Golf: Fire tears through clubhouse at Oakland Hills golf club

A fire burns at the main building at Oakland Hills Country Club. Photo / AP

A devastating fire has swept through the iconic Oakland Hills Country Club, the scene of multiple major golf championships and the 2004 Ryder Cup, as well as home to irreplaceable golf tournament memorabilia and art.

Flames ripped through the roof at the sprawling, multi-story clubhouse, built in 1922 and which recently underwent a NZ$18m renovation.

Video from the scene showed clouds of black smoke pluming from the country club, which was engulfed by flames despite wet weather sweeping through the region.

It was unclear how the fire started or if anyone was inside the building at the time.

The country club had only reopened last year after closing for two years to undergo renovation works in the hope of staging future major events.

The Oakland Hills clubhouse before the fire. Photo / AP

It previously hosted the six US Opens and three PGA Championships, with the latter's 2008 edition the last.

It also held the 2004 Ryder Cup, which Europe won by a record 18½-9½ margin as part of a hat-trick of triumphs in the competition.

Members were stunned.

"There's so much history, so much wonder here," Rebecca Robinson told WDIV-TV.

Greg Kampe, men's basketball coach at Oakland University, told The Detroit News: "It's hard to talk when you're crying."

Images from the current fire at Oakland Hills CC are chilling. Building dates back to 1922. Awful.

Video submitted from an individual on the ground: pic.twitter.com/UdiP8G0D7i

— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) February 17, 2022

Originally founded in 1916, Oakland Hills has played a significant role in the history of golf in the United States.

Construction started in 2017 after two Ford executives bought farmland on what became the site of the golf club.

The South Course of Oakland Hills opened first in 1918 and the clubhouse was then finished in August 1922.

The same year, construction started on the North Course, which was finished two years later.

The two courses are on either side of Maple Road and, connecting the two, is the world's largest arched aluminium pedestrian bridge. It is 210 feet long, 11 feet wide, and weighs over 40,000 pounds.

The first major tournament was the Western Open in 1922, followed by the US Open in 1924.

Golf legends including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player have all played and won various tournaments there.

- with AP