Firefighters battled a blaze Thursday morning at the famed Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, where many of the best golfers in the world have played in the past century.
At about 10 a.m., flames licked the roof of the private clubhouse as black smoke billowed. The fire quickly spread, engulfing much of the wooden structure on the 3950 block of West Maple Road.
Eventually, the roof collapsed, and one fire official was calling it “almost a total loss.”
Trending: Everything we know about Oakland Hills, an iconic golf club
Wow factor:I played the newly restored South Course at Oakland Hills. Here’s my review
Even though it is a posh private club with many rules and traditions — “proper attire is required at all times in the public areas,” “when in doubt, the club prefers that its members and guests dress up rather than dress down,” “shirttails must be tucked in everywhere” — the devastation was significant to many Michiganders who saw the club as the aspiration of generations of Michiganders.
Even if you’ve never visited the club — or ever played golf — you know the club’s South Course holds a place among some of America’s greatest. Golfweek ranked it 23rd in its list of the best classic golf courses in the nation last year and it been host 14 golf majors and United States Golf Association championships.
On top of that, the clubhouse has been a venue for weddings and other society events.
“I am truly devastated to learn of this fire at Oakland Hills (where I worked as a hostess the summer after high school),” U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Rochester Hills, tweeted. “My heart goes out our amazing Bloomfield Hills community and my prayers are for everyone’s safety as we try and salvage history.”
Fighting the ferocious fire
Several fire departments responded after the blaze broke out in the attic.
The grand white clubhouse, which opened in 1922, was designed by architect C. Howard Crane. It was modeled after Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation home in Fairfax County, Virginia.
It had been filled with irreplaceable golf tournament memorabilia and art going back a century. Much of it, however, is likely lost forever in the fire or badly damaged by smoke and water.
Opinion: Why Oakland Hills Country Club is so special to me
Throughout the morning, firefighters used their water hoses and ladders to attack the flames and contain the fire. By noon were still on the scene. Early reports indicate, however, the fire has destroyed much of the central part of the storied clubhouse.
[ Subscribe to the Free Press for only $1 for 6 months ]
The parts damaged by fire are where the main dining room and a ballroom that the club used for its grandest events had been.
No injuries were reported.
The club had itself as a place for “family fun” with “innovative and traditional events, celebrations, and programs” that offer club members “a variety of opportunities to relax and enjoy themselves at their ‘home away from home’ throughout the seasons.”
In addition to golf, the club offers tennis, swimming, heated paddle courts and fitness.
News accounts have said that the club has about 550 members, some of whom paid a $72,000 initiation fee and $8,400-plus per year in fees and dues, with another $1,000 per year in food and beverages.
Read more: Oakland Hills to host 2 US Women’s Opens
The best:Ranking Michigan’s top 10 golf resorts and destinations for your Up North vacation
Oakland Hills’ history
Oakland Hills Country Club was founded in 1916 by Joseph Mack and Norval Hawkins, two Ford executives, at a meeting of 47 friends and associates at the Detroit Athletic Club.
They decided there would be 140 charter memberships at a cost of $250 apiece.
Walter Hagen, an 11-time major winner, was the club’s first head professional.
The club now includes two 18-hole courses designed by Donald Ross, the South Course, which is older, and the North Course.
Last year, Oakland Hills spent almost two years and $12 million restoring its South Course, which golfer Ben Hogan gave the nickname, the Monster, when, in 1951, he won the U.S. Open.
He said: “I’m glad I brought this course — this monster — to its knees.”
The restoration was part of the club’s effort to host a U.S. Open as early as 2028.
When Ross, a famous course designer first visited the property, he told Mack, “The Lord intended this for a golf course.” In his commentaries on golf architecture, he said, “I rarely find a piece of property so well-suited for a golf course.”
Since then, the club has held six U.S. Opens, two U.S. Senior Opens, a U.S. Women’s Amateur, two U.S. Men’s Amateurs and three PGA Championships, and hosted the 1922 Western Open, the 1964 Carling World Open, and the 35th Ryder Cup, in 2004.
In January, the club was awarded the U.S. Women’s Open in 2031 and 2042.
Free Press sports writer Carlos Monarrez contributed.
