[Coral_Ridge]

While traveling last week and on approach into Midway Airport in Chicago, I looked down upon a beautiful and what appeared to be a very established and majestic golf course.  Getting home I looked on Map Quest and discovered it to be Midlothian Country Club .    Is it a great place or does it not measure up to its potential.  I say this because the property does look ideal.  I'll admit that from the air you can't always tell.


Midlothian Country Club

[Mark Smolens]

Even if not in a class with the great South Side venues such as Olympia Fields or Beverly, Midlothian has hosted a number of important events (a couple of Western Opens I believe and even a U.S. Open).  Some wonderful golf holes, well-conditioned track.  You can certainly do much worse.

[Coral_Ridge]

Originally designed by Herbert J. Tweedie, I must confess to not being aware of this architect.  The same for the man brought in to "update" the golf course in the 90's, Bob Lohmann.  Although an obvious important figure in golf course architecture, I am not that knowledgeable of his work either.  Lohmann is a past President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

All of Tweedie's efforts were in the Chicago area.  He was originally from England.   Lohmann got his start in the architecture business working for the design firm of Killian and Nugent.  He got his degree from the University of Wisconsin.

[Wayne Freeman]

Jon-  Midlothian may look good from the air, but it's another story from the ground.  One of 8 U.S. Open courses in the great Chicago area,  it is indeed on the bottom rung in terms of architecture, interest, and greatness.  Too many holes all the same........   in a word,  boring.  Nice club, membership, and amenities though.         

[Phil McDade]

Originally designed by Herbert J. Tweedie, I must confess to not being aware of this architect.  The same for the man brought in to "update" the golf course in the 90's, Bob Lohmann.  Although an obvious important figure in golf course architecture, I am not that knowledgeable of his work either.  Lohmann is a past President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

All of Tweedie's efforts were in the Chicago area.  He was originally from England.   Lohmann got his start in the architecture business working for the design firm of Killian and Nugent.  He got his degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Tweedie is credited with the original routing (still used today) of Maple Bluff CC in Madison, WI (actually in the bedroom community that is its namesake). I believe Tweedie may have done some other courses in southern Wisconsin. Maple Bluff is viewed as the best private course in Madison, and although short by today's standards, still holds a lot of architectural interest, and features what are widely regarded as some of the toughest and best-maintained greens in Wisconsin. A very good course and what passes for THE old-money club in the Madison area. (I think Art Hills did some updating several years back, but much of Tweedie's work is supposedly still there.)

[bill_k]

Phil, I've never seen Maple Bluff myself...but what about Raynor, is there any indication he was ever there? I could have sworn that I heard or read somewhere that MB was a Raynor layout.

Jon, I played Midlothian several years ago and came away with several of the same observations as Wayne...however, I do remember a few really cool greens, especially on the front nine. I have no idea whether those greens were the work of Tweedie or Lohmann.  The one other thing that stands out in my mind is how much the original fairway corridors have shrunk. I  recall looking some 15-20 yards to the right of one of the fairways and seeing the remains of a bunker with a tree growing out of it. I would guess the course was much more wide-open in 1915 when Hagen won the US Open there. Kind of neat to see the plaque on #18 tee commemorating his victory.

[Phil McDade]

Bill:

I, too, once read some kind of reference to Raynor and Maple Bluff, but I can find nothing that  indicates he ever worked on the course. An aerial of the course today shows nothing that could be considered similar to Raynor's highly stylized, almost geometric work (squared-off fairways, sharp lines, classic template holes, bunkering). In fact, Maple Bluff from the air looks similar to Midlothian.

The brief course history on the MB website credits Tweedie with the original nine.

[SL_Solow]

The biggest issue with Midlothian is that a greens committee decided to plant 2 rows of trees on each side of almost every fairway probably sometime in the 80's.  As a result, most of the holes play the same varying only by length and green contour.  I remember playing in their fater/child alternate shot tourney with my Dad in the  mid-70's and it was far more interesting with a few very good holes.  I hadn't played it again until a couple of years ago and it is far less interesting but a chain saw would help a lot.

[Dan Moore]

Despite some serious pre-tournament open doctoring Midlothian was highly criticized after the 1914 US Open. 

In a recent "renovation" the club decided to relocate bunkers rather than to pare back the trees to bring bunkers lost in the tress back into play. 

Tweedie was an interesting figure in the early days of golf in Chicago.  He must have been a master at routing courses.  The essential routing of several of his designs, Flossmoor, Glenview and Midlothian remain remarkably similar today with many of their best holes Tweedie originals.  Midlothian in particular retains at least 15 of the original Tweedie hole routings.  Tweedie courses were all "big" for their day;  Midlothian was over 6,300 yards in 1901. 

[Gerry B]

never played it - heard mixed reviews

tweedie did venture east as he did some work at atlantic city cc at some point -at least according to the club book - birth of the birdie

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