Skokie Country Club played host to the 1922 US Open, the first at which tickets were sold. A record number of spectators witnessed a spectacular win by 20-year-old Gene Sarazen.
Overall rating
5.0
Skokie Country Club played host to the 1922 US Open, the first at which tickets were sold. A record number of spectators witnessed a spectacular win by 20-year-old Gene Sarazen.
The Links of Skokie Country Club, as it was originally called, has a long history that dates back to 1897 when a group of wealthy Chicago businessmen bought the property on which the golf course at Skokie Country Club now occupies. It is thought that the village of Skokie – a Chicago suburb – acquired its name from a Potawatomi Indian word for “marsh”. Indian-born Herbert J. Tweedie laid out the initial course along with member George Leslie.
Skokie Country Club started out in life as a 9-hole course which was redesigned by Thomas Bendelow in 1904. Skokie acquired the Donald Ross moniker after the great architect paid the club a visit in 1914, adding archetypical bunkering and domed greens. He kept only the 8th hole from the Bendelow layout. Skokie played host to the 1922 US Open, the first at which tickets were sold. A record number of spectators witnessed a spectacular win by a certain 20-year-old Gene Sarazen.
In the late 1930s, following the acquisition of more land, William Langford and Theodore Moreau were commissioned to redesign Skokie with one eye focused on Donald Ross’s earlier intentions. They retained approximately half the Ross holes. Rees Jones made some minor modifications in the early 1980s, but the course in play at Skokie today is largely in the design image and likeness of Langford and Moreau.
Perhaps Skokie’s best hole is the double dogleg par five 11th which is heavily bunkered from fairway to green and flanked on the right by a brook.
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
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