Southern Hills - in Tulsa

You might not think of Tulsa, Oklahoma as a golf mecca, but then you might not think of Tulsa as an oil patch boomtown either. Southern Hills in Tulsa has hosted 3 mens’s US Opens, 4 PGA’s, and 2 US Amateur, as well as US Women and Junior championships and 2 Tour Championships. What are they doing right?

It’s not easy to overlook this history, because this list seems to be everywhere at the club. On the scorecard, in the locker room, on the shopping bags. As the club history indicates, Southern Hills has found a way to make money for the club from these tournaments. And they invest the money back into the club in both the well-kept championship course, the sprawling clubhouse and the expansive grounds. Facilities were not only top notch but also top in size, making it a good place to host a large national event. Tulsa also has a good reputation as a city of people that get things done.

We arrived at the Tulsa airport and drove straight to the course. Driving in, we changed quickly and headed straight out, no lunch, no warm up, just on the tee. I had decided since I could not remember the last time I played (October?) that I would be content with playing the shots I was comfortable with. It was a good plan as I hit the shorter clubs with confidence, did not try and overpower any shots and generally kept the ball in play.

The course had the honor of being challenging but not overpowering. It helped that we played from the white tees but in general, the fairways were wide, the rough not so rough, the trees not too thick. But the trees did creep in the fairway just enough to make it a driver’s course. And the Hills! Very challenging were the namesakes. Chipping near the greens, nearly all elevated, was tough. On hole 9, I was over the green, hit what I thought was a decent chip that landed short of the green. It rolled past the hole, completed across the green, down the hill and ended up about 50 yards from where I had been! Amazing – I thought that only happened at #9 at Augusta National.

Speaking of, I thought that Southern Hills did looks a bit like Augusta, with the elevated climb to finish, the fast greens, and the ability to see across much of the course. It also reminded me of Colonial, which I found was not far off the mark, having the same designer Perry Maxwell.

The course was also free of visual clutter: no ball washers, buried trash cans and green stained concrete cart paths. There was a nice amount of water, not big forced carries but just enough to keep the ball straight, generally.

Very interesting was the creative logo.

From a distance it looks like a crest with a cross behind it. Upon further inspection, it has many different historical club aspects:

1 side of the cross: a rifle for the skeet range

1 side of the cross: a polo mallet for the polo

The bottom of the crest: a spur for the equestrian

Inside the crest/spur: tennis, golf, swimming