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Oak Hill host professional Jason Ballard’s thoughts on the 2023 PGA Championship
Evan Schiller captured the glorious sixth hole from above in this image. Read what Jason Ballard has to say about this par four.
In previous features on the 2023 PGA Championship, we examined the history of the tournament at Rochester’s jewel, as well as the benefits of a November start on the infrastructure. As the calendar year of 2023 arrives, we are proud to continue our monthly preparation for the Return to Oak Hill, we are excited to present a six-question interview with Mr. Jason Ballard, the Head Golf PGA Professional at the club. To begin our exchange, we asked Mr. Ballard to provide a bullet-point list on his career in golf and at Oak Hill. The six questions follow the list.
- Born and raised in Santa Rosa, CA
- Attended San Diego State University
- Played mini-tour golf in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s
- Received PGA membership in 2004
- Oak Hill’s PGA Head Professional since 2014
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- Augusta National Golf Club – Senior Assistant Golf Professional 2008-2014
- Inverness Club – Assistant Golf Professional 2013 (summer)
- Congressional Country Club – Assistant Golf Professional 2008-2012 (summers)
- East Lake Golf Club – Senior Assistant Golf Professional 2004-2008
- PGA National Merchandiser of the Year – Private Category – 2020
Here are the questions.
GolfWRX: The 2023 PGA Championship returns after ten years to Oak Hill’s East course. What will the golfers find different about the course, for the ones who were fortunate to compete there in 2013?
Andrew Green’s 2019-2020 renovation of our East Course has been well received. The goal was to create a sympathetic restoration of Donald Ross’s original vision for the property. We are excited to showcase the changes to the golfing world and challenge the best players in the world. For those that have been on property for past championships, they will notice that some trees have been removed to create better growing conditions for our grasses. All greens and bunkers have been renovated and some new tees have been added to help test the modern-day professionals.
GolfWRX: Driving, Approach Play, and Putting are three skills that a championship and its host course demand of its contestants. What will competitors need to produce, in each of those three areas, to maximize performance?
- Driving: One of the defining characteristics of the East Course has always been the narrow width of our fairways. For anyone that has played Oak Hill during the month of May, they know that the rough will be thick, which was most evident during the 2019 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Fairways average 25 yards wide making accurate driving a premium.
- Approach Play: One of the main goals during Andrew Green’s renovation was to bring back some of the original Donald Ross hole locations that we have lost over time. The new greens create a myriad number of hole locations that will bring in many challenges for players. The approach lines will need to navigate new corners of greens and deep greenside bunkers. A short-sided miss will create a difficult up and down to save par.
- Putting: All 18 greens were renovated since the 2013 PGA Championship and 2019 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Thus, any participants that played here during those championships will need to re-learn the greens. The new hole locations have created new slopes and breaks that have been unseen before in championship play.
GolfWRX: Let’s talk about the opening holes. Will players look toward a fast, under-par start, or will they seek to survive an opening gauntlet, and take advantage of later holes?
Ben Hogan once called Oak Hill’s opening hole the “hardest starting hole in Championship golf”. By modern day standards, hole #1, aptly named “Challenge” is a par-4 at 460 yards that may yield a few more birdies than it did in the 1940’s and 1950’s, however a nervous opening tee shot can find out of bounds to the right. Hole #2 “Breather” is a short par-4 at 405 yards that yielded an eagle hole out during round two that helped catapult Jason Dufner to victory during the 2013 PGA Championship. Hole #3 “Vista” played at 210 yards during the 2013 PGA Championship and and averaged 3.2 strokes, with a new tee added will now play at 230 yards during the 2023 PGA Championship it will play even harder.
The first hole at Oak Hill’s East course, from the tee. The second hole climbs the hill in the distance.
GolfWRX: In your estimation, which will be the two most important holes each day on the outward nine?
- Hole #6 “Double Trouble”: This newly restored par-4 was inspired by the original Donald Ross hole and will now play 500 yards during the PGA Championship. The drive will require the player to choose to play towards the bunkers on the left side or tempt the right side of the dogleg along Allen’s Creek. Any drive that does not carry at least 300 yards will find the penalty area. The approach shot will require an accurate shot with the creek to the left of the putting green and a very deep greenside bunker to the right. Any shot that misses the green right will face a challenging up and down to a green that slopes away and toward the penalty area.
This is an artistic shot of the sixth green at Oak Hill’s East course. The green sits beyond the tree, in the distance.
- Hole #7 “Creek’s Elbow”: One of Oak Hill’s finest par-4 holes at 460 yards. This is a very challenging driving hole with a tight fairway bordered by trees down the left side and Allen’s Creek along the right. The green has been restored adding hole locations along the edges and corners of the green guarded by a bunker on the front left. A par on holes 6 and 7 will pick up valuable strokes on the field.
The seventh hole on the 2023 PGA Championship course. Finding the fairway is half the bargain. Safely reaching the putting surface is the handshake.
GolfWRX: Part two of that question. Which two holes on the inward half will most determine a player’s success?
- Hole #14 “Bunker Hill”: One of the most dramatic and best risk/reward par-4 holes at 320 yards. During the renovation, trees were removed to expand the vistas and encourage the player to try and drive the green. A back hole location will create a difficult approach for any player who laid up off the tee due to this two-tiered green. A new runoff area over the green brings out of bounds in play and creates a very difficult up and down to a green that runs away. A birdie is a real possibility here, however bogey or worse is also in play.
This akimbo angle of the 14th hole gives an idea of the options available to competitors.
- Hole #18 “Goin’ Home”: The hole is steeped in history; Shaun Micheel’s approach shot from 174 yards to 3 inches to secure the 2003 PGA Championship on the final hole and Nick Faldo’s incredible up and down from 92 yards to save par to help secure the Ryder Cup for Europe in 1995. A very difficult slight dogleg right, par-4 playing 490 yards that will challenge the players to close out the 2023 PGA Championship. Three renovated fairway bunkers beginning at 300 yards off the tee guard the right side of the fairway. Any player that finds these fairway bunkers will need to navigate steep faces that make the approach shot very difficult to find the putting surface. The renovated green now offers multiple new hole locations.
It has been the site of both joy and sadness in major championships and international play. In May, both emotions will resurface.
GolfWRX: You are the ultimate insider, with great inside knowledge of the East course. Is there a course-related question that we haven’t asked, that you would love to answer? Please ask it and then, answer it. Thank you for your time.
I get asked quite often what I think the winning score will be in 2023. Previously, the lowest winning score in a major championship at Oak Hill was 10 under par by Jason Dufner in 2013 and just prior to that it was 7 over par during the 2008 Senior PGA Championship by Jay Haas in 2008. It is tough to predict due to the talent level of the best golfers in the game, however the biggest factor will certainly be the weather. I can assure you that Jeff Corcoran, Manager of Golf Courses and Grounds and his team will have the course in excellent conditions to challenge the best players in the world. The good news is that no matter what the winning score is during the 2023 PGA Championship, our members are enjoying the course more than they ever have, and to me, that is what is most important in my day-to-day role as PGA Head Golf Professional at Oak Hill Country Club.
Top photo courtesy of Evan Schiller. Other photos courtesy of the author. His work is viewable on @buffalogolfer on Instagram.
I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear
OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.
LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break
Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.
Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.
On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.
On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.
On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.
PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home
Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.
On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.
Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?
Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.
Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?
PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates
Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.
Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.
Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.
Card III and Bacha both miss their birdie tries on the first playoff hole.
We’ll play 18 again @OspreyOpen. pic.twitter.com/vNpHTdkHDg
— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) August 3, 2025
GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.
Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.
Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.
General Albums
- 2025 Wyndham Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2025 Wyndham Championship – Tuesday #2
- 2025 Wyndham Championship – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Scotty Kennon – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Austin Duncan – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Will Chandler – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Kevin Roy – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Ben Griffin – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Peter Malnati – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Ryan Gerard – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Adam Schenk – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Kurt Kitayama – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Camilo Villegas – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Matti Schmid – WITB – 2025 Wyndham Championship
Pullout Albums
- Denny McCarthy’s custom Cameron putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Swag Golf putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Karl Vilips TM MG5 wedges – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- New Bettinardi putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Matt Fitzpatrick’s custom Bettinardi putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
- Cameron putters – 2025 Wyndham Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX
7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0PT
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS (with Mindset)
‘Why would anybody want to change that swing?’ – Brandel Chamblee says PGA Tour star was wrong to change his swing
‘The stupidest freaking thing I’ve ever heard’ – Billy Horschel slams Open idea suggested by Padraig Harrington
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Golfer proudly posts photo of ball mark on iron, receives immediate roasting
WITB Time Machine: Matthew Wolff’s winning WITB, 2019 3M Open
Oakmont Country Club bans Wyndham Clark over locker incident; Reveals specific conditions to earn reinstatement
Adam Scott puts Callaway blades in the bag at Wyndham Championship
Report: LIV star fires caddie and coach in shock shake up
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’
The championship formula: How 3 key stats separate winners from the field
Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...
