I have this from a xeroxed copy of the Old Elm Club Report of Board of Governors, dated October 17, 1914.
In January, 1913, Old Elm Club was organized and plans for commencing construction of the course as early in the spring as the weather would permit were made. Donald Ross was engaged to lay out -the course, and later, H. S. Colt, the famous English golf architect, who was in this country, was secured, and Old Elm represents the best ideas and skill of two recognized experts in this work. The results obtained have been very gratifying and experts who have played on prominent courses of the world pronounce Old Elm superior to a great majority of the inland courses and equal to many of the seaside courses. The topography of our grounds astonishes nearly everyone who visits Old Elm.
Our original purchase of land comprised 140 acres. In April, 1913, after spending many days trying to adapt the 140 acres to the kind of golf course we wanted, Messrs' Colt and Ross recommended the purchase of twenty acres additional land. We finally bought the twenty acres which now comprise our southwest twenty, and the purchase of these twenty acres helped create our deficit, as our calculations as to the cost of constructing the course were made before the necessity for this additional land was known. The Club owns 160 acres of land, and competent appraisers value this land at prices much higher than the club paid for it.
According to this document, twenty additional acres of land were purchased to accommodate a routing that both Colt and Ross were mutually satisfied with. The “southwest twenty” is probably referring to the area where the various prints show the location of the 12th fairway, 12th green, 13th tee and the first half of the 13th fairway. The blueprint is probably from sometime after Ross and Colt made their reconnaissance of the property, between January and April 1913. It is highly doubtful that the “blueprint” attached to the letter from the committee in 1894 could have been this one.
I would not be surprised however if this letter was written on behalf of a group of gentlemen who were even then in possession of the land where Old Em Club now sits. It is unlikely that the club would have had a name at this point because it did not have a golf course. The name was chosen from a huge Elm tree that sat directly behind the original 1st green. Probably the name was voted upon some time during the routing of the course by Colt and Ross in 1913.
When I was the assistant of Old Elm in the early 1980s I was given an orientation around the clubhouse. One of the older employees, Rudy, explained to me that the club was founded by Lake Forest businessmen who wanted to play golf on Sunday and enjoy the fraternity of a game of cards and a cocktail. Lake Forest, being the musty fusty Presbyterian community that it was in those days, did not allow any of these activities within the city limits.
My guess is that the founders sat on this land in Highland Park (right over the border) for many years before finally building the golf course. By 1913 this land would have been highly valued for real estate; it makes perfect sense that the austerity and foresight which gentlemen of that era prided themselves on, would have prompted the purchase of this land during an earlier and more affordable market period. My guess is the letter was sent at a time when there was some initial excitement for starting the club which waned and was rekindled later.