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Light to shine on shrine
Walker Cup offers public rare invitation to Chicago Golf Club
Published August 4, 2005
Imagine if Wrigley Field never opened its doors. The ballpark existed as a great shrine to baseball but only a privileged few used it as a private facility.
You had heard about the ivy and the scoreboard, and all the special moments that had taken place there. But you never saw the place.
Then one weekend, the Wrigley Field members decided to have a special two-game international series there and invite the public. As a baseball fan, you would run to Clark and Addison just to see this slice of history.
Well, that's the story at ultra-exclusive Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton next week. The area's most historic golf course will be playing host to the Walker Cup on Aug. 13-14. The opening ceremony will be Aug. 12.
The event pits the top U.S. amateurs against their rivals from Britain and Ireland in Ryder Cup-style matches. Just like the Ryder Cup, the Europeans have dominated the biennial event, winning the last three.
The golf should be terrific, but that's not the only attraction. If you are a true fan of the game, this could be your one chance to see Chicago Golf Club. Unless, of course, you befriend a member, which always is a good idea.
Completed in 1895, the first 18-hole golf course in the United States has stood the test of time--and remains stuck in time.
There is no air conditioning in the clubhouse, and with the exception of a few new back tees, the course basically has been untouched.
"[Designer] Charles Blair McDonald could walk around the corner at any point and the place still would look the same," said club member Bill Shean, a two-time U.S. Senior Amateur champion.
Born in Canada, McDonald fell in love with the game while attending college at St. Andrews in Scotland. Hanging out with Old and Young Tom Morris, he decided to bring many design elements of the famous Scottish courses to the United States.
"He was a visionary," said Rand Jerris, a historian for the United States Golf Association. "He was so passionate about Scottish golf, he tried to replicate the best holes in the British Isles here."
Chicago Golf exhibits many of those touches. The layout is relatively devoid of trees, looking unlike many of the forests that double as golf courses in the area. Tall, penal fescue grasses surround the fairways. The par-3 seventh sports a back-to-front sloped green, much like the original Redan hole in North Berwick, Scotland.
Every green is the real treasure to Chicago Golf, Shean says. Updated by Seth Raynor in 1923, they feature false fronts and have ridges, spines, bumps, contours and all sorts of other challenges running through them.
"I've played a lot of golf in the U.S. and around the world, and the greens at Chicago Golf are in the top five of the game," Shean said. "What they've done here hasn't been duplicated all that often. [McDonald and Raynor] were experts. The greens are what make people play the course."
Shean says the greens will be the defense for the course next week. Playing at par 70 and 6,782 yards, the course could be a pitch-and-putt for the young bombers. But if the players can't land their approaches in the correct spots on the greens, they could be in for an adventure.
Both teams will feel the pressure regardless how the course plays. But if it is hot, they won't find refuge in the clubhouse. The club delights at shunning air conditioning. There is indoor plumbing.
"[Air conditioning] is voted down every time," Shean said. "The members want it that way. It's part of the tradition. When we say no cell phones, we really mean it."
The club is all about tradition. Chicago Golf is one of the five original clubs that formed the United States Golf Association in 1895.
In the early days of the game, Chicago Golf was host to three U.S. Opens, three U.S. Amateurs and two Walker Cups. The club's last big event occurred in 1928 when amateur Bobby Jones led the United States to victory in the Walker Cup.
"This is one of the great places in American golf," the USGA's Jerris said. "People who haven't seen the course will be amazed at how good it is."
Because the fairways won't be roped, attendance will be limited. Daily tickets go for $35 and a $75 package includes both days and the opening ceremony.
If you love the game, make the trip to Chicago Golf next week. It might be a long time before the club opens its doors again.
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esherman@tribune.com