Oak Tree National, formerly called Oak Tree Golf Club, is a golf and

country club A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offe ...

located in the

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

suburb of

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest ci ...

. The course was designed by

Pete Dye Paul Dye Jr. (December 29, 1925 – January 9, 2020), known as Pete Dye, was an American golf course designer and a member of a family of course designers. He was married to fellow designer and amateur champion Alice Dye. Early life Dye was ...

, and it opened in 1976. It plays to a par 71.

The course

Like other courses in Oklahoma, Oak Tree is a very windy course and can often have winds of at least 30 miles per hour (48 km/h). It also is located on hilly terrain, and uneven lies are common from the fairway or rough. The greens are difficult to hit well, and are undulating enough to make any par tough. In its 2015–16 listing of the best golf courses by state, '' Golf Digest'' ranked Oak Tree National #51 in their Americas 100 Greatest Golf Courses. Also, they ranked it second in the state of Oklahoma. The course was redesigned by Pete Dye in 2002. The course measures 7,412 yards from the tournament tees and 6,873 yards from the championship tees. However, for the 2006

Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

, the course played to 7,102 yards. Oak Tree has

Bent grass ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a GMO creeping bent grass. Species * ''Agrostis aequivalvi'' (Ar ...

for the greens, and

Bermuda grass ''Cynodon dactylon'', commonly known as Bermuda grass, is a grass found worldwide. It is native to Europe, Africa, Australia and much of Asia. It has been introduced to the Americas. Although it is not native to Bermuda, it is an abundant invasiv ...

for the fairways. Water comes into play on 13 of the 18 holes. The course and slope rating is 79.3/155 from the tournament tees and 76.4/153 from the championship tees. Each hole has its own name, and some holes are named after famous courses or golf holes. The

signature hole A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

is the fifth hole (named Oak Tree), a 592-yard par five where players must avoid the oak tree that is used in the club's logo. Other notable holes include the eighth hole (named Harbor Town after Dye's

Harbour Town Golf Links Harbour Town Golf Links is a public golf course in the eastern United States, located in South Carolina in Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head Island in Beaufort County. Since 1969, it has hosted the RBC Heritage on the PGA Tour, usually in mid- ...

), par three with water down the entire left side. The tenth hole (named after the

Prairie Dunes Country Club Prairie Dunes Country Club is a golf course located just outside Hutchinson, Kansas. Frequently ranked among the best golf courses in the United States, it has hosted several United States Golf Association national championship tournaments. The ...

) is a long, tight par four. The 13th hole is named due to its size, after a postage stamp. Golfers liken landing a ball on the green to landing a ball on a space the size of a postage stamp. Oak Tree is the home course of several

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...

players: David Edwards, Mark Hayes,

Gil Morgan Gilmer Bryan Morgan II, OD (born September 25, 1946) is an American professional golfer. Morgan was born in Wewoka, Oklahoma. He graduated from East Central State College in Ada, Oklahoma in 1968. In 1972, Morgan earned a Doctor of Optometry de ...

Doug Tewell Douglas Fred Tewell (born August 27, 1949) is an American professional golfer who has won several tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including two senior major championships. Tewell was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and ...

Bob Tway Robert Raymond Tway IV (born May 4, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including eight PGA Tour victories. He spent 25 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 1986–87. Early life Tway w ...

, Matthew Wolff,

Scott Verplank Scott Rachal Verplank (born July 9, 1964) is an American professional golfer, who has played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. Early years and amateur career Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Verplank was a leading member of the W.T. W ...

Willie Wood William Vernell Wood Sr. (December 23, 1936February 3, 2020) was an American professional football player and coach. He played as a safety with the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League (NFL). Wood was an eight-time Pro Bowler an ...

Kevin Tway Kevin Tway (born July 23, 1988) is an American professional golfer who has played on the Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour. He won numerous junior tournaments, and most notably, the 2005 U.S. Junior Amateur. Tway is the son of Bob Tway, an eight-ti ...

, and

Rhein Gibson Rhein Gibson (born 1 February 1986) is an Australian professional golfer. Amateur career Gibson was a four-time NAIA All-American at Oklahoma Christian University. Professional career Gibson made the cut at the 2014 Open Championship, wher ...

. Female Professional Golfer:

Sydney Cox Sydney Cox (23 May 1905 – 5 March 1969) was an English cricketer who played for Northamptonshire. He appeared in six first-class matches in 1932 as a righthanded batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. Cox was born in Northampton on 23 May 1 ...

Tournaments held

Bolded years are major championships on the

. Oak Tree has hosted a major championship and a senior major championship in addition to numerous other

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

championships and one

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

-sanctioned championship. The first notable tournament to be held at Oak Tree was the 1984

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

which was won by

. In 1988, the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

came to Oak Tree.

Jeff Sluman Jeffrey George Sluman (born September 11, 1957) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous professional golf tournaments including six PGA Tour victories. Early years Sluman was born and reared in Rochester, New York. After graduati ...

won with a score of twelve under par 272, clinched with a final round 65. In 2000, the

PGA Club Professional Championship The PGA Professional Championship is a golf tournament for golf club professionals and teachers who are members of the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It has been held by the PGA of America since 1968, when touring professionals spl ...

was held at Oak Tree;

Tim Thelen Tim Thelen (born June 14, 1961) is an American professional golfer. Thelen was born in Albany, Minnesota. He played college golf at Foothills Junior College and Houston Baptist University where he was a teammate of Colin Montgomerie. He worked ...

won it in a playoff. Most recently, in 2006, the

was held at Oak Tree. Over the four days, gusty winds kept scores barely under par.

Jay Haas Jay Dean Haas (born December 2, 1953) is an American professional golfer formerly of the PGA Tour who now plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Early life and amateur career Haas was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Belleville, Illinois. ...

defeated

Brad Bryant Bradley Dub Bryant (born December 11, 1954) is an American professional golfer. Bryant was born in Amarillo, Texas, the son of a Southern Baptist pastor. He moved with his family to Alamogordo, New Mexico during his youth. Bryant attended the U ...

in a playoff with a final score of 279, five under par. Oak Tree hosted the 2014

U.S. Senior Open The U.S. Senior Open is one of the five major championships in senior golf, introduced in 1980. It is administered by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and is recognized as a major championship by both the PGA Tour Champions and the Eu ...

, won by Colin Montgomerie.

Controversy

Oak Tree has been criticized for having a

noose A noose is a loop at the end of a rope in which the knot tightens under load and can be loosened without untying the knot. The knot can be used to secure a rope to a post, pole, or animal but only where the end is in a position that the loop can ...

hang off of a tree to the left of the green on the par five sixteenth hole. A columnist from ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th large ...

'' criticized it as a possible symbol of racism in an October 2004 column. It was removed soon after, well before the 2006 Senior PGA Championship. It was originally placed there by a golfer who had struggled on the hole. Oak Tree was also to have hosted the 1994 PGA Championship. However, it was moved to

Southern Hills Country Club Southern Hills Country Club is a private golf and country club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. History The club was established in 1935 from land donated by multimillionaire oilman Waite Phillips (Frank Phillips, Waite's brother, was the namesake and fo ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

originally because of the club's filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990. Later on, it was publicized that Oak Tree had few or no minority or women members in its membership. This further caused the PGA of America to move the tournament to Southern Hills.

References

{{reflist

External links

Oak Tree NationalOak Tree Country Club
Sports venues completed in 1976 1976 establishments in Oklahoma Golf clubs and courses in Oklahoma Sports in Oklahoma City Golf clubs and courses designed by Pete Dye Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990 Buildings and structures in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Edmond, Oklahoma