Earlier I mentioned Black Sheep as a potential "Best New of
2002"
This week's Golfweek had an article by John Steinbreder:
BLACK SHEEP; Good to be bad
The place is called Black Sheep, and
there couldn't be a more appropriate
name for this Chicago area golf club
that will open in April.
The club defies convention and mocks
political correctness. It dares to be different
and knows exactly what it wants to be - a
Pure golf club.
With no swimming. No tennis. No dinner. And
(gasp!), no women.
In other words, Black Sheep is very simple, very direct
and very, very baaaaad.
And that's why I like it so.
Now, I have never seen the 27-hole layout
designed by David Esler and built on 285
acres of rolling prairie some 40 miles west of
the Windy City. But I don't have to in order
to know the track is good. That's because the
people putting this new club together are
doing everything else right. So there is no
way they would mess up the golf.
Consider, for example, the club restau-
rant. Black Sheep doesn't have one. There
isn't a kitchen, either, and no Saturday night
buffets or Sunday morning brunches. Sure,
there is food, with sandwiches and snacks
being catered each day. And, thankfully, the
club also has what it describes as a "large
bar." But that's about it.
The beauty of that setup is that the appro-
priate time, energy and funds can be spent
on a golf club's most important asset, its
course, as opposed to its biggest money pit,
its restaurant. I know from my own experi-
ence as a country club board member, and
from stories I've heard from friends who
have held similar positions at other spots.
Club eateries function about as well finan-
cially as the Argentine economy and bleed
gallons of red ink for what invariably is some
of the worst food in town.
But even the prospect of having fine dining
does little to recommend the existence of a golf
club restaurant. In fact, I think it only makes
matters worse. A restaurant not only detracts
attention from the course, it also attracts mem-
bers who don't really care as much about the
game and, heaven forbid, figure a good chef is
as critical as a good club professional.
My friend Simpson knows this problem
all too well because he has a neighbor who
belongs to a club that regularly features 15-
course luncheon buffets and undertakes
national searches for saute cooks. In many
ways, Simpson would love to take that person
to his club, an old-line operation with a high-
ly ranked and widely praised course. "But we
have terrible food, and I know that's all my
neighbor would remember," he says. "It
would matter not one bit that my course is
head and shoulders above his in terms of
quality and design. It would be all about the
lunch, and frankly, I am not sure I really want to play
golf with someone like that."
As for tennis and swimming, I have nothing against those two pursuits. In fact, I like that I have them both at the country club to which I belong, and so does my 10-year-old
daughter. But I also think it is important to
have places that are only - and unabashedly
- about golf. As a result, the membership is
more focused about what it wants, as a
result, and there is a greater commonality of
interest and purpose. No one is divided by
different factions, and no one is distracted
from the thing that kindled the creation of
the club itself.
It is a fact of country club life that a sort of
oneupmanship occurs whenever the finance
committee starts doling out money at budget
time, and as soon as it reveals its allocations
for the golf course, some disenfranchised
group of restaurant diners will inevitably start
screaming about getting its fair share for a new cappuccino machine, or perhaps some floral-patterned wallpaper. But you won't find that kind of nonsense at Black Sheep.
And you won't see any condos or houses lin-
ing the fairways either. There will not be any
tee times, and rounds will be expected to take
no more than three and a half hours.
There also won't be any women, which
will surely offend some people. Personally, I
don't believe gender should be an issue when
you set up a club like this. And instead of the
term "men only," I would prefer "golfers
only," so you are surrounding yourself with
like-minded folks, be they male or female.
People who know and love the game and will
not get hung up on whether the chicken
salad at lunch is any good, or how many
flower arrangements they should produce
for the member-guest kickoff party. All that
is required to do that - and do it right - is a
very thorough admissions process and
strong leadership that keeps the essential
character of the golf club intact. And the first
person who suggests the club hire a chef or
hold a Christmas dance gets tossed.
But I am not going to let that small differ-
ence of philosophy taint my otherwise high
opinion of what Black Sheep is trying to do.
After all, a club is a club, and if that's the way
the founders - and members - want it, then
whom am I to say they are wrong?
Besides, these guys are black sheep.
And that's just something you'd expect
them to do.