Classics: Oak Hill Restoring To Ross, Olympic Club Turns To 1970's Florida For Inspiration

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On his Fried Egg podcast today, Andy Johnson and I were hard-pressed to think of a course unhappy with a pure restoration of their Golden Age design.

Which is why a copule of items got my attention, starting with the exciting, long, long, long overdue news that Oak Hill's membership has voted to go back to their Ross design while joining the long list of courses to de-Fazio.

Tim Rosaforte reports for Golf World that the work will take place after the 2019 Senior PGA but in time for the (May?) 2023 PGA Championship the club is scheduled to host. The work will be overseen by Andrew Green with consulting from Rochester's Jeff Sluman working off of the very well-documented Ross plans for the East Course.

“The history of the place is incredible and the documentation spectacular,” said Green, who is also handling a Ross restoration at Inverness. “We’ve got a nice set of documents to work off of.”

Rosaforte also notes this about the issues facing a May PGA Championship in Rochester:

If there’s concern about Oak Hill’s readiness for the 2023 PGA, particularly if the PGA of America goes ahead with a proposal to move the dates of the major from August to May, it’s not over course conditions but whether the weather in upstate New York could create problems during the 100-day build out of the infrastructure required to host a major.

Meanwhile I'm utterly flummoxed by what has happened at the historic and enchanting Olympic Club, where the already-deep, ancient bunkers have gotten deeper and decidedly less attractive. (Unless you're into 1970s architecture with little of the historic vibe that always has been the Olympic Club look.)

Golfweek's Bradley Klein with the horrifying photos for those who admire the Lake Course:


At least the faces are so steep that keeping too much sand on them is not an issue: