Oak Park

The Oak Park Country Club bears the nickname “course of the winding stream” so, like many club owners with a rivulet that meanders across the property, they called Donald Ross.

Players will cross the body on each of the first six holes, whether that’s from the tee, crossing a fronting hazard on the way to the green, or making a tricky decision in the middle of a par five (the opening hole here is a clear example that Ross did live or die by the “gentle handshake” as many presume).

A course cannot exist on the back of one stream alone, even with such a skilled router as Ross, so Oak Park also comes loaded with a significant number of bunkers, both to require skillful placement of shots, or larger cross bunkers that make players question their capability. The current existence of these sand hazards is largely thanks to Rick Jacobson, who was brought in during 2008 for renovations and restorations of Ross’s features.

Although the last hole does not feature the course’s famous stream, it does include a pond that squeezes up to the green.