When I started this quest, there were about 98 courses that fit the bill – having hosted a US Major Championship. Alas, since that time, the USGA and PGA of America have held true to their stated goal of growing the game by adding several wonderful courses to the rota such as Torrey Pines (US Open), Bethpage Black (soon to be both), Erin Hills (most recent US Open) and Quail Hollow (this year’s PGA Championship). In spite of checking off 3 to 4 courses a year, I have yet to achieve the halfway mark…until now! 52 down, 52 to go!!!
I am officially 50% complete in my journey, having just recently played an outstanding and incredibly tough course in Edmond, Oklahoma – Oak Tree National Golf Club. Oak
Tree hosted the 1988 PGA Championship, won by Jeff Sluman.
It continues to be used as a championship venue, including having hosted the US Women’s Open in 2014.
Let me just start by saying how tough Oak Tree is! The course has plenty of length, a plethora of bunkers and water hazards, and a Dye-abolical design that tricks the eye at every turn. It didn’t help that the course was set up to host the Oklahoma State Women’s Championship, which was finishing up when I arrived to play. The greens appear to be postage stamps from the fairway and it seemed like all of them had a catcher’s mitt full of sand directly between where my ball lay and the pin. Add to that temperatures that were hovering around the century mark and I knew it’d be a tough challenge. In a word – intimidating! But what a blast to play! As tough as it is, I thought it was a fair track, although one where you would benefit significantly from playing it more than once, if you don’t mind getting another beating!
My goal at the start was to shoot bogey golf – which meant 89 on the par 71 layout. After a front nine 48, my goal shifted to playing the back nine in 44 – again, bogey golf. After a triple on 15, I arrived at the short par 5 16th 9 over, needing to finish even par. Having only 3 pars so far, that seemed like a tall order. Fortunately, I hit the drive of the day, releasing quite a bit of frustration over my disastrous 15th hole. 195 yards from an elevated green, I hammered the old Callaway steelhead 5-wood to the back of green and down in a swale. (Yes, that steelhead is probably older than all of my children but if you’ve ever hit one well, you’ll remember the unforgettable “clink” of hitting the sweet spot!). Opting to putt from off the green, my ball took an unexpected left turn on a unforeseen ridge, leaving me 21 feet from the pin. BAM! My birdie putt somehow found the bottom of the cup – what a relief! Of course, it was short lived when I bogeyed the par 3 17th.
Eighteen was how I wish I could play every hole – solid drive down the middle of the fairway, 9 iron on the green and 2 uneventful putts to finish with a par and a 44 on the back. At least I left this tough course feeling good about the finish. And so grateful for the opportunity to knock off one more course on my Major Bucket List!
Thank you Oak Tree National pros and staff!
MajorBucketList.com 