Tillie's Green Acres Club in IL??

[PThomas]

anyone been here? if yes pls share any thoughts...thanks!

[LOberman]

I'm a member of the club and in fact was one of a handful of people that was instrumental in uncovering the roots of our club.  The course was originally designed by Tillinghast in the early 1920's.  In the mid 40's the club was sold and renamed Green Acres.

The routing of holes 4-6 and 13-17 have changed from the original design.  In the late 30's or early 40's some of the land was sold which led to changes on the back nine.  The changes to the front nine occured in the late 60's.  The course was redone in the early 1990's including new greens.  There is not much left of the original design but we were happy to discover our roots a couple of years ago.

The course today is a very demanding test.  The fairways are tree lined and narrow.  The greens are small and fast.  I believe it is one of the finest conditioned courses in the area.

It is hard to believe that nobody at the club was aware of our history before I was contacted by folks at the Tillinghast Association.

If you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer them.

[Phil_the_Author]

Larry,

You deserve so much of the credit for the re-discovery of this missing Tilly masterpiece. About the closest way to illustrate what you did is to compare it to attending a local art auction and recognizing that a painting signed by Vincent was just missing the last name Van Gogh.

You helped to discover a treasure.

Here is what is written about it on the Tillinghast Association web-site (with permission):

"The long missing Tillinghast golf course designed for the Illinois Country Club lives. Through some good detective work we have confirmed that this great Tillinghast design has been owned and operated by Green Acres Country Club for over fifty years.

In the early 1920's, A.W. Tillinghast designed an 18-hole course for the Illinois Country Club. Joe Roseman was the construction superintendent and carried out Tillie's design to the smallest detail. Illinois Country Club had aspirations of becoming one of the elite country clubs in the Nation. Building the high end Tillinghast golf course was the Club's first objective, to be followed by a stately modern clubhouse. One of Spanish design was erected, which with furnishings cost $265,000. The next step was the installation of a fairway watering system, which was designed by Paul Green. It was the second to be installed in the Chicago district, the Chicago Golf club being the first. At the time the membership fee at Illinois CC was one of the most expensive in the area. However, the depression took its toll on Illinois CC and it did not survive World War II. Shortly after the War, Green Acres Country Club was formed and purchased the Tillinghast designed golf course from the Illinois Country Club. Shortly thereafter the legacy of theTillinghast golf course at Green Acres became lost in time.

Fast forwarding to the year 2001, Ken Stofer and Rick Wolffe placed an article in the Golf Collectors Bulletin searching for missing Tillie courses. Fellow Tillie member Richard Pinto read the article and noted that the missing Tillie golf course once known as the Illinois Country Club would have been near or adjacent to the present Green Acres Country Club. Following this lead, Ken Stofer reached out to Green Acres through Robb Schultze and Larry Oberman. Larry took the ball and researched the history and the transfer of the course from Illinois Country Club to Green Acres in 1945. Larry has continued to research his club's history and has provided the following aerial photo, which clearly shows the classic routing and design of this Tillinghast classic.
"

[THuckaby2]

All's I know is that it's the place to be.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Has an attempt been made to do a restoration to the original green and holes on the ones that can be preserved?

[SL_Solow]

A very nice club but it is next to impossible to find any Tillie left.  The property is quite small, I doubt that the course exceeds 110 acres.  It can be a very difficult test due to its tightness created largely by trees.  A Tillinghast masterpiece?  Not anymore if it ever was.  I have had some good times there but lets not get carried away.  Just because a great designer was the original architect doesn't mean it was a masterpiece and whats left on the ground isn't reflective of the better Tillinghast courses I have played.

[cary lichtenstein]

I was a member of Green Acres for 30 years and if this is a Tillinghast course, I doubt he ever set foot on it other than to do the drawing.

I've layed other Tillinghast courses, and I just don't see anything that leads me to beliewve that Green Acres was anything special.

There were cross bunkers that were elimated before I joined, but that is about it. The first green was very special, but that was redone.

The course is very tight, the doglegs at about 200 make it out of synk with modern lengths.

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

An old thread (january 2002) with some informations on Green Acres :
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=5012

Hope it help.