Today’s news included the final day of play at the Oakland Hills South Course for nearly two years, as Gil Hanse sets in to renovate the course…probably ramping it up for a potential U.S. Open pitch in the decade to come. Is this necessarily good news? Hopefully, but maybe not. The Scioto Country Club, near to BPBM headquarters, has recently announced a total remodel to restore its Rossiness. On one hand, it’s a bit of a mislead; most of these restorations will be implemented to address member concerns following the previous round of work, which were made to host the U.S. Senior Open during 2016. Still, we should feel grateful that memberships are seeing fit to maintain Ross’s signature on his layouts at all.
It hasn’t always been the case. While Scioto’s last round of edits came in an effort to challenge pros, many of the Scot’s courses have met a muting of his personality for what can essentially be filtered down into two camps: apathy and, of course, budget.