Ponca City Country Club

Detailed description of Ponca City Country Club

Ponca City Country Club is a Private 18 hole golf course located in Ponca City, Oklahoma.

The course first opened for play in 1928. The course was designed by Perry Maxwell. The back nine was redesigned by Bill Oliver in 1945. The course was redesigned in 1971-72 by Don Sechrest.

This hilly course has undulating greens.

Par for the course is 72. From the back tees the course plays to 6,495 yards. From the forward tees the course measures 5,165 yards. The longest hole on the course is # 12, a par-5 that plays to 512 yards. The shortest hole on the course is # 6, a par-3 that plays to 165 yards from the back tees.

Watch out for # 2, a 385 yard par-4 challenge and the #1 handicap hole on the course. The easiest hole is # 14, a 180 yard par-3.

Detailed History________________________

The course dates back to the days of E.W. Marland and the oil boom era. Marland Oil had an 18 hole, sand greens golf course built next to the Marland compound as a recreational outlet for employees. The golf course, built in 1928, would later become an integral part of the Ponca City Country Club.

When Marland Oil Company merged with Continental Oil Company in 1928, the golf course name was changed from the Marland Institute to the Conoco Golf Club.

In 1940 the sand greens were replaced with bentgrass for the nine holes south and east of the present clubhouse and the other nine holes of the golf course were abandoned.

The Conoco Golf Club continued to operate the course until 1944, when Conoco decided to get out of the golf business. The vision was to see a country club organized to include Conoco employees, professionals from the downtown area and local private business owners.

Before turning the property over to the club, Conoco offered to build grass greens on the 9 holes that were abandoned earlier.

Many renovations, both major and minor, have been completed over the years.

There are not any official documents, but based on the memories of several long-time members, only the holes on the original front nine of the course, south and east of the clubhouse, were designed by the legendary Perry Maxwell. It's unclear who designed the original back nine holes north and east of the current golf shop that were abandoned in 1940. Those nine holes were redesigned by former Conoco Golf Club and then PCCC Head Golf Professional Bill Oliver in 1945 and opened for play again in the summer of 1946. Oliver continued to tweak the design of the course until leaving in 1951.

For several reasons, much of the original golf course was totally redesigned again in 1971-72. Many members had been unhappy that hole #9 did not end at the clubhouse. The golfers also wanted the driving range moved from just inside the entrance to the Club, on the hill, west of the current #15 tee box, to a location closer to the golf shop. The greens were in dire need of reconstruction. And, with a new irrigation system about to be installed, some golfing members thought it would be a perfect opportunity to revamp the entire course.

Noted golf course architect Don Sechrest was hired to design and oversee all of the changes. It was an especially difficult task because portions of the golf course remained open to the members during the entire rebuild.

The decision to totally change the golf course was not without controversy. Many members felt the revamp was unjustified and would be taking away much of the historical significance and difficulty of the course.

Under the direction of the Arnold Palmer group, other major changes to the golf course have included the rebuilding of holes #5 and #8 in 1987 and holes #1 and #3 in 1989.

All of the PCCC greens were lost to disease in the late summer of 1995 and 7 of the 18 greens were redesigned at that time; the remaining 11 greens were reseeded.