2023 PGA Championship course: Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York

The East Course at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, is perhaps the most prestigious and famous of American championship golf. With its stately terrain and lush array of elms and oaks that are criss crossed by a creek, it has become the very representation of the sport in the United States.

Oak Hill Country Club is as historic as it gets

Designed by Donald Ross, the course dates back to 1901 when it started out as a 9-hole course spread across 85 acres on the banks of the Genesee River in Rochester. By 1921, however, the course had doubled in size, replaced the glorified farmhouse that was acting as a clubhouse and generally boosted the profile of what was still considered to be a relatively new sport in the United States. Following a land swap agreement with the University of Rochester, Oak Hill moved to a 355-acre plot near Pittsford. With almost triple the space, it became an 18-hole course built around the east branch of the Allen Creek and with that the East Course was born.

It has of course been altered several times over the years, with Robert Trent Jones Sr. enacting the first of them in the 60s. In 1989, it was Tom Fazio’s turn to put his mark on the course and most recently Andrew Green completed a restoration project in 2019. The course remains to this day one of the few to have hosted such a glittering array of championships. Since 1949, Oak Hill Country Club has hosted two U.S. Amateurs (1949, 1998), three U.S. Opens (1956, 1968, 1989), three PGA Championships (1980, 2003, 2013; 2023 will be its fourth), the 1984 U.S. Senior Open and two Senior PGA Championships (2008, 2019), as well as the 1995 Ryder Cup.

The East Course: Hole by hole

At 7,390 yard (6,757m) the East Course is by no means the longest in the United States, but it’s certainly one of the most challenging. With a total of 36 holes, the course is built around the aforementioned Allen Creek, which in turn acts as a lateral hazard for half of its holes. Below you can see the holes by the numbers: