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THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy or connect on LinkedIn and Facebook.
*** THE FOLLOWING STORY is based on the Golfers on Golf/Rory Spears interview with current Chicago Golf Club board president Herb Getz***
Rory Spears on the 18th green of the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton Illinois.
HISTORY WAS MADE at the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton in July of 2018, when the United States Golf Association (USGA) brought the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open to the Chicago Golf Club.
Laura Davies won that championship before winning the Senior Women’s LPGA Championship at the French Lick Resort to complete the senior women’s slam, even though it was two championships not four.
Davies has since called the win at Chicago Golf Club, “the highlight of my career”. Because what you win, is not always as important as where you win it.
But as great as the Chicago Golf Club looked for the championship, it was really the beginning of getting better for what was to come next. But to decide on how to move forward, the Chicago Golf Club had to visit and study it’s own history.
The good news is that as current club president Herb Getz tells it, was that heading into the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, some of the membership wasn’t sure if hosting this championship was the right move for the club. But by the time Davies was thanking the gallery on championship Sunday for “watching us old birds come out and play”. The Chicago Golf Club membership was in agreement that hosting the championship was the right thing to do.
The clubhouse at the Chicago Golf Club.
But now the club was facing the question, what next. With Chicago Golf now in it’s third century of a relationship with the USGA, discussions started about yet, another USGA championship. But what really fueled the fire was a visit from new USGA Executive Director Michael Whan. Because shortly after joining the USGA, Whan visited all of the original clubs, and asked them to host another USGA championship.
Big or small, didn’t matter. Whan suggested to the USGA original member clubs, to again host a championship, even if it’s been decades since the last one. So to get ready for what was next, Chicago Golf Club studied it’s history, and moved forward by bringing back it’s past history.
Laura Davies with the U.S. Senior Women’s Open trophy.
The clubs consulting architect Tom Doak got the call, and along the with clubs board, historian and superintendent went to work. But no sooner than the club closed on Labor Day of 2020 for the work to begin, the superintendent who arrived a few years earlier from Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia. Got a calling to go back to Philly. So the restoration team made a change and continued forward.
But work wasn’t just being done outside on the golf course. Because the clubs-clubhouse committee got to work on the clubhouse, inside and outside. Because one of the stories from the 2005 Walker Cup, was how portable air-conditioning units were brought in that week. So even in 2005, the clubs clubhouse did not have air conditioning.
The club knew that needed to change. But along with some upgrades to the A/C and the heating. Improvements started on pipes that provided both the water and electric. Clubhouse work began as the golf course work started, with drainage and bunkers being redone. Which included re-adding the 13 rediscovered original Seth Raynor bunkers from 1923.
The flags of country, the USGA, and the Chicago Golf Club will fly together again in 2033 and 2036.
Getz tells how the bunkers with steeper faces may not excite all of the membership, but improvements have made those who play golf at the club tune-up their “A” game.
Getz says that a future U.S. Open “could be’ in the cards. But it’s likely the club will see how the golf course holds up from championship week at the women’s open in 2033 first. Before making any decision on a men’s open.
Being one of only two clubs along with Shinnecock Hills on Long Island New York, that has hosted USGA Championships in three straight centuries. Is something the Chicago Golf Club takes prides in.
CLICK HERE to hear the interview in full with Chicago Golf Club president Herb Getz.
Can more changes be expected between now and 2033. Actually, not many. But Getz says some tee boxes could be easily added.
The 2033 U.S. Women’s Open is still 10 1/2 years away. But Chicago area golf fans already can’t wait to see a major championship back in town. Ten plus years might seem like a long way a way. But the time is likely to pass-us by before we know it. Even if time does have a way of standing still at the 130 year old Chicago Golf Club.