Oak Hill Country Club Timeline

1879 - Eastman Kodak is founded by George Eastman.

1884 - First baseball world series matches the National League and American Association champions.

1885 - The automobile is invented.

1888 - Kodak camera is first introduced with the slogan "you press the button, we do the rest".

1888 - St Andrews Golf Club is founded in Yonkers N.Y., the oldest surviving golf club in America.

1890 - The massacre of Wounded Knee ends the Indian Wars in the U.S.

1891 - Basketball is invented by Dr. James Naismith.

1893 - The Stanley Cup is first contested in hockey.

1894 – The USGA is founded.

1895 –Horace Rawlins wins the first U.S. Open.

1896 - The first modern Olympics is held.

1898 – The term “birdie” is coined at the Atlantic CC from a “bird of a hole.”

1901 - Oak Hill Country Club is founded.

1902 - Michigan beats Stanford 49-0 in the first Rose Bowl.

1903 – The Wright Brothers fly the first airplane at Kitty Hawk.

1906 - The NCAA is formed.

1911 - The first Indianapolis 500 auto race is run.

1913 – While Rochester’s Walter Hagen was making his U.S. Open debut, unheralded American Francis Ouimet becomes the first amateur to win the U.S. Open.

1914 - The First World War begins, the same year Walter Hagen wins his first U.S. Open.

1916 - The PGA of America is founded and Jim Barnes wins the first PGA Championship.

1917 - The PGA Championship and the U.S. Open are discontinued as U.S. troops are sent to Europe.

1920 – President Woodrow Wilson signs the 18th amendment banning the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol in the U.S.

1922 - Walter Hagen becomes the first American to win the British Open.

1924 - The USGA legalizes steel-shafted clubs.

1926 - Oak Hill moves to its new Pittsford location.

1927 - The U.S., captained by Walter Hagen, beats Britain in the first Ryder Cup.

1929 - The stock market crashes and the Great depression begins.

1930 – Bobby Jones completes the original grand slam and retires from competitive golf at age 29.

1933 - Hershey Chocolate, sponsoring the Hershey Open, becomes the first corporate title sponsor of a professional tournament, the same year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the 21st amendment ending prohibition.

1934 - The Walter Hagen Centennial is held at Oak Hill a few months after Horton Smith wins the first Masters.

1936 – Oak Hill members were charged an additional 25 cents for 18 holes and 15 cents for nine holes with the money being used to establish a fund to install a sprinkler system.

1938 - The 14-club rule is instituted by the USGA.

1939 - Germany invades Poland and Britain and France declare war.

1941 – Four months after the first Times-Union Open is played at Oak Hill, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and the United States enters World War II.

1941 – Baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth plays at Oak Hill Country Club.

1942 – Ben Hogan sets the Oak Hill course record with a 64 and wins the second Times-Union Open.

1945 – Germany and Japan surrender and World War II ends.

1947 - Jackie Robinson plays for the Brooklyn Dodgers and breaks baseball's color barrier.

1948 – The state of Israel is created.

1949 - Oak Hill plays host to its first major tournament, the U.S. Amateur.

1950 – The Korean War begins.

1951 – Golf Digest is founded.

1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would later be inducted into Oak Hill’s Hill of Fame, is elected the 34th President of the U.S.

1953 – Ben Hogan wins the first three legs of the modern grand slam but fails to win the final leg, the PGA Championship.

1954 – Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four-minute mile and the U.S. Open is nationally televised for the first time.

1956 - Oak Hill plays host to the U.S. Open.

1957 – At his Hill of Fame induction, Chick Evans says “Each mile that carried me farther from Oak Hill increased the realization that I was leaving one of the world’s greatest golf clubs.”

1959 – NBC-TV filmed the World Championship of Golf at Oak Hill.

1960 - The American Football League begins play with the Buffalo Bills as a charter member.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs.

1963 – President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

1964 - Cassius Clay, later to be known as Muhammad Ali, wins the world heavyweight boxing title.

1965 – Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer play the Big Three exhibition match at Oak Hill and are inducted into the Hill of Fame.

1966 - England wins its first and only World Cup.

1967 – Charlie Sifford becomes the first African-American to win on the PGA Tour.

1968 – Oak Hill hosts the U.S. Open and Lee Trevino wins for the first time in his career.

1969 – Astronaut Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.

1971 – Astronaut Alan Sheppard hits a 6-iron on the moon.

1973 – The Kodak Celebrity Classic is held at Oak Hill featuring Joe DiMaggio, Mel Allen, Glen Campbell and Foster Brooks.

1974 - Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth's career home run record of 714.

1975 – The last official U.S. military action in Vietnam took place.

1977 – Tennis great Arthur Ashe visits Oak Hill to conduct a clinic.

1979 - Oak Hill hosts the inaugural Grand Slam of Golf around the time Taylor Made introduces the first metal woods.

1980 - Oak Hill hosts the PGA Championship and Jack Nicklaus wins by a record-setting seven strokes.

1981 – The space shuttle is launched.

1984 - Oak Hill hosts the fifth U.S. Senior Open.

1985 – The U.S. team loses the Ryder Cup matches for the first time since 1957 to the expanded European team.

1989 – One year after becoming the first player to earn $1 million in prize money in one season, Curtis Strange becomes the first man since Ben Hogan to claim back-to-back U.S. Opens when he wins at Oak Hill.

1990 – A year after the Berlin Wall fell, German reunification occurred.

1994 – The Buffalo Bills lose in the Super Bowl for the fourth year in a row.

1995 - Oak Hill hosts the 31st Ryder Cup Matches.

1996 – Tiger Woods is named the PGA Tour rookie of the year, Sports Illustrated sportsman of the year, and college player of the year.

1998 – The U.S. Amateur returns 49 years after its last visit to Oak Hill.

1999 – Payne Stewart dies in a plane accident just four months after winning his second U.S. Open title.

2001 – The 9/11 attacks occur in New York City and Washington, D.C.

2003 - Oak Hill Hosts its second PGA Championship and a record 96 of the top 100 players compete for the title just two weeks after entertainer and Hill of Fame inductee Bob Hope dies at the age of 100.

2003 – Oak Hill celebrates Craig Harmon’s 30th anniversary as its head professional with a members-only golf tournament and clinic featuring Craig’s brothers Dick, Butch, and Billy, along with Jeff Sluman.

2005 – Oak Hill is selected to host its first Senior PGA Championship in 2008, and its third PGA Championship in 2013.

2008 - Jay Haas wins the 2008 Senior PGA Championship with a winning total of 7-over-par 287 was the highest winning score in relation to par in the 72-hole history of the Senior PGA Championship, which started with Gene Sarazen's win in 1958. It also made Haas the 13th multiple winner of the championship.

2008 - Oak Hill is named the 5th best club in the United States by the readers of Golf World.  This is a comprehensive rating covering the Golf Course, Amenities, Food and Beverage, Service and Value.

2009 - The bi-annual ratings of the top 100 Golf Courses in America is released and Oak Hill moves from #25 to #11. 

2013 - Oak Hill is scheduled to host the 2013 PGA Championship.