Chicago Golf Club Photos (8/10/05 and 8/11/05)

[Ben Voelker]

Here are some photos of the course in preparation for the 2005 Walker Cup.  As I understand it, the setup is much the same as it plays on a regular basis.  As a matter of fact, there were a number of members still out on the course on Wednesday.

Because I am only a volunteer, I couldn't get to the whole course, but tried to cover what was available.

I'm sure many of you know more about the course than I, so I'll apologize in advance if these photos are less than informative.


The 1st from the left rough, well short of the landing area.


The 1st hole from behind the green.


The 2nd from the tee.  I believe this is CGC's road hole if I'm not mistaken.


I like how the fairway is mowed all the way to the lip of the bunker here.  This is the left fairway bunker on 2 closest to the tee.


This is the false front to the 2nd, which was much more impressive in person.


The 3rd from the tee.  The Biarritz on the course.


Showing the valley short of the 3rd green.


The 3rd green from behind, and the 4th on the left side.  The squared edges of the green can be seen fairly well here.


6th from the tee.


6th from the middle of the fairway.  Probably the most interesting green of the holes I saw.  Anyone know why these bunkers in the fairway do not have the closely cut lip on the entry side as the 2nd did?  Not to question McDonald and Raynor...


6th green, I just couldn't get enough of it, this is only the back 1/3 or so.


7th, which I'm sure needs no intro.


The back of the 7th green.


The 9th from behind the green.

[Ben Voelker]

The 10th, which is a short I believe.


The 12th from the tee.


The 15th from the left rough around 150 yds.


The 17th from the tee.


The 18th from behind the green.

I know some of these aren't the greatest, but figured I shouldn't act like I own the place

Enjoy.

Ben

Also, if anyone knows how to get rid of those dates (I know they're wrong) and would be willing to let me know, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Looking forward to the photos, but at present I can't see any of them.  Where are they hosted?

[Ben Voelker]

MSN Users, which is just the standard windows host if you have a hotmail account.  I don't have any other way of posting them online.  Any pointers that might help?  They are showing up on my comp. which is weird.

[RT]

Download your pics into http://www.photobucket.com/.  No probs then.

[Ben Voelker]

Thanks for all the help.  Please let me know if they show up now.  All the pics are now from photobucket, which hopefully solves the problem.  Why some came out different sizes?  I have no clue, but thanks for the help.

Ben

[RT]

Ben,

Showing up A_OK in my browser.  Thanks for the good effort.

RT

[Anthony_Nysse]

Jon Jennings, CGCS, has that place looking absolutly awesome. I can't wait to watch it on the Golf Channel this weekend.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Lawrence Largent]

The golf course looks to be in awesome shape. Looking at the pics I can't believe how much it resembles Mountian lake. The bunkering is almost a carbon copy if anyone has played them both could they chime in to hear there opinion.

Lawrence

[Dan_Callahan]

Dumb question—why do they mow the fairways so that half is dark green and half is light green? They did this at the Orchards for the Women's Open and I didn't really like the way it looked. Kind of an artificial appearance on an otherwise very natural feeling course.

[cary lichtenstein]

It's been many years since I played Chicago Golf, but I left with one very clear memory, and that was the 6" rough around the greens which appears from these photo's to be gone.

The grass was a deep green and laid down sideways. The ball sometimes sat right on top of this stuff, sometimes the ball laid down deep inside. The rough was so tough that all you could do was just try to get it on the green without any hope of controlling the shot.

Does anyone know when the elimination of this rough took place?

[Marc Haring]

Dumb question—why do they mow the fairways so that half is dark green and half is light green? They did this at the Orchards for the Women's Open and I didn't really like the way it looked. Kind of an artificial appearance on an otherwise very natural feeling course.

Dan

It's actually to mimic the old gang mower look where the only way to cut was to trail them up the fairway and then down the other side. Of course these days gang mowers are hardly ever used and have been replaced with ride on light weight fairway mowers that cost about 50K each but some of the older courses like to recreate that look. Personally I prefer it to the checkerboard look which really is artificial in appearance albeit very striking.

What flies out of the pictures for me is the geometric shapes of the design. Surely that would be in direct opposition to the arts and crafts style of the time, or was it the art deco movement that was the vogue? I know Raynor did this a lot but I don’t know if it looks right for me.  

[Craig Sweet]

Dan, you start on one side (edge of the fairway) and mow around and around basiclly....

Those were GREAT photo's  Chicago Golf Club is EXACTLY like the muni I work at here in Montana!! We use the same tee markers!!!  

[Andy Hughes]

Chicago Golf Club is EXACTLY like the muni I work at here in Montana!!

Craig, I am sure that's what every classic course wants to hear!  

Ben, thanks so much for posting. I agree entirely with you by the way---I think it looks (and plays) better for fairway bunkers to be mowed to fairway height, but it seems extremely rare to actually find that.

[Mike_Cirba]

Thanks for the pictures, Ben.

It looks terrific and I can see why friends of mine who've played there are so high on it.

Interestingly, the course it reminds me of from pictures is Garden City, although the trademark Raynor features are obviously evident.

[Craig Sweet]

Well, EXACTLY like it in that we both have the same tee markers!

And they don't host the Montana Open...just that little Walker Cup thing...
 

[Scratch_Nathan]

Ben -

I am soooo drooling.  Incredible photos.  Thanks.

[Tony_Chapman]

Does anyone know if the area in front of the swale on the third was originally green, like the 9th at Yale? Thanks!

[Lou_Duran]

Shivas,

You've played CGC and probably know the course well.  Can you give us your assessment?

[Mike Hendren]

I had hoped to attended the matches this weekend but had a conflict.  These photographs make me SICK that I missed perhaps my only opportunity to see this golf course.

I am stunned.  Most, if not all, modern architecture pales in comparison to what I see in these photographs.

Simply phenomenal.

Mike

[Anthony_Nysse]

Marc,
  First of all, the mowers that they are using, if a 5 gang lightweight, would come in around $30,00-if a triplex-$18,000-The mowers offer such a better cut, a tighter cut and is much mor consistant. There are many courses that are doing it, partly because it's for the older feel-Shinnecock, National, Friars, Bethpage, Pinehurst, Maidstone and Whistling Straits to name a few. I don't think the checkerboard look would fit at CGC.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Long Cove Club
HHI, SC

[Don Herdrich]

CGC is such a great place........this is the way it would look on any day during the playing year.......nothing changes for an event, no matter how big!

[Ben Voelker]

Cary,

You are exactly right, I didn't see any long rough on the course at all, probably no more than a few inches, which was kind of a surprise to me.

Talking to the assistant pro, who is in charge of my committee, it sounds like both teams had a few 64's during the practice rounds, which seems like it could lead to some very interesting singles matches.

Ben

[John Foley]

Did Raynor (or CB for that fact) put an Eden in at Chicago?

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Ben great photos.  I noticed you have made only 7 posts.  Your contribution to Golf Club Atlas however has already surpassed 80% of the talk done here.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, those pictures say much about golf course architecture.  Why don't we have more courses like that today?  I wish California architects would study these pictures and California superintendents would show them to their managers.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share these.