To some people, old fashioned is a cocktail; to others it’s a
lifestyle. But to the members of America’s oldest 18-hole golf course, Chicago
Golf Club, it is the defining characteristic. The club was old fashioned when it
started 115 years ago, it’s that way today, and God willing, it will stay that
way forever.
Mr. Chicago Golf Club is the club’s founder and patron saint, the
talented, charming, brilliant, respected, distinguished and autocratic Charles
Blair Macdonald. He got the club started in 1892, saw it through its early years
and then encouraged the club to “modernize” the course in the 1920s by hiring
his engineer of choice, the innovative Seth Raynor.
In its early years, this midwest gem was the
hostess-with-the-mostest when it came to USGA events. It was the site of three
U.S. Opens (1897, 1900, 1911), four U.S. Amateurs (1897, 1905, 1909,1912) and
the 1928 Walker Cup, one of the most lopsided in history, with the American team
winning 11 to 1. The U.S. team was exceptional, starting with the captain and
then-current amateur champion Bobby Jones. His teammates were Jess W. Sweetser,
George Von Elm, Chick Evans Jr., Francis Ouimet, Harrison R. Johnston, Watts
Gunn and Roland R. MacKenzie.
The whole pace of life is different at Chicago Golf Club. Some
would call it unreal, but members know it as the way it’s always been. With its
small membership, a normal day of golf might see 60 players. Old fashioned does
not negate all innovations, and since its beginning Chicago Golf Club has
actually been a leader in a number of important issues.
For example, it is probably the first course to have a central
irrigation system for watering its greens and tees. Later, in the 1920s, the
club’s watering system extended to the fairways. The out-of-bounds rule
supposedly started at Chicago Golf Club. Macdonald’s natural shot was a slice,
so he designed the original Wheaton layout in a clockwise direction. A number of
his friends drew the ball and therefore would often find their golf balls in a
neighboring corn field. In a moment of great compassion, Macdonald relented to
something akin to stroke and distance—for a price, one shot.
All the holes at Chicago Golf Club are good, and many are
outstanding, but it’s the four par 3s that really sparkle and shine. Nos. 3 and
7 are long, measuring in at 200-plus yards. The shortest of the one-shotters is
the 10th, 139 yards over water and usually right into the prevailing wind. The
7th is the club’s famous Redan hole. Standing on the tee for the first time the
sight is incomprehensible. The longer you look, the less sense it makes; it’s
probably better to just get up and have a go at it.
Old fashioned never looked better than it does at Chicago Golf
Club, which represents the absolute truth about the game of golf. Its members
can walk the walk and talk the talk. And they have every reason to do just that,
for they are the personification of American golf history.
Par: 70
Yardage: 6,710
Year founded: 1892
Architects: C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor
