Oak Hill Country Club - New York, U.S.A.
Oak Hill Country
Club's East Course in Rochester is one of
America's most classic and demanding parkland
courses, and has hosted many major championships
over the years, including three U.S. Opens, the
1995 Ryder Cup, and the
2003
PGA Championship won by unsung Shaun Micheel. Designed by Donald Ross in
the 1920s, and revised and lengthened by Rochester
native son Robert Trent Jones, the central design
feature is Allen's Creek, which comes into play on
seven holes. The fairways are pinched by more than
15,000 majestic trees, most of which were planted
under the direction of member Dr. John R. Williams,
who gave up his medical practice to become Oak
Hill's arborist. In 1989, Curtis Strange won his
second consecutive U.S. Open at Oak Hill,
withstanding the brutally long three par-four
finishing holes and aided by Tom Kite's triple bogey
on the fifth hole, where he put his tee shot in
Allen's Creek. Oak Hill's "Hill of Fame" overlooks
the 13th green and is composed of oak trees, each of
which is dedicated to an outstanding golfer.
Sugarloaf Golf Club - Maine, U.S.A.
Ever since it opened
in 1985, Sugarloaf Golf Club at the well-known ski
resort has been the picture postcard for golf in
Maine. Part of Sugarloaf's attraction is its
remoteness. The course is carved out of the pristine
forest that cloaks the western mountains of Maine
and which radiates with spectral crimson and gold in
the autumn. It was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., who selected the
land split by the Carrabbasset River at the base of
the mountains as the site for the course. The
fairways at Sugarloaf are engulfed with white birch
and pines, making accuracy a necessity. The front
nine is full of doglegs, with views of the Bigelow
Range and 4,237-foot-high Mt. Sugarloaf The back
nine begins with a short par four, with the tee set
110 feet above the fairway in the valley below. The
next five holes each play along or across the rocky
gauntlet of the Carrabbasset River.
Oak Hill Country Club and
Sugarloaf Golf Club, U.S.A.