Oakland Hills South - Review

[BG5]

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to play Oakland Hills (South) today and it was an amazing experience. The staff at OHCC is outstanding and really made me feel comfortable upon my arrival. The locker room facilities were first class and the shoe shine guy clearly knows what he is doing because my "kicks" look brand new :). It was easy to see why OHCC is one of the best clubs in the world and I was amazed at the size of the clubhouse. I thought Forest Dunes clubhouse was big.....OHCC is HUGE. We took caddies and if you ever get the chance request Eric....he was awesome and really helped settle me down. He is on the bag for Redwing player "Cleary" so I must of gotten really lucky to have him.

 

Here are some of my thoughts on the course. First off you can really spray it around as the course is pretty wide open and I was pleasantly surprised at the rough. I was figuring the rough would be really tough but found the exact opposite....the club had the rough about 2-3 inches so it was a relief for a hack like me. Additionally the green were lightening fast even though we had plenty of moisture when we played but they were very fair. i made my fair share of 8-10 footers and I imagine they can really be tough when they firm up but they rolled so pure and true. The sand traps were awesome on approach shots and it was the purest sand I have ever hit....I had the best sand day of my life and my sand game was really the highlight of my day. Although there wer some really long par 4"s the par 5's were very reachable and were meant to be scored on

 

Hole # 6 - short par four that allows you plenty of options. Your approach shot is into an elevated green that is surround by bunkers. It's a very cool tee shot and one that catches your eye right away.

 

Hole # 8 short par 5 that is reachable in two. Again a lot of risk reward and its a great opportunity to get a birdie

 

Hole # 11 - it might be one of the best par fours in the world. It's a slight dogleg right and the goal off the tee is to make it over the hill. If you do it will ad 40-50 yds to your drive. Again the green is surrounded by bunkers and the green allows you to funnel the ball depending on pin location. This tee shot grabs your attention right away.

 

Hole # 13 - a great chance to get an ace on this baby. Short par three and if the pin is low the everything funnels to the front of the green. There is something about watch your ball funnel towards the pin that still has me grinning ear to ear

 

Hole #15 - par 4 - slight dogleg right with water protecting the right side of fairway and green. It really makes you ask the question how risky do I want to be? The pin placement was right side of green and I went for it....lets just say the only ball I lost was on 15 :)

 

Hole # 18 par 5 and an amazing finishing hole. Your approach shot is into a heavily bunkered green. The green has a hump in the middle that allows you to funnel to either side. My approach shot was short and I hit the "monster" bunker. Lets just say I could not see the flag from 7 feet away but my sand game was on and I had my shot of the day out of the bunker.

 

The food was outstanding and it was weird to be eating next to Al Kahline and two redwing players. It was a great way to end a fantastic day.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

[dozer996]

Nice report, hope to get on Oakland South soon.

[MaxPower328]

Nice report. The Lockerroom and men's grille are both pretty special to walk through. I loved all the memorabilia on the walls. Did your caddie say anything about Cleary resigning?

[itw419]

Sounds like a great time. I hope to make it out there one day.

[BG5]

[quote name='MaxPower328' timestamp='1373412525' post='7420522']
Nice report. The Lockerroom and men's grille are both pretty special to walk through. I loved all the memorabilia on the walls. Did your caddie say anything about Cleary resigning?
[/quote]

Max - he did mention that Cleary has not resigned yet and he also said that he's right around a scratch golfer. He mentioned that Cleary hits the ball long......7 iron 200 yds and that clearly was almost kicked out of the club for almost driving a cart into the pond. Apparently he and another NHL member (not a redwing) like their boos . I want to party with him.

[MaxPower328]

[quote name='BG5' timestamp='1373415849' post='7420886']
[quote name='MaxPower328' timestamp='1373412525' post='7420522']
Nice report. The Lockerroom and men's grille are both pretty special to walk through. I loved all the memorabilia on the walls. Did your caddie say anything about Cleary resigning?
[/quote]

Max - he did mention that Cleary has not resigned yet and he also said that he's right around a scratch golfer. He mentioned that Cleary hits the ball long......7 iron 200 yds and that clearly was almost kicked out of the club for almost driving a cart into the pond. Apparently he and another NHL member (not a redwing) like their boos . I want to party with him.
[/quote]

Ha. That's great. We had a couple NHL guys (Bertuzzi & Samsonov) at our member/guest last year and it was amazing to see how far they could hit it with no back swings.

I follow Mike Modano on twitter and it sounds like him, Dan Cleary and Shawn Horcoff organize an outing each summer. You can imagine the types of courses they play with those paychecks. I think I read they did Spyglass Pebble Cypress this year.

[3_Jack_Par]

Jealous! Glad the weather held out for you, even if it might have been on the disgustingly hot end of things.

[odshot68]

Congrats on playing there. Its amazing they play 18 as a par 4 during majors in addition to the longer rough. Great designed track by Ross!

[DoYouKnowTheMuffinMan]

[quote name='BG5' timestamp='1373415849' post='7420886']
[quote name='MaxPower328' timestamp='1373412525' post='7420522']
Nice report. The Lockerroom and men's grille are both pretty special to walk through. I loved all the memorabilia on the walls. Did your caddie say anything about Cleary resigning?
[/quote]

Max - he did mention that Cleary has not resigned yet and he also said that he's right around a scratch golfer. He mentioned that Cleary hits the ball long......7 iron 200 yds and that clearly was almost kicked out of the club for almost driving a cart into the pond. Apparently he and another NHL member (not a redwing) like their boos . I want to party with him.
[/quote]
I followed Cleary in a pro am at the Buick open the last year it was at Warwick and I must say there is no way in heck he hits the ball that far unless he is using already strong lofted irons that bent even stronger.

[Mi-Golfer]

Wow,

Great report! What a difference a few days makes. I was lucky enough to play on the 2nd and they had their club championships over the weekend. The rough was pretty brutal and the greens were scary fast. I putted compltely off the green on #6!
I spent a good amount of time in the bunkers too - it's kind of hard not to when there are something like 120 of them!
The shoe guy (Chris?)is some kind of magician for sure!
Mr. Kaline ( I can't call him Al)must be a regular - we saw him too.
I have to agree it really is an amazing place.

[highergr0und]

Fantastic course, and they can make it play really tough when the tour comes to town.