Southern Hills Country Club

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Southern Hills Country Club
SouthernHillsCCLogo.png
Club information
Location Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Established 1936
Type Private
Total holes 27
Website southernhillscc.com
Front Nine / Back Nine Course
Designed by Perry Maxwell
Par 71
Length 7,012 yards (6,412 m)
Course rating 75.2
West Nine Course
Designed by Ben Crenshaw / Bill Coore
Par 35
Length 2,969 yards (2,715 m)
Course rating 36.3

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

History[edit]

The club was established in 1936 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.[1] 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.[2] The construction costs were raised by the founding members.[3] The clubhouse, designed in "English country manor" style by Tulsa architects John Duncan Forsyth and Donald McCormick, opened on October 17, 1936;[4] the clubhouse was extensively renovated during a three-year project prior to the 2007 PGA tournament.[5]

Mob Hit[edit]

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[edit]

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.[6]

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”.[7]

Golf tournaments[edit]

Southern Hills has hosted seven major championships for men, including the U.S. Open three times (1958, 1977, 2001) [8] and four PGA Championships (1970, 1982, 1994, 2007).[9] It is the first course to host the PGA Championship four times. 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.[10]

Course[edit]

The scorecard for the 2007 PGA Championship

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 464 488 451 372 653 200 384 245 374 3,631 366 173 458 537 223 413 507 358 465 3,500 7,131
Par 4 4 4 4 5 3 4 3 4 35 4 3 4 5 3 4 4 4 4 35 70

Lengths of the course in previous major championships:

Major tournaments hosted[edit]

Year Tournament Winner Winner's
share ($)
1946 U.S. Women's Amateur Babe Zaharias 0
1953 U.S. Junior Amateur Rex Baxter 0
1958 U.S. Open Tommy Bolt 8,000
1961 U.S. Senior Amateur Dexter Daniels 0
1965 U.S. Amateur Bob Murphy 0
1970 PGA Championship Dave Stockton 40,000
1977 U.S. Open Hubert Green 45,000
1982 PGA Championship Raymond Floyd 65,000
1987 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Cindy Schofield 0
1994 PGA Championship Nick Price 310,000
1995 Tour Championship Billy Mayfair 540,000
1996 Tour Championship Tom Lehman 540,000
2001 U.S. Open Retief Goosen 900,000
2007 PGA Championship Tiger Woods 1,260,000
2009 U.S. Amateur Byeong-Hun An 0

Bolded years are major championships on the PGA Tour.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 
  2. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 
  3. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 
  4. ^ 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)
  5. ^ Davis, Kirby Lee (May 3, 2013). "These Walls: Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa (part 2)". The Journal Record. Retrieved 2014-03-31.   – via Questia Online Library (subscription required)
  6. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 
  7. ^ Whitten, Ron. "Golf Digest". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 
  8. ^ "USGA.org". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 
  9. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 
  10. ^ "Southern Hills Country Club". Retrieved 31 March 2014. 

External links[edit]

Coordinates: 36°4′21.49″N 95°56′58.77″W / 36.0726361°N 95.9496583°W / 36.0726361; -95.9496583