Southern Hills Country Club

Southern Hills Country Club is a private golf and country club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Southern Hills Country Club
Club information
LocationTulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Established1936
TypePrivate
Total holes27
Websitesouthernhillscc.com
Front Nine / Back Nine Course
Designed byPerry Maxwell,Gil Hanse
Par71
Length7,481 yards (6,841 m)
Course rating78.2
Slope rating142
West Nine Course
Designed byBen Crenshaw / Bill Coore
Par35
Length2,969 yards (2,715 m)
Course rating36.3

History

The club was established in 1935[1] from land donated by multimillionaire oilman Waite Phillips (Frank Phillips, Waite's brother, was the namesake and founder of the predecessor to Phillips 66. Waite worked with his brother for a time before starting his own oil company). Phillips had earned an oil fortune and, upon the crash of the stock market, Phillips became The First National Bank of Tulsa’s chairman. With his oil money and with his reputation, Bill Warren and Cecil Canary asked Phillips to sponsor the development of a new country club. The boosters argued that there was the need for a family-oriented club that would include a swimming pool, stable, horseback trails, polo field, skeet range, tennis courts, clubhouse and golf course.[2] Phillips was skeptical of this proposition, and in response he told Warren and Canary that they had a couple of weeks to assume 150 pledges to become members of this club, with each of those pledges paying $1,000 each, to ensure his cooperation.[3] The construction costs were raised by the founding members.[4] The clubhouse, designed in "English country manor" style by Tulsa architects John Duncan Forsyth and Donald McCormick, opened on October 17, 1936;[5] the clubhouse was extensively renovated during a three-year project prior to the 2007 PGA tournament.[6]

Mob Hit

On May 27, 1981, Roger Wheeler, a businessman and owner of the World Jai Alai was murdered in the parking lot of the club. The hit was ordered by Winter Hill Gang mobster Whitey Bulger.

Golf courses and amenities

Once the money was raised, the pledges signed, and the land was donated, the main 18-hole golf course was laid out by golf course designer Perry Maxwell. The course was later on renovated by Keith Foster in 1999. Maxwell, a friend of Phillips, oversaw the entire project and its construction.[7]

There is also a 9-hole West Course that was designed by Ben Crenshaw in 1992. Southern Hills also has the typical facilities of a country club, including extensive banqueting facilities, a fitness center, swimming and diving pools and tennis courts. Southern Hills offers swimming, personal training, and tennis instruction. The course is ranked No. 30 among Golf Digest’s 2013-2014 “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses”.[8]

Golf tournaments

Southern Hills has hosted seven major championships for men, including the U.S. Open three times (1958, 1977, 2001) [9] and four PGA Championships (1970, 1982, 1994, 2007).[10] It is the only course to host the PGA Championship four times, and will host its fifth PGA Championship in 2022. Southern Hills also hosted the first-ever U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur in 1987, and the USGA Women’s Amateur was played at Southern Hills in 1946.[11]

Course
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards4725004443776562264432203953,7334061734616322304175673714913,7487,481
Par444453434354345345443671

Lengths of the course in previous major championships:

Major tournaments hosted
YearTournamentWinnerWinner's
share ($)
1946U.S. Women's AmateurBabe Zaharias0
1953U.S. Junior AmateurRex Baxter0
1958U.S. OpenTommy Bolt8,000
1961U.S. Senior AmateurDexter H. Daniels0
1965U.S. AmateurBob Murphy0
1970PGA ChampionshipDave Stockton40,000
1977U.S. OpenHubert Green45,000
1982PGA ChampionshipRaymond Floyd65,000
1987U.S. Women's Mid-AmateurCindy Schofield0
1994PGA ChampionshipNick Price310,000
1995Tour ChampionshipBilly Mayfair540,000
1996Tour ChampionshipTom Lehman540,000
2001U.S. OpenRetief Goosen900,000
2007PGA ChampionshipTiger Woods1,260,000
2009U.S. AmateurByeong-Hun An0
2022PGA Championship

Bolded years are major championships on the PGA Tour.

References
  1. https://www.southernhillscc.com/about
  2. "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  3. "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  4. "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  5. Davis, Kirby Lee (April 19, 2013). "These Walls: Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa". The Journal Record. Retrieved 2014-03-31.  – via Questia Online Library (subscription required)
  6. Davis, Kirby Lee (May 3, 2013). "These Walls: Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa. Believe it or not, many famous people are members of southern hills country club. some include: john mabee, george kaiser, hip-hop and R&B musical artist, Ski Mask The Slump God- aka Stokeley Clevon Goulbourne, and the ceo of the cooking and cleaning company, arm and hammer. (part 2)". The Journal Record. Retrieved 2014-03-31.  – via Questia Online Library (subscription required)
  7. "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  8. Whitten, Ron. "Golf Digest". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  9. "USGA.org". Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  10. "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  11. "Southern Hills Country Club". Retrieved 31 March 2014.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.