His First Original 18-Hole Course in the Chicago Area Is Designed to be Fun and Challenging for Golfers of All Abilities
During his 18 years in business, Rick Jacobson’s golf course designs have been built in places such as Delaware, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Wisconsin not to mention the nations of China and Japan.
As of today, Jacobson, a native of north suburban Glenview, will have a course of his own in the Chicago area.
Jacobson’s Bowes Creek Country Club in northwest suburban Elgin officially opened today to media and dignitaries invited to play the inaugural 18 holes on a course that has been on the drawing board for more than a decade.
“Every time you open a new course, there’s a sense of gratification when you see the holes take shape and eventually watch the golfers out there enjoying the course,” Jacobson said. “It took a lot of patience and perseverance to see it through but it definitely was worth it.” Jacobson drew his first routing for the course in 1998.
The golf course is the focal point of a Toll Brothers’ real estate development of the same name. The city of Elgin will own and operate the course as a public facility.
Bowes Creek is a rustic, prairie-style design in which fescue eyebrows outline the edges of bunkers and act as an extension of the naturalistic look of the adjacent landscape.
“We are trying to create a uniqueness in our courses to give our clients a marketable product that ultimately makes them successful,” Jacobson said. “Bowes Creek is the style of golf course the land dictates – natural rather than a pure manufactured look.”
The course measures as long as 6900 yards from the professional tees and as short as 5000 yards from the forward tees. It will have a total of five sets of tees and play to a par of 71.
The course is laid out on varying types of topography and features elevation changes of up to 50 feet, particularly from tee boxes on the back nine. The layout spreads out over flat flood plain areas, rolling farm land, steeper elevations, prairie, wetlands, a lake, and groups of mature hardwood trees. A creek runs throughout the property, Jacobson added. For the most part, homes will be located on the perimeter of the course.
“Although the golf course is located in a real estate community, it is a public course that will serve golfers of dramatically different levels of skill and experience,” Jacobson said. “Our goal is to make the game fun and enjoyable while making it interesting and challenging.”
JACOBSON COMPLETES DESIGN ON HIS FOURTH COURSE IN CHINA
With his practice continuing to thrive internationally, Chicago area golf course architect Rick Jacobson has completed the design on his firm’s fourth new layout on the Chinese mainland.
The Chengdu Wolong Valley International Golf Club is an 18-hole championship course located at the focal point of a thriving mixed-use residential, commercial, hotel, and retail development in the city of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province situated in southwestern China.
“We are very excited to complete the design on a new 18-hole golf course located in the midst of an incredible city that is both a large regional population center as well as a major hub for international business,” Jacobson said. “The Chinese view golf as a tremendous asset for businesses, families, and friends to build strong relationships in a recreational setting.”
Known as the world’s only breeding and research center for China’s famed giant pandas, Chengdu boasts a 12-month golf season thanks to its mild winters and temperate summer climate. The course is adjacent to a special economic development zone that is the home of numerous international high tech companies and is just 20 minutes from the busiest international airport in southwestern China.
Jacobson said his design has a “Pine Valley theme,” which takes advantage of the site’s gently rolling topography. The concept features large sand waste areas with scrub pines, junipers, and fescue grasses reminiscent of George Arthur Crump’s original New Jersey masterpiece.
“It will have a naturalistic look, not a manicured look,” Jacobson said.
The naturalistic design concept will reduce the need for irrigation and chemical application requirements on turf grass, resulting in an environmentally responsible golf operation, Jacobson said.
The course will be tournament-ready, measuring just under 7,200 yards from the back tees. But, as is the case with all Jacobson designs, the course will be playable for hotel guests and higher handicappers, with the forward tees playing approximately 5,100 yards.
Seven interconnected lakes are strategically located to create a number of distinctive water holes, including No. 2, which features a major waterfall; No. 9, a risk-reward par 5 that requires a shot over water to reach the green in two, and No. 18, where the approach shot to the green must negotiate a water hazard.
The facility will have a large practice area for full-swing, short game, putting, and private instruction. The practice range will feature both natural turf grass and artificial teeing areas with target greens guarded by bunkers that emulate conditions found on the golf course, Jacobson noted. The course is expected to feature a Tuscan-style clubhouse that will provide golfers with dramatic panoramic views across a lake to several golf holes.
In May 2008, Chengdu was 48 miles from the epicenter of an 8.0 magnitude earthquake that killed 80,000 people in the Sichuan Province – including 4,000 in Chengdu - and injured 26,000 more. The golf course project is moving forward as part of the area’s recovery from the tragedy.
RICK JACOBSON OPENS HIS FIRST 18-HOLE CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE IN CHINA
Lion Lake Resort’s Moon Course Is Part of a 36-Hole Complex
Designed by the Esteemed Chicago-Area Golf Course Architect
Course Will Host The 2009 Ambassador Cup in November
The Rick Jacobson-designed Moon Course at Lion Lake Resort located northwest of Guangzhou, China had a “soft opening” earlier this month after completion of the final grow-in phase of course construction.
The Moon Course at Lion Lake is Jacobson’s first course opening in China, where he currently is involved in a number of projects, including Lion Lake’s new 18-hole Moonlight Course, which is under construction. Lion Lake is a mixed-use hotel, resort, residential, and office development located in the nation’s largest golf market. Among Westerners, Guangzhou is better known as Canton.
“We are very pleased that we have reached the point where golfers are playing the Moon Course,” Jacobson said. “The process of designing and building a golf course is most satisfying when all the work is done and people are enjoying the great game of golf.” Internationally acclaimed golf course management firm Troon Golf will operate the golf facilities.
The Moon Course will host the inaugural Ambassadors Cup Invitational tournament Nov. 20-22 in which ambassadors from 49 nations will participate in an international competition.
The Moonlight Course is located on the south end of the resort.
“We are very pleased that the Moonlight Course along with the Moon Course will form the foundation of one of China’s premier golf resorts,” Jacobson said. “Golfers will find both courses to be visually dynamic and uniquely challenging to their golfing skills.”
The Moon Course and the Moonlight Courses are a study in contrasts.
The Moon Course is an unrefined quasi- inland links course that features native grasses, pine and juniper plantings, and classic bunkers with native grass eyebrows. Red rock outcroppings define the course’s dramatic visual character and are utilized as a design element throughout all 18 holes.
The Moon Course has five sets of tees to accommodate golfers of varying skill levels, measuring 7,115 yards from the championship tees and 5,084 yards from the forward tees, with three sets of tees in between.
In contrast, the Moonlight Course has a highly manicured look with a lush tropical landscape and bunkers with long flowing lines in the style of Alister McKenzie, designer ofsuch classics as Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Royal Melbourne.
“The two courses are a very dramatic contrast in design styles that will provide golfers with a variety of challenges and differing golf experiences,” Jacobson said.
The Moonlight Course will be a similar yardage to the Moon Course and also will have five sets of tees, Jacobson said. Another similarity is that both courses have a number of water features, including streams, lakes, and waterfalls.
The facility features a two-level practice range, two large putting greens, and a short game practice area. All 36 holes will operate out of a full-service clubhouse.
U.S. OPEN SPOT AT STAKE AS GOLFER MEETS ARCHITECT IN LIBERTYVILLE SHOWDOWN
It was the Libertyville golfer versus the Libertyville golf course architect at the recent local U.S. Open qualifier (May 12) at the Club at Strawberry Creek in Kenosha.
Former Libertyville High School standout Michael Schachner, now a professional golfer, shot a 2-under par 70 to lead the field at Strawberry Creek, a course designed by Libertyville-based golf course architect Rick Jacobson. Four other players, all pros from Wisconsin, took their first step toward qualifying for this year’s U.S. Open, June 18-21, outside New York City.
“I really liked the course; it’s fun to play,” said the 23-year-old Schachner, who played in last week’s Byron Nelson Championship outside Dallas on a sponsor exemption. “Everyone really enjoyed it. If the wind is right, the par 5s are reachable, the two short par 4s are drivable, and the par 3s are all good holes. The course was in great shape, too.” He birdied the 17th and 18th holes to separate himself from the field.
Jacobson designed the course for developers Barry Shiffman of Lincolnshire, retired Chicago Bear Jay Hilgenberg of Lake Forest, and their partners.
Schachner and his fellow qualifiers now move on to sectional qualifying, the final competition that will determine whether they earn the opportunity to dethrone defending U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods at the Bethpage Black course.
Jacobson has known Schachner and his family for years. Jacobson’s son, Ryan, played golf with Schachner on the Libertyville High School team.
“It was great to see Michael be the medalist (winner) at Strawberry Creek,” Jacobson said. “He is an exceptional young man and an excellent player. We’re all rooting for him to fulfill his dream of making it in professional golf and in this year’s U.S. Open.”
Since turning pro last summer, Schachner has been playing tournament golf for a living. A typical week consists of Monday qualifying rounds for PGA Tour-sanctioned event. If he doesn’t qualify, he goes on to compete in a so-called “mini-tour” event. The mini-tours are golf’s minor leagues, where the purses are small and the competition fierce. Big name players such as John Daly, Zach Johnson, and many more have cut their teeth on the mini-tour circuit before making it big on the PGA Tour. This week, he is playing a Hooters Tour event in Kentucky.
Schachner graduated from Duke with a degree in Sociology, Markets & Management Studies, but his plan is to stick with tournament golf.
“This is what I’m going to do with my life,” Schachner said. “I know a lot of guys out there now that I know aren’t any better than I am. My putting and chipping are just as good. I need to be a little more consistent in my long game. I’m not that far off.”
Schachner said his buddies from Duke have gone on to the corporate world, law school, the family business, or graduate school. Though his earnings to date are no match for big time corporate paychecks, he wouldn’t switch places with any of them.
“I’m going to make it,” Schachner said.
Jacobson and many others in Libertyville will be cheering him on.
