Oak Tree National notebook

Oak Tree National’s new training facility at the north end of the driving range features $95,000 of software and diagnostic equipment. It’s the first in the country to use high definition, rivaling any training facility in the country, including Carlsbad, Calif.

"When you see this building you see what the possibilities are,” said instructor Jim Woodward. "It could be world renowned for what we’re capable of doing. I’ve never seen anything like it. And we can use it year-round with heating inside the facility.”

Woodward and E.J. Pfister, one of the nation’s top golf teachers, will use state-of-the-art equipment to fit clubs and teach Oak Tree club members, PGA Touring pros and the general public.

"It tests the biomechanics of a golf swing,” Pfister said. "It allows Jim and me to diagnosis what the problem is exactly just like when you take your car in for a diagnostic check.”

At the putting studio, faster than any green, a golfer attaches an electronic devise to a pocket to measure 28 parameters of putting. The newest electronic devise, TrackMan, costs $32,000, and provides computer data to test the club swing.

"The clarity is phenomenal,” Pfister said. "TrackMan is a Doppler cone that is the most advanced technology for evaluating individual swing shape and characteristics of the ball, the ball speed, launch, angle, spin rate, apex of the shot to the angle of the club head coming into the ball.”

Oak Tree National lead investor Ed Evans said the most significant hurdle to the Edmond course someday hosting a major PGA event is improving traffic flow.

"The biggest challenge we face isn’t the golf course or the parking situation, it’s the ingress and egress,” Evans said. "We need to get Warterloo (Road) to a four-lane capacity either out to I-35 or over to Portland. You’ll see us work aggressively towards that.”

Long-time Oak Tree PGA Tour members Scott Verplank, Bob Tway, Gil Morgan and Willie Wood pitched suggestions that were used during the $6 million renovation process.

"The course turned out fabulous,” Tway said. "Our vision for bringing the course back to the original Pete Dye design turned out better than we expected.”

Evans said: "We wanted to restore the grandeur... The course is hard. Some guys say it’s two or three strokes harder. Other guys say it’s two or three strokes easier because the quality of the fairways is better, and you have more level lies. It’s definitely a shot maker’s golf course.”

Woodward, a teaching pro who still plays selected Senior PGA Tour events, worked a "little bit” at Oak Tree before new ownership arrived. Woodward, 52, is now a full-time Oak Tree employee.

"This is a dream job,” Woodward said. "I’ve done the director of golf thing for a number of years, and I love being a club pro. But I really like teaching and playing. I get to teach, do some public relations work and play with the members. That’s what I love to do.”

BY MIKE BALDWIN

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