MISTWOOD GOLF DOME has improved it’s upper-deck and it’s short game area’s for the season. So come out and practice your swing and be ready for the outdoor season ahead. Because it will be here before you know it. So come practice on Toptracer or get a lesson. Do you need new clubs ? Because Mistwood is the perfect place to get fitted for new sticks in your golf bag. The dome id home to McWethy’s Sports Bar with the best chicken wings in town. So book your hitting bay at MistwoodGolfDome.com or call the dome at (630)-739-7600. Mistwood Golf Dome is located on Rt. 53 in Bolingbrook.

THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy or connect on LinkedIn or Facebook.

The Moraine Country Club Clubhouse in Dayton Ohio.

The Moraine Country Club in Dayton Ohio heads into it’s 92nd year, perhaps looking better than ever.

Moraine that first opened for play in 1930 has continued to evolve since the 30’s, into what it has become in 2022.

Because what it is now, is a Top 100,  Classic Golf Course, on a few lists by various publications.

Brand new Western Golf Association (WGA) Chairman Joe Desch a native of Cincinnati, but member at Moraine wasted no time introducing WGA Executives based in the Chicago suburb of Glenview, to his club in Ohio. Because when the WGA visited, they found a classic club just perfect for hosting the Western Amateur, and an agreement was struck shortly thereafter. So Moraine will host the 2024 Western Amateur on the heels of three Chicago area classic courses, The Glen View Club, Exmoor Country Club and North Shore Country Club being the host site in 2021-2022 and 2023.

Welcome to Moraine Country Club in Dayton Ohio.

Moraine Country Club has a great history, even if the list of championship golf is short, what’s on the list is a pretty solid group of tournaments.

The club will tell you that overall they there is not enough acreage to host big events. But some championships fit in just fine. The Western Amateur being just such an event.

Moraine is most remembered for hosting the 1945 PGA Championship, won by the great Byron Nelson for his ninth win during his 11 straight tournament winning streak. Nelson defeated Sam Byrd 4 & 3 in the 36-hole final, after Nelson rallied in the second round from 2 Down with four holes to play, to defeat Mike Turnesa. When the club put together a 75 year anniversary book in 2005, Nelson wrote the forward for it. Nelson still had many great memories from his win at Moraine 60 years earlier.

Byron Nelson is awarded the PGA Championship Wanamaker Trophy in 1945 at Moraine CC. (Center photo).

Currently Moraine still does host some championship play. The USGA normally has a U.S. Amateur qualifier at Moraine almost every year. The club does host the Ohio State Amateur once every ten years.

Two players who have won the Ohio State Amateur at Moraine, and went on to successful professional careers include John Cook and British Open Champion Ben Curtis.

Moraine was designed by Alec “Nipper” Campbell who was not only an architect, but a golf professional. One of his students was Francis Ouimet, the amazing winner of the U.S. Open at just 20 years of age in 1913. Campbell used his connection with Ouimet to have him visit and play Moraine in 1933. Campbell was a pretty good player himself, between the years of 1901 to 1915, Campbell had 5 top 10 finishes in the U.S. Open.

The par 4 seventh hole at Moraine.

So the donation of land by Colonel Edward A. Deeds, a co-founder of automobiles and the Wright Airplane Company got the ball rolling. Or flying off the tee and the fairways.

Deeds though not a golfer himself, saw the fact that other were enjoying the sport. His first deal to build a course on portion of land to Moraine’s founding group was a mere $1 per year, for the first 15 years. Nobody could say no at that point.

While Campbell was Moraine’s original designer, he is not the only architect involved in Moraine’s design. Because the famed NCR Country Club sits right next door to Moraine. When NCR course architect Dick Wilson was building at NCR in the 1950’s, a couple of times he walked over to Moraine to look at a few course issues. As a result, a couple of greens and tee’s were moved at Wilson’s suggestion.

The par 4, third hole at Moraine CC.

But in 1945 the club decided to start beautifying the golf course with the planting of trees.

So many trees in fact, that some thought all the trees, were taking away from Campbell’s vision on how the course should play. Nonetheless trees continued to become a bigger part of the course.

70 years later the club hired one of the worlds best classic course restoration and renovation specialists, architect Keith Foster.

Foster arrived at Moraine and told the club the course had too many tree’s, and it was time to open up the property, create new or restore old sightlines and give the members some room to hit golf shots. So it’s estimated that over 1,000 trees were removed.

But the Foster renovation was more than tree removal. Because there was greens to restore to original size, and a few to slightly relocate so they were out of area’s that flooded. But one of Foster’s strength’s is his bunker work, some golf industry folks who would know call Foster the best bunker guy in the design industry.

The par 3, 5th hole, that plays down from an elevated tee.

So with the tree’s gone, and greens relocated, bunkers reshaped and relocated, and tee’s now properly repositioned.

Moraine Country Club was back on the map. Because it was no longer just an old golf course, it was back being a classic historic and well preserved golf course. Moraine had earned it’s place back on a few Top 100 lists.

But even better news. Foster will be returning to make a couple tweaks on holes 10 and 11, to give them a little sparkle. So when the top amateurs in world arrive in 2024 for the Western Amateur. A high score or low score, match play win or loss, the field should have a week of golf they will really enjoy and never forget.