Oakland Hills Country Club

About Oakland Hills Country Club

Oakland Hills Country Club, a private golf club in Bloomfield Hills, Oakland County, Michigan, has hosted many prestigious professional golf tournaments throughout its history. The Oakland Hills grounds crew maintains two courses, designated the North and South Course. The South Course has hosted all the tournaments played at Oakland Hills (one round of the 2002 U.S. Amateur was played on the North Course).

In 1916, Printer Joseph Mack, who was also Henry Ford's ad-man and Norval Hawkins, the accountant and first sales manager for Ford, purchased a parcel of farmland on Maple Road - 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Detroit - in Bloomfield Township. Construction began in 1917. Mack was elected first president of the club.

When the South Course of Oakland Hills was formally opened on July 13, 1918, it already enjoyed a certain degree of prestige, as the course was designed by the famous golf course architect Donald Ross and the club's first professional was U.S. Open winner Walter Hagen. The enjoyment of country club life in those days was restricted to the golf course. The "Clubhouse" was the Miller farmhouse on the North side of Maple Road and the old chicken coop served as Walter Hagen's pro shop. Memberships were sold to 140 members at $250.00 each.