from today's issue of Sports Illustrated, the Golf Plus section:
Chicagoland Dream 18
When it comes to the largest concentration of classic courses in America, the Second City is second to none. Here are the best of the best in Golftown U.S.A.
Compiled by Geoff Shackelford
The New York City environs have a passel of swell clubs, and Philadelphia is home to old-line golfing tradition, but only Chicago can call itself Golftown U.S.A.
The 366 member clubs in the Chicago District Golf Association are a mix made to match the sensibilities of the heartland golfer. There are the private jewels like Medinah, Chicago Golf Club and Butler National but also an unmatched collection of classic public courses -- Cog Hill, Cantigny and Harborside, to name only a few.
H.S. Colt, C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor, Donald Ross, A.W. Tillinghast -- all the greats worked Chicagoland's rich soil, making the selection of a Dream 18 encompassing the area's most fascinating holes a difficult task. (Our handpicked panel agreed that a second Dream 18 would yield a course as design-rich as the first.)
Throw in the Western Golf Association's 76-year-old Evans Scholarship program for caddies and you have it all in Golftown U.S.A.
PANEL: Gerald Barad, Steve Daly, Joe Jemsek, Mike Keiser, Chris O'Donnell, Paul Richards, Bill Shean, Ed Sherman
1. Chicago Number 2
One of many St. Andrews Road Hole adaptations, this is an original Chicago Golf Club hole designed by C.B. Macdonald and renovated by his sidekick, Seth Raynor.
Keiser: "Macdonald's best 'manufactured' par-4s are known for their ingenious sculptures -- such as the gorgeous and challenging green on this hole."
2. Beverly Number 11
Richards: "Originally dubbed Old Profanity, the hole demands a tee shot to the right of the bunker on the left, bringing out-of-bounds along the railroad tracks into play. The second shot must avoid a large fairway bunker about 220 yards from the green as well as the traps to the right at about 120 to 160 yards. Two bunkers right and another one left guard a large green with a dead elephant in the center. Chick Evans called this 'one of the great holes of golf.'"
3. Cog Hill No. 4 Number 16
The most recent home of the Western Open will soon undergo a redesign by Rees Jones in hopes of luring a U.S. Open to Dubsdread. But significant changes to this hole are unlikely.
Sherman: "This par-4 is my favorite, with the creek running along the dogleg on the left. Number 16 is the most picturesque hole on the course."
4. Glen Oak Number 8
Shean: "Designed by Tom Bendelow and modified by A.W. Tillinghast, among others, the course's classic short par-4 is only 292 yards long with an elevated green fronted by bunkers and surrounded by oak trees. While it is tempting to whale away with a driver, the penalty for missing this severely back-to-front sloping green makes a five-iron and a wedge a better choice."
5. George W. Dunne National Number 7
Jemsek: "The Dick Nugent-designed green is surrounded by bunkers at one, four, seven and 11 o'clock, but a fifth bunker directly in front splits the green into east and west sections. A large bump in the green allows players to putt around the bunker."
6. Harborside International Port Number 16
Jemsek: "From the tee one has a long view of Lake Calumet about 60 feet below. The drive between bunkers to the right and the lake on the left plays downhill to a peninsula green that hangs out into the lake."
7. Glen Club Number 17
Keiser: "With the green and the area surrounding it shaved to USGA championship standards, this is one of Tom Fazio's best holes."
8. Olympia Fields North Number 14
Shean: "Part of Willie Park Jr.'s original design, the fairway is in a valley protected on the right side by a creek that then cuts back across the fairway about 100 yards from the elevated green."
Keiser: "[This is] like the 11th at Shoreacres, another wonderfully natural par-4 playing around a beautifully sculpted ravine."
9. Shoreacres Number 15
Seth Raynor's epic 1916 design sits on Lake Michigan, but the lake never comes into play.
Shean: "A reachable par-5 that doglegs slightly left in the landing area, with a ravine left. A tee shot to the deep right-center of the fairway opens up the best approach angle to a slightly sloping green. Hazards split the lay-up landing area, creating an alternate fairway."
10. Pine Meadow Number 14
Many think that this Joe Lee-Rocky Roquemore design is the best public course, overall, in the area.
Jemsek: "Called T-Bone, the hole demands a 200-yard carry over a water hazard that turns and follows the fairway on the right side all the way to the green. A bunker on the left pinches the landing area. The green has four subtle tiers."
11. Beverly Number 8
Jemsek: "It's hard to select a par-4 on a course that has three great par-5s, but the 65-yard-deep green named Punchbowl is that different and interesting."
Richards: "When the Western Golf Association visited here in preparation for the 1963 Western, officials felt that the hole wasn't long enough. Since there were only woods and open space behind Donald Ross's Punchbowl, they told the club to build a new green 'back there' [to] lengthen the hole. After the new green was built, club officials had a change of heart and decided they didn't want to lose the original, so they simply connected the old with the new."
12. Cantigny Woodside Number 2
This Roger Packard-designed layout was built to honor the will of former Chicago Tribune publisher Robert McCormick; the course sits on his estate.
Sherman: "A good risk-reward scenario for the better player. The green is surrounded by a creek in front and a pond in back."
13. Shoreacres Number 11
Shean: "The fairway is protected by woods on the left and an 80-foot-deep ravine that runs down the right side of the fairway and then sweeps in front of the green."
O'Donnell: "If, like me, you grew up in Chicago but played elsewhere, you realize how flat most of the area courses are, making this hole dramatic and special."
14. Medinah No. 3 Number 12
The only hole not touched by designer Rees Jones in advance of next week's PGA Championship.
Shean: "The drive is to a tight fairway that slopes dramatically left to right with beautiful rolls that leave few flat lies. The approach is to a large, elevated green that falls sharply to the right toward an all-too-visible pond."
15. Skokie Number 12
A Donald Ross course, Skokie hosted the 1922 U.S. Open won by Gene Sarazen but was later redesigned by cult favorites Langford and Moreau. It was recently restored by Ron Prichard.
Richards: "The setting is serene -- square tee boxes, water between tee and green, forest preserve to the left and behind the green. The tee shot is intimidating. Can I carry the water? If I do, will my shot hit the severe face that lies below the green? If it carries, will it hold? The green is larger than it appears from the tee and has multiple ridges and contours, so simply reaching the green is only half the battle."
16. Sydney Marovitz Number 5
Sherman: "Running along Lake Michigan and part of a public, 3,240-yard nine-holer off Lake Shore Drive, the hole offers a terrific view of the lake and the skyline. There's not another like it in Chicago."
17. Chicago Number 7
Shean: "One of the great Redan holes in the U.S. There are a whopping 20 yards between the false front and the ridge at the apex of the 50-yard-long green. From the ridge the green slopes down severely to the left, and the rear corners are squared off."
18. Butler National Number 18
Always one of the PGA Tour's toughest holes when this George and Tom Fazio design hosted the Western from 1977 to '90.
Sherman: "One last punch to the jaw on the way in."
Issue date: August 14, 2006