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 Winnetka Golf Club Thrives Following Jacobson Renovation
Rick Jacobson's $2 million renovation of the 18-hole Winnetka Golf Club has golfers enjoying improved playing surfaces, increased strategic options, and an overall more aesthetically pleasing golf experience.
"The feedback we have been receiving from our golfers has been just phenomenal," said Courtney Miller, Winnetka's head PGA golf professional since 1993. "People have been raving about it. Some have been saying it's better than some of the private clubs in the area. I have not heard one negative reaction."
The Chicago District Golf Association - which rates courses as to their relative difficulty - recently judged Winnetka to be a more challenging layout than it was pre-renovation. The CDGA recently increased Winnetka's course rating to72.6 from 71.3 and boosted its slope to130 from 123. The renovation added about 100 playable yards to the course, which measures about 6500 yards but plays like 6700 because of turf conditions, according to Miller.
"We are very pleased to have been able to make significant infrastructure and design improvements to a traditional parkland style course that is so popular among golfers from the North Shore and beyond," Jacobson said.
The challenges at the 1920s-era course were typical of municipally owned courses of the same vintage: both the infrastructure and the design itself were virtually obsolescent. Drainage was an ongoing issue and improvements in ball and club technology had turned fairway bunkers into strategically irrelevant vestiges of the past.
"Like many Chicago area courses built in the early part of the last century, the fundamentals of the course were there at Winnetka: a solid routing, a good variety of holes, and generally decent aesthetics," Jacobson said. "Over the years, technological advancements in course maintenance equipment have improved the overall quality of course conditions. To stay competitive with newer courses and renovated courses, older facilities need to make investments necessary to improve playing conditions."
Jacobson replaced the course's 60-year-old pump house - which was responsible for getting water off the course after a big rain - and dredged two ponds to increase their water storage capacity. Winnetka also increased the diameter of pipes that transport water between key areas on the course so that water can be moved off more quickly.
In a move expected to conserve water while improving playing conditions, Winnetka added a state-of-the-art, GPS-based, computer-aided double-and-triple row irrigation system that enables the course superintendent to apply water to rough areas as well as the fairways but only in the amount absolutely necessary. And, Miller said, he can do it over the internet if he doesn't happen to be at the course during a drought or a deluge.
Improvements in ball and club technology make the ball fly farther than it did when Winnetka first opened. Therefore, the course's original fairway bunkers were located too close to the tee; as a result, good players easily blasted their balls over these "hazards" while high handicappers who need less punishment on the golf course not more found themselves frequently in these traps.
Jacobson added and subtracted fairway bunkers to make holes more challenging to better players and less penal for average players - essentially moving bunkers farther away from the tee. He also added bunker complexes around several greens to frame holes and give them a more appealing look.
All 18 holes now have four teeing areas to accommodate players of varying abilities, Jacobson said.
"We have had a great working relationship with the Jacobson design firm," Miller said. "They have really done a great job here."
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