XGD Systems History With Oak Hill Country Club

 In Classic Golf Architecture, Donald Ross, Golf Course Capital Improvements, Golf Drainage, Golf Infrastructure Improvements, Greens Drainage, Soil Gas Exchange

I had the fortunate opportunity earlier this week to attend my second golf major of the year at Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, NY. Maybe it is fitting that “glory’s last stand” as sometimes referred to as the final major of the year at the PGA Championship was XGD’s “first stand” on classic pushup greens in the US. Nearly 20 years ago we completed the eleventh green at Oak Hill CC during Paul Latshaw Jr’s tenure, and the success of that single green installation spurred on XGD to other classic championship courses such as Oakmont CC, Pine Valley GC and Merion. However, it wasn’t until the last five years, that XGD was contacted by GCS Jeff Corcoran to set up a program to complete the clubs final 19 greens over a three year period which ended in the fall of 2011. This timing led up to nearly two full years for the last group of greens to acclimatize to the internal greens drainage system, before they were stressed out to major championship conditions this week.

Below is a picture from Wednesdays practice round of the seventh green which I caught at a perfect sun angle to view the visibility of the XGD laterals. This green was completed three years ago.

I could see several other greens with less visibility of the laterals, just at the perfect light angle throughout the day, and some I could not find at all. If you are a turf nerd, and want to look for them on the TV telecast this weekend, most of the greens drainage layouts were like the seventh green above, and are perpendicular to the ball flight coming in to the greenpads.

My take home point on this topic is the witnessed longevity and high performance of the XGD System in the eleventh green at Oak Hill. Nearly 20 years of drainage performance, and our oldest installs in SW Ontario at York Downs G&CC has been humming along for over 20 years.

Guaranteed “bang for your buck” in my opinion.

Regards, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer

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