{"id":5389,"date":"2014-07-12T11:21:04","date_gmt":"2014-07-12T17:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=5389"},"modified":"2020-03-10T11:55:23","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T17:55:23","slug":"pete-dye-and-the-mighty-oak-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/personalities\/5389\/pete-dye-and-the-mighty-oak-tree","title":{"rendered":"Pete Dye and the Mighty Oak Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jay<\/a>

Jay Don Blake<\/p><\/div>\n

[July 12. 2014]–<\/em>Last October Champions Tour player Jay Don Blake was warming up for the AT&T Championship at TPC San Antonio. As he came off the eighteenth hole of his practice round at the Pete Dye-designed AT&T Canyons Course, he was asked about his memories of the 1988 PGA Championship\u2014held at the Pete Dye-designed Oak Tree Golf Club in Edmund (now Oak Tree National).<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember some very difficult holes out there. The problem was always how to position yourself safely.\u201d Blake positioned himself well enough to finish the tournament one stroke over par, in a tie for 25th<\/sup> place.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to taking on Oak Tree again at the 2014 U.S. Senior Open, Blake said, \u201cI like the course. But the wind does blow out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed it does. Blaine McAllister, one of those tied with Blake in 1988, said of the course, \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful, wonderful design and an unbelievable test of golf. The tournament is in July, so heat will be a factor. But it all depends on the wind, which probably means the hometown boys will have an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we will,\u201d said Willie Wood, one of the hometown gang better known as the Oak Tree Boys, after the logo Wood was wearing on his shirt at the San Antonio tournament. It\u2019s arguably one of the most famous of golf logos\u2014which came from Oak Tree\u2019s fifth hole oak tree.<\/p>\n

But then, a lot came from Oak Tree.<\/p>\n

\"Willie<\/a>

Willie Wood sporting his Oak Tree logo<\/p><\/div>\n

The Start of Some Things Big<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure why Ernie and Joe called me originally. I was pretty much just starting in the business,\u201d said Pete Dye last year from his home in Indiana, when asked about the origins of Oak Tree.<\/p>\n

\"Ernie<\/a>

Ernie Vossler (left) and Joe Walser<\/p><\/div>\n

Ernie Vossler and Joe Walser Jr., were talented amateur golfers (Ernie was the Texas Amateur Champion in 1954, Joe the Oklahoma Amateur champ in 1952) before turning professional and becoming friends on the tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cErnie had been very successful on the PGA Tour, and Joe played it a few years as well, but both eventually quit the tour to become club professionals,\u201d said Dye, casting his mind back some\u2014he turned 88 last December 29, so the cast is a little longer than it once was.<\/p>\n

Both Vossler and Walser (who both passed away in the last two years) worked at Quail Creek in Oklahoma City before Walser eventually moved over to the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, which is where Hugh Edgmon met Joe. Edgmon would later become a large part of the Vossler-Walser-Dye engine, since the pair had plans, he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Joe and Ernie left their respective posts they formed Unique Golf Concepts. I became the head pro at Oklahoma Country Club, but eventually they hired me away. I wasn\u2019t involved in Oak Tree at first, except as a friend, walking around the property and kicking clods with Joe. But I can tell you that Pete Dye did a wonderful thing for the golf industry when he created Oak Tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dye had run into both men previously\u2014Vossler in his amateur days, Walser during a Tour event. When Unique Golf Concepts started a project in Greensboro, North Carolina called The Cardinal the pair began examining a few Dye courses.<\/p>\n

He may have been \u201cjust starting in the business\u201d but Crooked Stick, The Golf Club, and Harbour Town were already in the books. The two partners had their man, a deal sealed with a handshake.<\/p>\n

Dye said, \u201cI started The Cardinal in 1973, but about halfway through Ernie and Joe had a difference of opinion with another partner and they left. I finished the course in 1975. Many years later John McConnell bought it, so in 2007 I went back and built it again.<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a>\u201cMeanwhile the two of them were thinking Southern Hills needed a little competition, so they called me up again and said they wanted to build a men\u2019s club–a hard golf course, for men only.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Pete\u2019s bio written with Mark Shaw, Bury Me in a Pot Bunker <\/i>(now in a new revised special edition), what Walser actually said was, \u201cBuild us a championship golf course. One with no compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edgmon said one of Joe\u2019s favorite stories was to say, \u201cWe commissioned Pete Dye to come in here and make absolutely the best course he could, with unlimited funding resources at his disposal. And darned if he didn\u2019t exceed them!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dye was initially taken aback because Edmund was, back then, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and the designer wondered how anybody would find their way to the course. Of the land itself, he had no misgivings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyhow,\u201d Pete now says, \u201cI went and built the goldang thing. And that was the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the start of some things big. As far as the relationship between the trio it led most immediately to the two Oak Tree Country Club courses across the street from the original Oak Tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlice was instrumental in those courses as well,\u201d said Edgmon of Dye\u2019s marital and frequent design partner. \u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with Pete Dye you\u2019re dealing with someone who is really special, as special in his disciplines as any golf course architect I know. He has a talent hard to put your finger on\u2014but when you combine that with Alice, oh my goodness gracious! It\u2019s a can\u2019t fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alice<\/a>

Alice Dye on a bulldozer in the early days<\/p><\/div>\n

Vossler and Walser, who merged with Landmark Land Company in 1974, wound up developing more Pete Dye-designed golf courses than any other entity. \u201cI did a lot of work for Ernie and Joe,\u201d said Dye. \u201cThey were good to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would include the Stadium Course at PGA West in California. Vossler and Walser wanted it to be harder than Oak Tree–the hardest course in the world, actually, and many would say it is. Other California classics at PGA West, La Quinta Resort, and Mission Hills, as well as the Ocean Course at Kiawah, all sprang from Oak Tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose were the glory days for Landmark,\u201d said Edgmon, who is now with Troon Golf in Arizona.<\/p>\n

Teeing It Up at Oak Tree<\/b><\/p>\n

Oak Tree Golf Club opened on May 1, 1976, and merely changed the face of golf in Oklahoma, being named to the Golf Digest \u201cAmerica\u2019s 100 Greatest Courses\u201d list the following year, the \u201cyoungest\u201d course ever so named to that point. And the club spawned the Oak Tree Boys, a gaggle of Oklahoma pros who cut their teeth on the course and made it and the community a literal and figurative home.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The first hole at Oak Tree National<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true,\u201d said Dye. \u201cThere\u2019s Gil Morgan, Bob Tway, Willie Wood, Doug Tewell, Mark Hayes, Scott Verplank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/a>

Scott Verplank<\/p><\/div>\n

Verplank has a special relationship with Oak Tree, having won the 1984 U.S. Amateur title there while a OSU student, his coach Mike Holder on the bag. And Verplank will turn 50 in timely fashion. Said Willie Wood, \u201cThe 2014 Senior Open at the club will be Scott\u2019s first senior event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with many amateur competitions, Dye courses worldwide have hosted an impressive string of major championships on the PGA, LPGA and senior tours\u2014\u201cTwenty-eight, but who\u2019s counting?\u201d said Dye\u2014not to mention the Solheim Cup and the notorious \u201cWar by the Shore\u201d Ryder Cup of 1991 at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island. (The 2020 Ryder Cup matches will be at Dye\u2019s Whistling Straits course in Kohler, Wisconsin.)<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the PGA Championship at Oak Tree in 1988 was my first professional major,\u201d said Dye.<\/p>\n

Edgmon was the general chairman for the 1988 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, and he claimed at the time to be delighted that the players were firing low scores.<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/a>

Jeff Sluman hoists the Wanamaker Trophy in 1988<\/p><\/div>\n

But the impression remains that members wince a bit at the thought that the 1988 tournament wound up as the second easiest in the championship\u2019s history. And that winner Jeff Sluman managed to get around in five-under on the final day, his 272 total, 12-under, besting runner-up Paul Azinger by three strokes.<\/p>\n

It was Sluman\u2019s only major, and his first Tour victory as well. His and the other low scores weren\u2019t traceable to an easy course, which no one would ever accuse Oak Tree of being. Then as now a par-71, it was rated at 76.9, then the highest course rating in the U.S. The low scores came from soft conditions and the almost complete absence of the typically ubiquitous 30 mph wind.<\/p>\n

When Dye returned to renovate the course in 2002 the rating went up to 77.1. Today, at 7,410 from the black tees the course comes in at 79.3 and a slope rating of 155, the highest possible.<\/p>\n

Dye merely chuckles about all this, saying that his renovations at Oak Tree actually involved softening<\/i> many of the greens.<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a>

Pete Dye in 2004<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t build greens like you did 30 years ago. You have to soften them. When Hogan won at Merion the greens were probably running about six on the Stimpmeter. I imagine we had the greens at Oak Tree up to about eight, and they were probably even higher by the time the club changed hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Club was set to host the 1994 PGA Championship, but by then Landmark was mired in financial difficulties and the venue was changed to Southern Hills. Now renamed and under new ownership, Oak Tree National is ready to take its place on the larger stage once more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt went through some challenging times but it made it through,\u201d said Willie Wood. \u201cAs for the course, players have to drive well. The greens are all elevated with a lot of front trouble. So you have to fly it in to the greens and when the wind starts blowing it\u2019s tough to control. In July there might be less wind. If it was April we\u2019d have our hands full.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be a test,\u201d said Edgmon. \u201cAs I recall the year that we played the PGA Championship the first was ranked the hardest starting hole on the Tour. And at Oak Tree, it doesn\u2019t get any easier from there. It\u2019s fair, but a challenge, from the first shot to putting out on the last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dye claims it\u2019s playable by the average golfer\u2014if hitting from the proper tees: \u201cThe fairways look entirely different, tougher, for better players. If he moves up, the average guy can handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may depend on how you define \u201caverage guy,\u201d but it seems clear that Dye doesn\u2019t quite qualify. With ample projects and renovations he can attend to, Dye has a simple attitude toward them: \u201cMy health is good and I\u2019m still going strong. So I might as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a>

Pete Dye at his French Lick course in Indiana in 2008<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[July 12. 2014]–Last October Champions Tour player Jay Don Blake was warming up for the AT&T Championship at TPC San… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":5396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17,7],"tags":[992041,992052,992042,992053,992043,992054,992044,3877,1119,2369,992056,439,992046,4914,8887,992047,992058,24643,992048,992059,3689,992049,992060,3466,992050,992061,127440,992051],"class_list":["post-5389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-courses-and-travel","category-personalities","tag-ernie-vossler","tag-scott-verplank","tag-joe-walser-jr","tag-atampt-canyons-course","tag-oak-tree-national","tag-1988-pga-championship","tag-oak-tree-boys","tag-jeff-sluman","tag-texas","tag-landmark","tag-us-senior-open-2014","tag-pete-dye","tag-oak-tree-golf-club","tag-alice-dye","tag-troongolf","tag-oak-tree-country-club","tag-hugh-edgmon","tag-pgachampionship","tag-edmund","tag-mark-shaw","tag-oklahoma","tag-willie-wood","tag-bury-me-in-a-pot-bunker","tag-tpc-san-antonio","tag-blaine-mcallister","tag-unique-golf-concepts","tag-san-antonio","tag-jay-don-blake"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/07\/Oak-Tree-Nat-1st.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5389"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8376,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5389\/revisions\/8376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}