[Dan Moore]

There is a lot of talk and admiration here for William Langford's designs at Lawsonia, Skokie, Harrison Hills, Marquette and West Bend.  He has dozens of courses all over the Midwest including many here in the Chicago area.  I'm curious about which courses are considered his next best.  
 
It is my goal once it warms up (snow and 20's predicted for the weekend ) to scout out some Landgford courses in the Chicago area this year.  I have leads to play Ridgemoor and Riverside on the private side and will check out Kankakee Elks 90 min south and Spring Vallley in S. Wisconsin.  Ozaukee outside Milwaukee is also a possibility, plus I'm booked to spend Memorial Day weekend playing Lawsonia again.  

Any info on these or suggestions on Langford's other courses would be greatly appreciated.   Thanks.

[JNC Lyon]

wakonda
 
Read Mark Chalfant's "In My Opinion" about William Langford's courses, it is quite good.

[Jason Topp]

Not quite the midwest, but I sure enjoyed Texarkana CC.  Here is a thread with my description.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=17134;start=msg301311#msg301311

[Chris_Blakely]

Here are the Langford courses that I have played:

Lawsonia Links - Green Lake, WI
Harrison Hills  - Attica, IN
Marquette - Heritage - Marquette, MI
Iron River - Iron River, MI
Kankakee Elks - Kankakee, IL
Spring Valley - Salem, WI
Maxwellton - Syracuse, IN
Beacon Hills (FKA: LaPorte CC) LaPorte, IN
Culver Military Academy - Culver, IN

Harrison Hills and Lawsonia you should already know about from the writeups by Ran.  If you are playing Kankakee Elks CC, you should try to swing over and play Harrison Hills as well, the 7 remaining Langford & Moreau holes are worth it.

Marquette GC 9 of the 18 holes are Langford & Moreau.  Greens were untouched by David Gill; however, most of the bunkering has been grassed in or redone by Gill.  Course has some wild greens and a terrific short par 3 (I believe 7th hole).

Iron River CC appears to have lost some of the typical Langford fairway bunkering, but greens and greenside bunkering are untouched.  Like Maxwellton in Indiana, the course does not have that completly bold Langford look.  I believe this is because Theodore Moreau was not part of the construction on either course.

Kankakee Elks CC 17 of the 18 holes are Langford & Moreau.  The 5th hole (a par 3) was replaced with another par 3.  Why, I have no idea as the replacement hole is quite pedestrian.  The original greensite was simply abandoned and is visible directly behind the 6th tee.  According to the head pro, they are contemplating restoring it.  Course has all of the typical bold L&M elements.  The problems are overzealous tree planting (loss of many of original L&M fairway coridors)and loss of 90 percent of the sand in the fairway and greenside bunkers.  Still, for the outline of the L&M bunkers and a wonderfull routing, it is worth the trip.

Spring Valley 18 or 18 holes are L&M, the hole that is just beyond the 7th green/8th tee appears to be a practice hole added by the club and does not appear to be L&M.  ALL BUNKERS HAVE BEEN GRASSED OVER!!!  Still I loved the rolling layout, all the old fairway bunkering is still visible, and the greens are 100% L&M.  This course could be something special if the bunkering was restored.

Culver Military Academy all 9 holes are L&M according to the Academy historian, Langford laid out 36 holes.  All of the L&M bunkering has been grassed over.  The greens appear to be untouched and with the wild terrain, this is a very vun course.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Wakonda in Des Moines, IA, is usually ranked as the top course in the state, deservedly so, IMHO.

Some debate as to whether Omaha CC is Langord or Stiles, but it is quite good as well.

[Brian_Sleeman]

Chris nailed it regarding Marquette's Heritage course.  The Langford greens have shrunk quite a bit but still have those incredible contours that make them easily the most fun to play on the course.  We've also unfortunately got a lot of "dopey conifers" (to quote Brad Klein) lining the fairways, and most of the original bunkers have changed.  

We're looking into restoration efforts, though, and hopefully within the next 5-10 years will have something that better resembles what originally was here.

Worth the drive to check that out and play Greywalls though    And if you're on the way, it doesn't take much to stop by Iron River CC's 9-holer as the greens and their surrounding bunkers are the way they seem to have always been.

[Dan Moore]

One of the reasons to enjoy a Langford course.


http://www.lawsonia.com/images/links/links%207%20green.jpg

[mark chalfant]

Dan: Chris B. gives a nice overview  Kankakee, Culver, and
Harrison Hills are very good.Ozaukee and especially Wakonda
are strong, with Wakonda having excellent terrain.In Ohio
Fairlawn is compact but neat. Ive not seen Clovernook in cincinnati but IVe heard its nice.

[mark chalfant]

Blythfield in W.  Michigan, is rather memorable because of some dramatic elevation changes and some fun greens. however some of the bunkering is not in concert with Langfords intent/style.Dont miss West Bend, some stunning greens there

[Mike McGuire]

Dan-

I might be able to help you get on West Bend.

Sadly not a lot of Langford left at Ozaukee.

Spring Valley has a small budget..best played early in the year (sans snow its allways open) or with hickory.

[Lawrence Largent]

The Langford course in my area The Country Club, Morristown Tn features the second best set of greens in the state in my opinion second to only Holston Hills. The greens at TCC are the most undulatings severly sloped greens I've ever played. I enjoy them imensely though. I'm gonna go back down and take some detailed pics later in the year when the bermuda takes it color back. Another good thing about the TCC its basically the original course untoched except for a few added tee boxes.

Lawrence

[Dan Moore]

Thank you.

Mark, thanks.  I played Ozaukee in H.S. don't remember much besides some tough green contours which would be consistent with Langford.  

Chris,  great.  Spring Valley sounds intriguing if in need of updating and a lot of tlc.  At 6,300 yds par 70 with 6 par 4s over 400 and 2 par 3s over 200 including a 259 yarder.  Sounds quirky right there.

Mark, I will put Blythfied on my radar.

Lawrence,  TCC sounds intriguing.  I have biz in Tenn. from time to time so I'll see what I can do there.  Look forward to the pics.

Jeff,  do you know know anything about Killian and  Nugent's work on Riverside, I think they added a couple of holes.

I have played Ridgmoor a couple of times over 10 years ago.  Interesting history with Hogan winning the Hale American there in 1942. Very flat terrain with way too many trees on an already tight site and some very nice green areas.   They say most of Lankford's greens remain with one hole (par 3 18th) attributable to Tillinghast.  

See here for Ridgmoor's history. Decent hole by hole description unusual for a private club.    

http://www.ridgemoorcc.com/Overview/History.aspx

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