Chickasaw

Founded in 1922 Chickasaw Country Club opened its William Langford-designed course in 1924. It was here at the 1945 Memphis Invitational that Byron Nelson’s eleven PGA tournament winning streak ended.

Since its early beginnings, the course has been renovated numerous times down the years and much of Langford’s original design intent had been lost, so Bill Bergin was tasked with returning Chickasaw to its Golden Age roots. Bergin used old aerial photographs in the restoration process. The architect commented as follows:

“The project included all new greens complexes, bunkers that matched the original style and new forward tees on every hole. Over 150 trees were removed as the canopies on some holes seemed to practically touch from one side of the fairway to the other.

Langford’s work at Skokie and Lawsonia provided inspiration for the design. On the bunker faces at Skokie, material seemed to be dumped on the face of the bunker and allowed to ferment into its final form. The big angular slopes at Lawsonia were recreated on the fifth and tenth holes at Chickasaw. Angular grass-faced landforms can be found throughout the course and many were exposed, enhanced or added during the work.

A conversion from bentgrass, that struggled through most Memphis summers, to TifEagle Bermuda grass greens allows the surfaces to play fast and firm throughout the calendar year.”