The attention of the golf world turns to the final major of the season this week when the 90th PGA Championship is played on the South Course of the Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield, Michigan.

This will be the third time Oakland Hills has hosted the prestigious tournament (the previous two were in 1972 and 1979).

Oakland Hills has a rich history of hosting major golf championships dating back to the US Open in 1924 and in more recent times the 1996 US Open, 2002 US Amateur and the 2004 Ryder Cup.

Oakland Hills was designed in 1918 by America's most famous golf architect Donald Ross who designed or redesigned over 600 golf courses including Pinehurst No 2.

The course under went redesigns by Robert Trent Jones prior to the 1952 US Open and again in 1972 and 1984. In 2006 his son Rees Jones made some alterations in preparation for this year's event.

The course has been lengthened by 325 yards and now plays 7,395 yards from the championship tee to a par of 70.

Golf course superintendent Steve Cook explained the changes thus: "We've made our par threes longer and tougher, narrowed the fairways and really paid attention to the landing areas."

With new tees on 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18 Phil Mickelson feels: 'It's playing longer, off the tee, it just forces us to hit more drivers and three-woods off the tee, but ending up in the same spot for iron shots in."

A total of 135 bunkers have been redone and relocated, many in the landing areas in the fairways in order to preserve the shot values of the original design.

As Cook adds: "It places a premium on tee-shot accuracy. We've also tried to make our bunkers more penal and very hazardous."

The rough is very dense and although cropped to three and a half inches on Tuesday it will be left to grow for the remainder of the week.

Henrik Stenson told me: "You can't hit normal shots out of the rough. If you're really lucky you might be able to hit a seven iron but in most cases you'll just have to take your medicine and wedge out."

Trevor Immelman believes: "If you hit it in the rough, it's almost impossible to get to the green from the rough. So the guy who drives the ball the straightest here is definitely going to have a huge advantage."

The set up is reminiscent of old-style US Open venues before the introduction of graded rough. There is one swath of thick rough where a miss by inches is penalised as badly as miss by 25 feet. The spectator ropes are so close to the fairways that any really wild shots may go unpunished as they will land in severely trampled-down areas.

Padraig Harrington described this year's set-up as "more US Open-type than the US Open at the moment".

Don't assume that this means a short, straight hitter has the advantage because as Jim Furyk noticed recent rain and the general humidity has left the course playing very long.

He said: "It's quite lush, the ball's not travelling a lot in the fairways. Some of the shorter hitters like myself would like to see the fairways maybe firm up a little bit and make it a little bit shorter."

Oakland Hills will prove to be a severe test of driving where a blend of length and accuracy are required, but the key test will be on the greens.

These are some of the most undulating greens the players will ever face. They have multiple undulations and slopes and depending on the hole locations the target area may be as small as a couple of yards.

Ian Poulter commented: "They are probably one of the biggest defences out there. On certain areas of these greens, you're going to leave yourself a 30-40 putt and with how slopey they are, it's going to be hard to two-putt."

The greens will be set at 11 or so on the stimpmeter as anything quicker could make the course unplayable.

The greens are heavily protected by deep bunkers and thick rough. Players will need to use a steep angle of attack to extract the ball from the rough and although a good technique is required there will be an element of luck.

It will be difficult to control the ball out of the rough and Harrington explained: "If you miss the green in the wrong place you struggle to chip it 25-30 feet, putting back over a tier."

A cool head and a sound strategy will be required so players can minimise the damage of any poor shots. That maybe easier said than done given that the humidity will certainly take its toll on the players this week.

Woody Austin summed it up when he said: "It has the potential to definitely be the toughest course we play this year."

Below is the scorecard with provisional hole rankings.