the membership, validating our commitment to our vision. Oakland Hills South Course will be the first course in Michigan to have this type of technology, which courses like the Merion Golf Club, Bel-Air Country Club, and TPC Sawgrass have added in recent years.”
“PrecisionAire will provide benefits through the spring, summer and fall for optimal growing and performance conditions on the green complexes by controlling moisture content and temperature, using sensors in the greens” explained Rory Godfrey, COO and General Manager of the Club.
The renovation project:
- Addresses various areas with linear and penal bunkering and replaces them with risk and reward-oriented features
- Introduces modern technology and improved infrastructure to a 100-year-old course
- Rebuilds what many consider to be the best green complexes in the country, keeping the traditional Oakland Hills undulations
- Improves the greens subsurface to promote consistent drainage and surface conditions
- Adds new grass surfaces on the greens to perform at peak levels throughout the playing season
- Increases the size of the greens to allow additional hole locations
- Provides championship bunker conditions
- Ensures high-quality grass surfaces throughout the property
- Addresses strategic placement of forward tees and extends the championship tees to more than 7500 yards
- Includes a new irrigation system and pumps
- Extends peak playing conditions on each side of the season.
“We appreciate that the membership has approved all renovation plans for the South Course at Oakland Hills,” says Gil Hanse, founder of Hanse Golf Course Design. “We are now looking forward to beginning the project as we look to combine the best attributes of the original Donald Ross design, with the finest aspects of the course evolution that has occurred over the last 60-plus years. Our goal is to maximize the potential of this exceptional golfing landscape and this masterpiece of a golf course.”
Founded in 1916, Oakland Hills has hosted six U.S. Open Championships, three PGA Championships, the Ryder Cup, two U.S. Senior Open Championships, two U.S. Amateur Championships and a U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. Dubbed “The Monster” by Ben Hogan, the Donald Ross-designed South Course was enhanced by Robert Trent Jones prior to the 1951 U.S. Open Championship and Rees Jones prior to the 2008 PGA Championship.
