Oak Hills Country Club, the venerable A. W. Tillinghast masterpiece in the heart of San Antonio, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2022. As part of its big birthday bash, the club will unveil a centennial book, to be published by Strawn & Sampson, a collaboration of veteran golf journalists John Strawn, the Portland, Oregon-based former CEO of Robert Trent Jones II and best-selling author Curt Sampson (Hogan, The Masters) of Dallas.
Oak Hills is aptly named. Almost a century ago, its magnificent trees and tumbling landscape provided a perfect canvas for Tillinghast, a Mount Rushmore figure in golf course architecture.
Strawn, the author of Driving the Green, the first book about the making of a golf course, is himself an architect, and has made well-received changes to, among other courses, Gearhart Golf Links on the Oregon coast. He will work closely with Tripp Davis, whose recent restoration of Oak Hills received rave reviews.
Sampson failed miserably as a club and touring professional but has had significant success as a writer. His current book, his 18th, is Roaring Back The Fall and Rise of Tiger Woods.
“We couldn’t be happier about this,” said Oak Hills GM Cary Collins. “I’ve known Curt for years and I’ve read almost all his books. And John’s writing on architecture is fascinating.
“That Oak Hills has survived to begin a second century is a credit to its great design, of course, but also to scores of people whose stories deserve to be told and whose efforts we do not want to forget.”
Strawn & Sampson, a full-service publisher of club history books, was incorporated in Texas in 2019. It is working with some of the best and best-known golf clubs in the US and overseas.