Oak Hill reopens East course following restoration by Andrew Green

The East course at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, has reopened for play following a restoration project by Andrew Green.

One of the primary goals of the ten-month project was to bring back Donald Ross features to three holes where the original design had been lost. “You always saw that five, six and fifteen didn’t really fit,” said golf course superintendent Jeff Corcoran told RochesterFirst.com.

A new par-three fifth hole has been created, and the previous fifth hole has been extended to become the par-four sixth, which can now play in excess of 500 yards. Corcoran says that new sixth was as close as the club could come to the original Ross design. On the par three fifteenth, a pond next to the green has been filled and replaced with a large swale.

“What we tried to do is put Donald Ross’s original design thoughts back out on the golf course,” said Corcoran.

Work has also taken place on greens throughout the course. Following low scoring when the course hosted the 2013 PGA Championship, new drainage technology was introduced for the first time in a century. Corcoran says he has already been able to achieve a Stimpmeter speed of 11.5.

“[Andrew Green] saw some of the greens had changed over the years,” said restoration committee chair Tim Thaney. “Some of the bunkers had changed, so he really looked at it as a brand-new opportunity to change [the course]. A lot of the greens, the contours are going to be the same. There were a few greens that changed quite a bit, especially five, six and fifteen.”

The project has also seen significant tree removal to open up vistas and improve the experience for spectators at the upcoming 2023 PGA Championship. The area between the fourth and ninth in particular is now much more open, and trees have also been removed near the fourteenth green.

“Once we saw the openings that we were going to create and the vistas,” said Thaney. “It’s really going to change the way you feel about the golf course.”

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