Medinah (No.3) - Illinois - USA

One of the least memorable high-profile courses in all of the USA. Candidly, the layout has always been a unmemorable slog with little, if any architectural elements of note.

Medinah has benefited from having such a large footprint of land permitting the facility to stage the big-time events over the years such as the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Ryder Cup Matches.

It also helps being located in America's 3rd largest city -- serving as the USA's central hub in the Midwest.

The layout has gone through a series of changes over the years. You will notice I used the word "changes" -- not improvements.

Give the club credit for recognizing the obvious -- hiring at the end of 2020 -- OCM Golf from Australia to update the layout.

When the last big professional event was played on No. 3 with the staging of the 2019 BMW Championship the course was bombarded with seriously low scores -- Justin Thomas scoring -25 to snare the top spot.

The course has always had issues with trees and cutting even more would be a real plus. The similarity of par-3 holes over Lake Kadijah is another drawback. No question, the course is long when fully stretched out but it's just an endless parade of sameness that can cause an insomniac to be cured. There are also numerous greensites that are ordinary and hardly cause the pulse to ramp up.

Returning to the Chicago area has always been on the agenda for the USGA, PGA of America and PGA TOUR, however, it's become painfully obvious that No. 3 and Medinah as a whole are now in the shadows of what is happening at Olympia Fields. The other big-time layout that could serve as a host site is Butler National in Oakbrook, however, when the club bowed out from being the perennial host for the former Western Open because of membership policies it ;left Medinah as the only real alternative.

Medinah No. 3 needs to be rejuvenated but that prescription has been stated previously and the net result has failed to showcase something of real consequence. To borrow a Texas expression -- the course is all hat and no cattle.

M. James Ward

Course Three at Medinah is cool in the fact that its hosted lots of tournaments and its always fun to play a course that your heroes have played. Outside of that, there's not much else to boast about. The first 11 holes play over an amazing, rolling landscape, but they are extremely dull. The back picks up a bit with the 12th hole, which is cool with how steep the fairway banks down to the right, but its almost impossible for less than average players to reach the green from 470 yards (from the member tees lol) due to the slope along with a large tree in front of the green. The sixteenth is pretty cool, you can cut off the right side and hit it over the trees. The green itself is purched atop a hill, and I honestly have always wanted to see the front actually act as a false front. The "signature holes" of 2, 13, and 17 are kind of cool but have little nuance to them.

I'm always amazed by course one. Tom Doak & Co did an amazing job on the fairly flat piece of land. I truly hope he comes back to redo course three. However, word on the street is that prior to the 2019 BMW Championship, the club was hoping to use the thick rough and tough conditions as leverage to get another US Open. But, since the players tore the course apart, word on the street is that the club may contract Hanse to restore it.

The first thing that comes to mind for Medinah is tremendously overrated. Those who rate golf courses for large publications must be smitten by some sort of pampering at this place because the golf course is nothing to write home about. No real standout holes and constant overhead air traffic from O’Hare airport do not make for a very memorable afternoon.

Course #3 has three tee boxes: 7,508 yards, 7,096 yards, and 6,776 yards. We played the short 6,776 tees (yeah right, real short). Course #3 is cut out of woods, one long tree-lined hole after the other. It is lined with more than 4,700 specimens of oak and other species. Each tree is catalogued and labeled for type and age. The grounds crew anticipates the life of each tree and begins to grow a new tree nearby that will be maturing when its neighbour dies. Several hundred replacement trees are planted each year. Course #3 is challenging, but somewhat dull because most of the holes look alike and three of its four par 3s play at approximately the same length across Lake Kadijah (named in honor of Mohamed’s wife). Of course, the fact that I shot 101 might have tainted my view somewhat. Larry Berle.

Playing this course was an honor and meeting Mr Harmon and realizing how graciuos he was only added tot he excitement. The course was in absolute perfect condition and seemed pretty open till you get thru the first few holes. I have never played a course that demanded a perfect drive like Oak Hill does. The trees are so mature that if you are even 3 yards in the rough, there is no easy shot to the green. The course is solid and a joy to play. Maybe the truest test in major gof there is. Drive it straight and you have a chance.

Great old track that has been hurt by the "open doctors". Sure it's a test for the best players in the world, but I don't think even Tiger has much fun when playing here. If you can't consistently drive the ball 280+ and straight then you have no business playing here, and I mean from the whites! In addition, as it is the "name" course of the 4 courses as the facility, it gets quite a bit of play for a private club, so it is usually fairly crowded and the conditioning is below averqage for private clubs in the area.

I’ve played all of the Major courses except for Augusta and for me Medinah is one of the toughest but least enjoyable for this single digit golfer. It’s a monotonous and relentless test through suffocating trees with no particular hole that truly endeared itself to me. Ground movement is uninspiring and overall I felt the course lacks any subtlety whatsoever. Doctored by Rees Jones so that big events can be staged here is no endorsement of architectural quality. The main thrill starts as soon as you drive up to the clubhouse and that thrill diminishes once you get out on the course.

It’s a modern slog rather than a classic stretching to more than 7500 yards from the tips. I’ve played it from the members tees (7100 yards) and it was a bruising experience with tight fairways, monstrous trees that cause all sorts problems and yawning bunkering. I liked the par 3 2nd and I hear Jones intends to create a drivable par four for the 2012 Ryder Cup – I’m sure this hole will still end up measuring 400 yards and it won’t be drivable for 99.9% of golfers.

No.3 is a hard course to like as an amateur golfer and remains a testament to what can happen when a club tries to out tough today’s big hitting professionals. It leaves behind a course that is not enjoyable for most golfers. The club should maybe install new forward tees rather than back tees. The clubhouse on the other hand does its best to make up for the course’s misgivings and the wonderful caddies also try to make the visit enjoyable. However No.3 is not for me.