Vaquero Club’s new bunkers prove that not everything is bigger in Texas – see the photos.
Everything is said to be bigger in Texas, but not the bunkers at The Vaquero Club in Westlake. Those are smaller now after a renovation by Andrew Green, although there are more of them.
The private club has just reopened the layout after Green’s makeover, which introduced several new holes, removed acres of bunkers and rebuilt every green.
The course at Vaquero was first designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 2001 between Dallas and Fort Worth. The layout makes use of varied topography, including a giant hill that offers long views from two greens.
In a media release announcing the completion of the project, Green called it a “brand-new golf course.” He aimed to make the layout more enjoyable for a wider range of players while still challenging low-handicappers.
The work introduced more variety off the tees, added width and rerouted several holes to increase flexibility. The total acreage of bunkers was reduced from 6.95 to 2.58 acres, but the number of bunkers actually increased from 61 to 92. Green hopes the smaller but plentiful traps will force players to more carefully consider shot placement and strategy.
The greens were totally redesigned, with the media release saying the new putting surfaces feature unique contours and shapes that give each green a distinct personality. Most of the greens are now accessible along the ground, allowing players to bounce shots onto the putting surfaces while promoting greater variety in short-game options.
“The goal was to encourage members to play the golf course more than they ever did previously, while making them better players,” Green said in the media release. Each day, the course should be “a wonderland of variety, fun and challenge, so even if their score doesn’t reflect it, they’ll have a ton of fun.”
Among notable changes was rerouting the par-5 opener to play in the opposite direction, removing 70 percent of the sand on the par-5 seventh and introducing a new par-3 16th that is only 130 yards but that features what the architect calls a “devilish” green.
“As the club president, I am delighted to announce the triumphant completion of our new golf course, a masterpiece crafted in collaboration with the visionary Andrew Green,” Mike Bevill said in the media release. “The course stands as a testament to our commitment to excellence, and we take pride in providing our esteemed membership with a world-class golfing experience.”
Check out a selection of photos of the reworked Vaquero Club below, all shot by noted golf photographer Bill Hornstein.
StrackaLine offers a hole-by-hole course guide for East Lake Golf Club.
East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta – site of the PGA Tour’s 2023 Tour Championship and the finale in the FedEx Cup Playoffs – originally was designed by Tom Bendelow and opened in 1908. Donald Ross redesigned the layout in 1913, and Rees Jones worked on the course in 1994.
Architect Andrew Green will begin another renovation, with a goal of returning many of the Ross features to East Lake, soon after the last putt drops in the Tour Championship.
The course will play to 7,346 yards and a par of 70 for the Tour Championship. Nos. 1 and 14 normally play as par 5s for members, but they will be listed as par 4s for the Tour Championship with only Nos. 6 and 18 playing as par 5s.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face this week.
What do the pros face this week in the PGA Championship? StrackaLine shares the details on Oak Hill East.
Oak Hill’s East Course in Rochester, New York – site of this week’s PGA Championship – originally was designed by architectural legend Donald Ross and opened in 1926. The layout was revised several times over the decades, most recently as Andrew Green put much of the Ross flavor back into the East.
Oak Hill’s East will play to 7,394 yards with a par of 70 for this week’s major championship.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at Oak Hill.
When did this pristine place become worthy of major championships? Much like the course, that answer is still evolving.
ROCHESTER, N.Y — To witness Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course, a masterful layout that will test the world’s top players at the 2023 PGA Championship, is to see an ever-evolving block of clay, one that’s been molded and re-molded over a century.
So that begs a question: When did this pristine place become worthy of major championships?
Much like the course, that answer is still evolving.
The first glimpse the golf world got of the Donald Ross design came in 1934, when the City of Rochester’s 100th birthday and the 20th anniversary of hometown hero Walter Hagen’s U.S. Open win at Midlothian Country Club were rolled into a celebration at the course. Hagen invited a number of his closest friends, many of whom were big fish in the golf pond.
Although Hagen, then 41 years old, failed to crack the top 10 in the event, he played admirably. Meanwhile, the tournament was won by Leo Diegel, a four-time Ryder Cupper who won a pair of PGA Championships. Diegel shot 4 under to take the title, and he left as one of many who were impressed with the course.
May 15, 2023; Rochester, New York, USA; Fans walk behind the 1st hole during a practice round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Oak Hill Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports
“It was the first time many of the great golfers of the world had ever seen Oak Hill East,” said club historian Fred Beltz, who joked that he didn’t attend that event. “This gave members at Oak Hill a taste of big-time golf and it gave big-time golf a taste of Oak Hill.”
And while that first peek didn’t result in instant success in terms of catapulting Oak Hill onto a national tournament stage, it helped build some momentum. In 1941, the founder of the Gannett newspaper chain – now owners of USA Today, Golfweek and the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle – put up $5,000 to host the first Times-Union Open, named in honor of the now-defunct afternoon newspaper. Frank Gannett, who was a member at Oak Hill, hoped the tournament would shed light on the track’s beauty and could serve as a gateway to Rochester hosting a larger tournament.
In 1941, Sam Snead was victorious in the event, but the crowning achievement came in 1942 when Ben Hogan set the layout ablaze, breaking the course record with a 64 in his opening round. It was a record that stood for 71 years, only matched in tournament play by Curtis Strange, who also shot 64 on his way to winning the U.S. Open in 1989.
Although the tournament was building steam, World War II threw a monkey wrench in any plans to grow the Times-Union event, and it was shuttered.
“The war years really limited a lot of professional golf,” Beltz said. “But then, when we moved into the big time, in my opinion, was in 1949 when we hosted the U.S. Amateur. In 1934 is when the world saw the course, in ’41-’42 we got a taste of bigger events, but then in 1949, that’s when we really got to the big stage.”
The story goes that at some point after the war, USGA executive director Joe Dey came to Oak Hill and was in awe of the design.
“Dey saw the course and said, ‘Where have you been? There’s nothing else like this in the whole country,’” Beltz said.
That 1949 Am was won by Charles Coe, widely regarded as one of the greatest American amateurs in history. Coe went on to win another U.S. Am in 1958 and finished second to Gary Player in the 1961 Masters.
From there, the course scored a pair of U.S. Opens in the next two decades, first the 1956 edition won by Cary Middlecoff and then the 1968 tournament, which proved to be the first PGA Tour victory and the first of six majors for 28-year-old Lee Trevino.
In Trevino’s win, he posted rounds in the 60s all four days, a first in a U.S. Open, but Beltz contends the course was susceptible to a low score, due to a specific set of circumstances.
“The course was lined with Dutch Elm trees, and the course went through a bout with Dutch Elm disease,” Beltz said. “The course was easier to attack than normal, but give Trevino credit. He did it.”
When the USGA started to ask if the course was difficult enough to warrant major championships in the 1970s, club leaders summoned George Fazio and his nephew Tom to add some new wrinkles. The course played tougher and continued to host major events – including the 1995 Ryder Cup won by a European side that secured victory when Irish rookie Philip Walton topped Jay Haas on the 18th green.
Haas would return to exact some revenge, capturing the 2008 Senior PGA Championship in Pittsford. And the course hosted a pair of PGA Championships, one in 2003 won by Shaun Micheel and another in 2013 when Jason Dufner broke Hogan and Strange’s course record, one that stood for 71 years, by shooting a 63 en route to victory.
Jason Dufner celebrates with the Wannamaker Trophy after winning the 95th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports
“I don’t want to take anything away from Dufner, but the course got quite a bit of rain, so it was really receptive, and there was a graduated rough,” Beltz explained. “The course was definitely playing on the easier side. And the older course was a little shorter and if you look at that with older equipment against a slightly longer course and new equipment, I’ll take the latter over the former any day.”
Fearing it had lost its roots, the course was renovated again in 2019 by Andrew Green, who attempted to restore the East Course to the original design Ross created nearly a century ago.
For Beltz, who has been picking at the club’s history for two decades, this offers a watershed moment in 2023 with the return of the PGA Championship. He’s hoping this year’s event ushers in a modern era of major tournaments at a place that has seen its fair share of changes.
“This is a pivotal year, for sure,” Beltz said. “If the players like the renovations and the weather treats us right, this could be a place where major championships are held for a long, long time.”
Starting in 2015, the club decided to put the Donald Ross flair back into the course.
Nothing remains static on a golf course for long.
Grass grows, often in new places and in unexpected ways. Bunkers shift as sand is blasted out by players. Trees grow, blocking light, air and playing lines. Undulations shift on greens, which themselves often shrink over years and decades. Whether through intentional architectural efforts or natural evolution, every golf course changes in time.
Opened in 1926 with a design by architectural legend Donald Ross, the East had undergone many changes over the decades, many of them in pursuit of additional challenge to the best players in the world. Among its many championships, the East has hosted three PGA Championships (1980, ’03 and ’13) and three U.S. Opens (1956, ’68 and ’89), with winners including the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Curtis Strange. Add to those events a rich history of amateur and senior events, plus the 1995 Ryder Cup, and Oak Hill’s rich championship history clearly ranks among the best clubs in the world.
The greens for Nos. 4 and 5 at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in Rochester, New York (Photo: Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)
But the course had changed dramatically over the years, losing much of its Ross flavor. Robert Trent Jones tweaked the East in the 1950s and ’60s, including – in the name of spectator flow – the replacement of a par 4 considered by many to be among the best in the country.
In the 1970s, George and Tom Fazio further modernized the layout, redesigning three holes – the fifth, sixth and 15th – and moving the 18th green. While these changes were all implemented in the interest of increased difficulty for touring professionals, the club received criticism about eliminating too much of Ross’s original design.
Add in naturally occurring changes to the course over the years, and club officials knew it was time to make some changes.
“It’s just like owning a home in some regard. You always have to do some housekeeping, always have to do some updating,” said Jeff Corcoran, Oak Hill’s manager of golf courses and grounds. “And I think the progression of the game dictates a lot of the work you need to do, in some regards, if you want to be a golf course that hosts major championships.”
Starting in 2015, the club decided to put the Ross flair back into the course. It hired architect Andrew Green, who the club said worked with Corcoran; Jeff Sluman, PGA Tour professional and Rochester native; and an East Course Restoration Committee led by Tim Thaney and Jim McKenna. The club said its objectives were to add length where possible, create more forward tees for members, expand areas where cups could be cut into greens and to evaluate options for holes that had been changed over the years. Green used Ross’s original drawings and historical photos to determine the best course of action in restoring the layout.
“Donald Ross set the East Course at Oak Hill Country Club on a stunning piece of ground where the holes turn direction and flow over the property in an inspired fashion,” Green – who has established himself as a restoration expert with such work completed at Wannamoisett, Inverness, Congressional and several other such classic layouts – told the club at the outset of the restoration. “We will utilize every ounce of historic data to reflect the strategy, style and intent of Ross with a keen eye on the way the game of golf is played today. The results will protect the legacy of Oak Hill for decades to come.”
The newly renovated sixth hole at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in Rochester, N.Y. (Gary Kellner/PGA of America)
Work wrapped up in 2019, with each of the 18 greens having been rebuilt to U.S. Golf Association specifications with enhanced drainage to provide firm playing conditions. All the bunkers were rebuilt with improved drainage and some were relocated, and they are now more classically Ross in appearance. An overabundance of trees of was removed to improve playing conditions, open vistas and reestablish playing lines. More than 175,000 square feet of new bent grass was installed on the putting surfaces and approaches, the club said, and Green led the restoration of green sizes and sometimes the alteration of existing contours to reestablish classic hole locations that had been lost in time.
“The big thing people are going to see is a tremendous amount of variety in the daily setup, because there are going to be hole locations that members haven’t seen for maybe 40, 50 years,” Green said in a club video commemorating the restoration. “It’s going to add to the aura and how great a major championship venue that it is.”
Most important, the three holes that been altered by previous designers were rebuilt to better match the intent of Ross, even if it was impossible to rebuild them exactly.
“Nos. 5, 6, 15 and to a lesser extent 18 had been the three or four holes that have been the most vilified here at Oak Hill,” Corcoran said. “They are the holes that were redone prior to the ’80 PGA. As we were walking around, we were like, if we’re going to all this trouble on the East Course, shouldn’t we rectify this biggest perceived problem?
“It really came down to, if we were going to redo something, how would we redo it in keeping the original architectural intent that Donald Ross had envisioned of this property? Andrew is phenomenal at that.”
The newly renovated fifth hole at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in Rochester, N.Y. (Gary Kellner/PGA of America)
Green designed a new fifth hole, a par 3 named Little Poison, in the same spot that held a par-3 fifth for the 1968 U.S. Open. The new green is slightly elevated and surrounded by Ross-inspired bunkers, with a wide range of flagstick locations and assorted challenges for any player who misses the putting surface on approach.
The club said the new par-4 sixth “sympathetically represents” Ross’s original par 4. Named Double Trouble, the hole crosses Allen’s Creek – a prominent feature throughout any round on the East – and can be stretched beyond 500 yards in a championship.
The new par-3 15th hole, named Plateau, removes a pond introduced during the Fazios’ renovation in the 1970s and reintroduces a large swale aside the “Postage Stamp” style of green that is long and narrow.
“They just feel like they flow,” Corcoran said of the new holes. “When you used to go to the old fifth and sixth holes, you would get to those holes and go, it just doesn’t flow, it doesn’t feel right. Anybody who had a little bent toward golf course architecture could definitely see it.
“Restoring that architectural intent, there’s just something very satisfying about that and knowing that future generations are going to get 18 contiguous holes to play out here. That’s a pretty special thing.”
