Your Favorite Greens in Chicago

[Sven Nilsen]

I've seen many names associated with Lake Shore, but never FL Olmstead or his son. The course may be the most modified course in the district right up there with Westmoreland. I think Bendelow laid out the original course which opened in 1910 and Ross was called in in 1917 when he was working on Evanston and suggested alterations. In 1918 George O'Neil was hired away from South Bend CC which he designed to work as Lake Shore's pro and he may have made revisions in conjunction with Ross.

Dan:


Curious as to what your source is for Ross' involvement.  The course was altered in 1911 by then pro J. H. Pearson who built three new holes on newly acquired land.  O'Neil remodeled the course prior to 1920 (as reported in the Dec. 1920 Golfers Magazine), but the article doesn't mention Ross at all. 


Not questioning the veracity, just wondering if the source goes beyond mentioning he made suggestions (and if they were or were not carried through).


Sven

[Dan Moore]

Sven,


Perhaps Jason can help. He alluded to Pritchard being guided by a Ross design plan the Club commissioned but never used.  Maybe that means they have some documents. My reports state Ross suggested alterations without specifics being mentioned. 

[Sven Nilsen]

Perhaps we should be asking Cronin.  His 2008 piece in the CDGA Magazine (https://www.cdga.org/pdf/ND08Century.pdf) notes Ross' unused plans, as well as the original design by FLO.  I don't think there is any question the original design was by Bendelow.



Sven

[Jason Way]

Had the pleasure of finally getting out to OFCC South today, thanks to Peter K.  Loved the course, and got a few pics of #6,9,17, all of which were mentioned earlier on the thread.


#6







#9



#17

[Jason Way]

Got a few holes in at Bryn Mawr before the weather got too crappy this afternoon.  I did not get out to 12 or 17 (for Dan) to get pics, but I did get some shots of the very cool 3rd green.


On this short par 4, the slopes and tiers on and around the green create decisions on the tee, and in the approach.  The green can be approached through the air and on the ground.  Hit it in the wrong portion though, and the putting can be an adventure. 


Trees have now been almost entirely removed from right of the green all the way over to the adjacent fairway, which means that aggressive drives that go right now end up way out of position, instead of getting knocked down for a simple run-up recovery.  The more open this hole gets, the trickier it gets, in all the right ways.


Perhaps Dan or Jim Nagle can comment, how much of the current look of this green would you consider to be original Langford, and how much modern updating?


#3 - Approach


#3 - Short right-center



#3 - Greenside left

[Max Sternberg]

Has anyone seen Esler's work a Mt. Prospect yet? I played there a few weeks ago and thought it was fantastic. I'm not willing to say among the best in Chicago, but they very well could be the best of all the public offerings. If you haven't checked it out yet, the course is well worth a play and the greens worth a mention on this thread. I am eager play it again.

Totally agreed. Played the course about a week after the re-opening and cannot wait to get back. Will only improve as they mature

[Jason Way]

Made it out to North Shore CC this afternoon and snapped a few photos of greens on the back side (I forgot to grab a pic of the 4th green for Judge Lavin).


#11





#14





#16





I think that #16 was a Jason Kang pick.  Now that I am looking at the photos, it occurs to me that I like all three of these greens because they have a similar angled orientation.  The 16th is the most interesting surface, with the ridge separating the front from back sections.

[Jason Way]

Also came across this cool old thread on Flossmoor from Phil McDade:


http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41166.0/


It had two good photos of greens that were among our list of top vote-getters:


#5





#18






I haven't been out to Flossmoor yet.  Is this still what it looks like?  Does anyone else have photos of the best greens?

[Terry Lavin]

Yes, Flomo still looks like this.  I joined back in the 90's and the place was lush, verdant, overtreed and slow.  The old superintendent retired and the club hired Bob Lively and the course quickly became crunchy and quick.  The greens are sort of atypical for the Rust Belt.  Instead of the traditional back-to-front cant, there is a lot of side to side slope and one notable green (12) that is significantly front-to-back in orientation.  As a set, the Flossmoor greens are simply terrific.  I rate them right up there with Old Elm in terms of their small size and devilish internal contour.  As for the course itself, there are seven or eight phenomenal holes, a couple so-so holes and the rest are plenty good.  After the renovation, the eight green doesn't fit at all with the rest of the course, even though it's interesting and challenging.  The other niggling green criticism is that the seventh hole, which used to be a 110 yard wedge shot from East to West was changed to a 165 yard shot from Southeast to Northwest.  There is a very interesting ridge in the middle of the green that used to deflect shots from the original orientation and now it acts as a friendly backstop, which is unfortunate.  As far as a course you'd love to play every day, Flossmoor is hard to beat.  The real problem now, sadly, is the shrinking membership.

[David_Moorhead]

After the renovation, the eight green doesn't fit at all with the rest of the course, even though it's interesting and challenging.

I really like Flossmoor, but Terry's comment on the 8th green really resonated with me.  It's not that it's a bad green or hole, but the shot into the green and the green itself truly do have a different feel than the rest.  Is anyone familiar with the reasoning for expanding the pond/moving the green closer to it during the renovation? 

David

[David_Moorhead]

I think that #16 was a Jason Kang pick.  Now that I am looking at the photos, it occurs to me that I like all three of these greens because they have a similar angled orientation.  The 16th is the most interesting surface, with the ridge separating the front from back sections.

The 16th is one of my favorite greens at North Shore.  Having a downhill putt when the pin is up front is terrifying.  Good green for a 160ish par 3.

[JReese]

Also, deserving "downstate" consideration should be the 7th and 12th at kankakee Elks.

If we are considering Kankakee Elks as part of Chicago(land), which I am.....I will second the 7th and 12th greens as well as 13 and 14 (pictured below). 


14 Front:



14 Back Right:

[Jason Way]

Those are some beautiful looking contours.  Might have to make the jaunt down there.

[JReese]

Those are some beautiful looking contours.  Might have to make the jaunt down there.

The majority of the greens are good sized with a fair amount of slopes and movement.  I finally made it over there a few days ago, and plan on visiting again in the near future.  As is the case with most, fairway width and tree removal needs to improve but for $25 to walk it is a must see if in the general vicinity. 

[David_Moorhead]

I played La Grange Country Club for the first time yesterday and was really impressed by the greens.  I pulled up this thread to see what others thought and was a bit surprised that no one mentioned any of them.  They had been punched relatively recently, but they were still tons of fun to putt and presented a stern but fair challenge (especially first time around).  Great slopes and movement as a set, especially for a course that is on the shorter side.  In particular, the green on #13 was fun with tons of movement. 

[Forrest Richardson]

Double Plateau at CGC - by far.