Oakland Hills

The ruined clubhouse at Oakland Hills Country Club on February 18, 2022 (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

A devastating fire brought down the clubhouse at Oakland Hills Country Club in February. It was a shocking loss to the club and to American golf, yet no-one was killed, the clubhouse will be rebuilt and the heritage of this famous club remains indelible

The damage left by the raging flames of February 17 is so severe they may never pin-point the cause of the fire that destroyed the clubhouse at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, outside Detroit.

Club president Rick Palmer called it a “gut-wrenching day,” adding: “We have lost our iconic clubhouse… but we are comforted to know that the heart and soul and legacy of the club resides in our membership and staff. We will move forward with a purpose to honor all those who made this grand building come to life with their golf and their work.”

Oakland Hills was established in 1916, and its South Course opened in 1918. Walter Hagen was the club’s first pro, and the club has hosted six U.S. Opens and three PGA Championships among a list of majors, plus the 2004 Ryder Cup. Also gut-wrenching to the membership is the irony that they lost their stately clubhouse in its centenary year. The clubhouse opened in August 1922, having been designed by Detroit architect C. Howard Crane, who also drew up a number of Detroit theaters (the club’s website notes the clubhouse cost $650,000 to build—$300,000 over budget).

It is hard to find good news with such a trauma, yet there is great relief that no-one was injured in the fire— which started in an attic space—and that at least some of the club’s priceless items of memorabilia were rescued by firefighters. At a club board meeting two days after the fire it was quickly and unanimously agreed to re-construct the clubhouse as a replica of the lost building, and so already the club membership and staff have a positive, unifying project into which they can pour their passion and energy.

Support from the wider golf community has been extensive, and the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation joined a fund-raising effort to support Oakland Hills employees, as it will be more than a year before many of them can return to work at the Michigan club. Matching donations made by supporters, the Foundation is donating more than $32,000 to the workforce fund.

A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

Arnold Palmer’s connection to Oakland Hills ran deep. He was a 16-year-old amateur—every bit the unpolished gem— when he first played there, having qualified for his first-ever national tournament, the 1946 Hearst National Junior Championship. Palmer lost in the final on that occasion but 35 years later scored one of his most famous victories on the same golf course, in the 1981 U.S. Senior Open.

That ’81 Senior Open was a pivotal moment in the establishment of seniors tour golf. The USGA had only introduced the championship for over 55s in 1980, but quickly realized that bringing the qualifying age down to 50 would open up the fledgling championship to a lot more star quality, including Palmer—aged 51 at the time—and other major champs like Billy Casper, Gene Littler and Don January. The over-50 age requirement also brought the championship into line with the Senior PGA Tour (now the PGA Tour Champions) which had also only just started up with a short tournament schedule in 1980.

The result of that ’81 Senior Open on the South Course at Oakland Hills was immediately rewarding: It was a thrilling tournament that Palmer won with his frequent come-from-behind style, in an 18-hole playoff against Casper and little-known Bob Stone. From there the Senior Open became established as the cornerstone of the Senior Tour.

Years later, Oakland Hills staged an elaborate gala dinner to present an honorary membership to Palmer, with two of Detroit’s all-time sports heroes—hockey’s Gordie Howe and baseball’s Al Kaline—on hand for the occasion.

As for the South Course at Oakland Hills, it has not held a major championship since Padraig Harrington won the 2008 PGA Championship, but it might play better than ever in 2022, thanks to an extensive $12-million restoration led by course architect Gil Hanse. The project took nearly two years and was completed last summer, and thankfully the course was undamaged by the clubhouse fire.

Long regarded among the mightiest achievements of design genius Donald Ross, with painstaking reference to historical records and photographs Hanse returned the bunkering, course widths and shot angles to those laid out by Ross. Many trees had to be removed as the project respected the original design, which opened up wind flow around the course and also some vistas that had been gradually lost over decades of growth.

Critically, the course is now underlaid with 21st century technology. All 18 greens were rebuilt to meet USGA specifications and installed with a PrecisionAire system that controls moisture and temperature, and will help to nullify the effects of both heavy downpours and extended dry spells. Course drainage and irrigation also was laid out anew, helping to improve the efficiency of course maintenance, which in turn will ensure this restoration endures.

The South Course at Oakland Hills [above], and Palmer in 1981

Courtesy of USGA

“By returning the proportions of the features to the large scale of the property, we learned so much about how to create interest, strategy, and beauty,” said Hanse last year. “This was a truly thrilling project for us and we are excited about the transformation that has occurred.”

The biggest departure from Ross’s design is that now the South Course can play up to 7,700 yards, with this extension introduced to ensure the course plays the way it was originally intended.

It was announced in January that Oakland Hills will host the U.S. Women’s Open in 2031 and 2042, to confirm USGA approval of the South Course restoration, and Oakland Hills must be near the top of the USGA’s list to host the men’s U.S. Open once again.

Oakland Hills Country Club and its community has suffered a brutal shock, but already the club is recovering and it will continue to move forward. Faced with adversity, the club’s true spirit has shone.