Sign of the times? Kemper Lakes to go private

[Michael_Choate]

I don't think so.

I might be wrong re: this, but I'm now recalling that you had to make a pretty serious walk from the Seminary to the first tee.  I'm somehow recalling that there was a hole heading 90 degrees to the left of the 16th tee, but I could be mistaken.  Mike, is there what looks like a hole to the left of the 16th tee?

[Dan Herrmann]

So.  Is Kemper Lakes successful today?

Watching the PGA Championship that Stewart won there tonight.  Thought the course looked contrived.  Didn't look like it'd be a lot of fun either.   

[Tom Bacsanyi]

Ha!  I flipped on the TV and they had Seve hitting into the 18th and I immediately vomited.  It looks like Pete Dye (yeah I know he didn't build it) dropped about 6 tabs of acid and went bananas.

[David Stamm]

Ha!  I flipped on the TV and they had Seve hitting into the 18th and I immediately vomited. 

Viva Seve!

[Matthew Rose]

Ah, somebody else watched it too. Poor Radar.... the putt he gagged on the penultimate hole was even shorter than I remember it being.

Persimmon woods!

Time has not been kind to the course, or the fashion.... pretty much every player was wearing red or purple pants, or some variant thereof. I'm still rather baffled as to how a major ever went there. It looks like every N. Illinois / S. Wisconsin upscale muni I ever grew up playing... unnecessarily large greens, bunkers, everything. Built on steroids.

Also forgot how terrible ABC's coverage used to be in those days. The camera work was atrocious. At least Curtis Strange was still playing and not announcing.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I was there.  Always thought the 18th was the worst hole out there, with the two ponds fronting the green, and the cape hole at a 90 degree angle.  It was supposed to be a normal Dye style cape hole, with those two ponds connected and continuous, but then Kemper decided they needed some land, needed to move the range closer to 18, and then told KN to move 18 to where it is now.  So, if it looks contrived, its only because it is contrived.......

[Adam Clayman]

At one time, playing Kemper Lakes was like going to play at Augusta Nat'l. for a novice golfer who associated difficulty with quality and price.

Funny how things change.

I use to hate the 18th. After having once seen Michael Jordan go for the green off the drive. I now realize it's heroic temptations, and freedom to choose your own line of charm, are great things. Of course this was late 1980's early '90's, and a tree was soon planted to stop Greg Norman from being heroic, or choosing his own line of charm.

[Mark Smolens]

"Time has not been kind to the course, or the fashion.... pretty much every player was wearing red or purple pants, or some variant thereof."

I can see your objection to the red pants, but purple??? Gotta love that timeless bit of fashion sense

[Howard Riefs]

I was there.  Always thought the 18th was the worst hole out there, with the two ponds fronting the green, and the cape hole at a 90 degree angle.  It was supposed to be a normal Dye style cape hole, with those two ponds connected and continuous, but then Kemper decided they needed some land, needed to move the range closer to 18, and then told KN to move 18 to where it is now.  So, if it looks contrived, its only because it is contrived.......

One bad hole...

[Andrew Buck]

I really want to play my normal contarian self and say it's not *That* bad, but it really is.  I guess it does test your game, and has always been in good shape, and there is a place for that, plus I'd rather personally deal with forced carries and length than bowling alley tree-lined fairways.  I guess it really is every Killian/Nugent daily fee on steroids.   

[PCCraig]

I really enjoyed watching part of that coverage last night. At one point Curtis Strange hit a 2-iron from 220 or so...nowadays that would be a 6-iron (or less?) for many of the guys on the Tour.

[John Kavanaugh]

I was there.  Always thought the 18th was the worst hole out there, with the two ponds fronting the green, and the cape hole at a 90 degree angle.  It was supposed to be a normal Dye style cape hole, with those two ponds connected and continuous, but then Kemper decided they needed some land, needed to move the range closer to 18, and then told KN to move 18 to where it is now.  So, if it looks contrived, its only because it is contrived.......

One bad hole...

A hole only Mike Davis could love.  318 from the ladies tees could make it one of the great finishers of all time.

[Nigel Islam]

I was there.  Always thought the 18th was the worst hole out there, with the two ponds fronting the green, and the cape hole at a 90 degree angle.  It was supposed to be a normal Dye style cape hole, with those two ponds connected and continuous, but then Kemper decided they needed some land, needed to move the range closer to 18, and then told KN to move 18 to where it is now.  So, if it looks contrived, its only because it is contrived.......

One bad hole...

A hole only Mike Davis could love.  318 from the ladies tees could make it one of the great finishers of all time.

But wouldn't they have to build a shorter tee to have the Women's Open there?

[John Kavanaugh]

No, they just put markers in the fairway for the women.

[Britt Rife]

I watched the replay of the PGA with my 9 year old daughter.  Looking at the aerial view of the course, she exclaimed, "that course looks great!"  She looked over at me and noticed my raised eyebrow. 

"Oh, I see, Daddy", she said.  "You don't think the course is "cool" or "old" and there's all that water." 

Maybe my appreciation of GCA seems so shallow to her because, in fact, it is.

[SL_Solow]

Kemper can be brutal in the wind and almost benign when it is wet.  I agree that 18 is poorly designed but back in the day, I won a few bucks on that hole more than once.

[Mark Smolens]

Kemper can be brutal in the wind and almost benign when it is wet.  I agree that 18 is poorly designed but back in the day, I won a few bucks on that hole more than once.

Seems like that could be said about many a hole in the Chicago District Mr. Solow