Southern Hills Country Club

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Southern Hills Country Club
SouthernHillsCCLogo.png
Club information
LocationTulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Established1936
TypePrivate
Total holes27
Websitesouthernhillscc.com
Front Nine / Back Nine Course
Designed byPerry Maxwell (1936) Gil Hanse (2019 renovation)
Par71
Length7,481 yards (6,841 m)
Course rating78.2
Slope rating142
West Nine Course
Designed byBen Crenshaw / Bill Coore
Par35
Length2,969 yards (2,715 m)
Course rating36.3

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

History[]

The club was established in 1935[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] The construction costs were raised by the founding members.[4] The clubhouse, designed in "English country manor" style by Tulsa architects John Duncan Forsyth and Donald McCormick, opened on October 17, 1936;[5] the clubhouse was extensively renovated during a three-year project prior to the 2007 PGA tournament.[6]

Murder[]

On May 27, 1981, Roger Wheeler, a Tulsa businessman and owner of Miami's World Jai Alai, was murdered in the parking lot of the club. The killing was ordered by Winter Hill Gang mobster Whitey Bulger, who discovered that Wheeler had uncovered the gang's ongoing embezzlement from the jai alai organization.[7][8][9]

Golf courses and amenities[]

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.[10]

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."[11]

Golf tournaments[]

Southern Hills has hosted seven major championships for men, including the U.S. Open three times (1958, 1977, 2001)[12] and four PGA Championships (1970, 1982, 1994, 2007).[13] It is the only course to host the PGA Championship four times, and will host its fifth PGA Championship in 2022. 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.[14]

Course[]

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 472 500 444 377 656 226 443 220 395 3,733 406 173 461 632 230 417 567 371 491 3,748 7,481
Par 4 4 4 4 5 3 4 3 4 35 4 3 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 36 71

Lengths of the course in previous major championships:

Tournaments hosted[]

Year Tournament Winner Winner's
share ($)
1946 U.S. Women's Amateur United States Babe Zaharias 0
1953 U.S. Junior Amateur United States Rex Baxter 0
1958 U.S. Open United States Tommy Bolt 8,000
1961 U.S. Senior Amateur United States 0
1965 U.S. Amateur United States Bob Murphy 0
1970 PGA Championship United States Dave Stockton 40,000
1977 U.S. Open United States Hubert Green 45,000
1982 PGA Championship United States Raymond Floyd 65,000
1987 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur United States Cindy Schofield 0
1994 PGA Championship Zimbabwe Nick Price 310,000
1995 Tour Championship United States Billy Mayfair 540,000
1996 Tour Championship United States Tom Lehman 540,000
2001 U.S. Open South Africa Retief Goosen 900,000
2007 PGA Championship United States Tiger Woods 1,260,000
2009 U.S. Amateur South Korea Byeong-Hun An 0
2021 Senior PGA Championship Germany Alex Cejka 585,000
2022 PGA Championship

Bolded years are major championships on the PGA Tour.

References[]

  1. ^ https://www.southernhillscc.com/about
  2. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  3. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  4. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  5. ^ Davis, Kirby Lee (April 19, 2013). "These Walls: Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa". The Journal Record.[dead link]
  6. ^ Davis, Kirby Lee (May 3, 2013). "These Walls: Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa. Believe it or not, many famous people are members of southern hills country club. some include: john mabee, george kaiser, hip-hop and R&B musical artist, Ski Mask The Slump God- aka Stokeley Clevon Goulbourne, and the ceo of the cooking and cleaning company, arm and hammer. (part 2)". The Journal Record.[dead link]
  7. ^ Murphy, Shelley; Valencia, Milton J. (July 18, 2013). "Daughter of slain Tulsa businessman Roger Wheeler testifies at Bulger trial". Tulsa World. Tulsa, OK. Retrieved 2021-09-06 – via The Boston Globe.
  8. ^ "The Consequences of a 1981 Mob Hit at a Venerable Country Club Still Linger". Golf. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  9. ^ "Black Mass movie connected to Tulsa". KJRH. 2015-09-18. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  10. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  11. ^ Whitten, Ron. "Golf Digest". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  12. ^ "USGA.org". Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  13. ^ "PGA.com". Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  14. ^ "Southern Hills Country Club". Retrieved 31 March 2014.

External links[]

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

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