BY: RORY SPEARS

The clubhouse at Arlington Lakes Golf Club.

As I wrote in Chicagoland Golf last month, golf is moving forward regardless of what some media stories might suggest.

The Arlington Heights Park District is one of the latest park districts in the Chicagoland area to do some renovation work on the their golf course. the board recently decided to have Lake in the Hills based architect Mike Benkusky lead the project and submit a master plan.

That plan was recently shared with Golfers on Golf and calls for the elimination of many bunkers, the redoing and relocation of some greens, and the rerouting of the golf course.

Benkusky’s plans include, changing the routing of the golf course. The routing change would allow the implementation of a three-hole loop near the clubhouse.

Architect Mike Benkusky stands on the current 9th green, that would become the 18th green, under his new plan.

The current plan that Benkusky has submitted to the park board would make the current 9th hole, the new 18th hole. One of the major concerns about the golf course is the green complex on the 9th hole.

“Anytime I am out here at the course and someone finds out what I’m doing here, the first thing they ask is if I am fixing the 9th hole,” said Benkusky. “I promise them that, that is one of the first things on the to-do list.”

Arlington Lakes has been getting strong support from area golfers, as over 40,000 rounds get playe there. The club has been even busier this year, some feel that might have to do with the fact that the neighboring Mt. Prospect Park District golf course is closed until next summer for renovation.

The current layout is not quite 6,000 yards and with the new plan, the course could lose even a couple of hundred more yards. Benkusky’s goal is not to make Arlington Lakes longer and tougher, but more playable and more fun for golfers of all skill levels. When the project is complete, Benkusky hopes the course will attract even more juniors, seniors and beginners. Benkusky says, “it’s all about growing the game.”

Some trees like this one in the fairway, in front of a tee box will be removed.

The decay of the bunkers and problems with drainage, brought the park district to realize that some work had to be done.

With the hiring of Benkusky, the park district has looked at the bigger plan that he has brought to the board. There are more ways here to improve the golf course than originally planned. How many of those ideas get put into place, still remain to be decided.

Benkusky’s plan call for moving the first and tenth tee boxes being moved forward away from the clubhouse, to include a new and larger putting green. The park district might be making some changes around the clubhouse, and the extra space could be used for an outside dinning area.

The current putting green that is too small and to crowned, would become the site of the new ninth green.

The new master plan (L) as proposed by Benkusky, and the new scorecard with the proposed yardage changes.

Click here, to hear an interview with architect Mike Benkusky regarding the proposed renovations to Arlington Lakes golf course.

There are still meeting’s to be had with park board before anything becomes official, but that process will continue over the winter. The Arlington Hts. Park District operates the nine hole par three course at Nickol Knoll Park, but as of yet there are no plans to have Benkusky create an improvement plan for the course.

The Gog Blog will continue to follow this story.