The Signature 4th Hole

Getting To Know: Sunset Valley Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With Ryan Ochs, General Manager / Superintendent of Golf Operations

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Ryan Ochs who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Sunset Valley Golf Club has undergone an extensive $7 million renovation to the course and clubhouse. The Sunset Valley Golf Club re-opened for play in mid August (2018).

The beautiful "heathland" style course provides dramatic panoramic views and challenges the golfer's mental toughness to focus on executing the shot at hand. Every hole at Sunset Valley tests different aspects of your game. It isn't a cake walk for good golfer or a torture session for the not-so-good golfer.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
When you get up to the tee box analyze the hole. Don't just get up there on the tee box and whale away with a driver. Take what the golf course gives you and aim for the landing areas. Use the new GPS carts to hit the correct distance. The correct play maybe a three wood or a five iron. Get your first shot in the right position and distance will give you the best chance to attack the green.

Any recent changes to the golf course? Or any upcoming changes?
Sunset Valley just underwent an extensive $7 million renovation to the course and clubhouse. The project included a complete renovation of all tees, fairways, greens, bunkers as well as overall infrastructure, drainage and storm water management upgrades.

The most distinguishing change in Sunset Valley is the transformation of a virtually flat course to a course with dramatically changing topography achieved through strategically placed berms, swales and undulations at each hole.

The course now features:
* Five sets of tee complexes to create different course lengths
* All Eighteen greens have been rebuilt to meet USGA specifications and give golfers a variety of ways to attack the pin locations
* Holes have been reshaped and bunkers have been strategically placed.
* Several the cart paths have been rerouted and curbing features have been added.

As far as individual hole changes:
* The highlight of the course is Signature Hole #4 designed as a breathtaking peninsula surrounded by a larger lake with natural stone walls covering the embankment outlined with colorful flowering plants.
* Hole #5 and #13 have been lengthened and native fescue grasses frame each hole
* Hole #12 expansion of the lake improves visibility of this beautiful water feature from the tee shot landing area
* The fairway on the Hole #14 wraps around and connects with the approach on #10 green.
* Hole # 18 new putting surface connects with the putting green to create one large putting surface providing a dual purpose

Other changes Include:
* New high-efficiency, lithium ion cart fleet drives with zero-emissions and features interactive GPS touch screen monitors including: HD hole graphics so you can visualize specifics of the location of water hazards, bunkers and pin placement; on-screen pro tips; digital scorecard offers email option; yardage to pin; 3D hole flyover with full screen HD video; food & beverage menus and ordering.
* Providing "club level" service is a long-held tradition at Sunset Valley and that is one aspect of the club that hasn't changed. Our golfers can still experience the great service they have grown to appreciate. A few new enhancements to that experience include a new convenient bag drop-off lane outside the clubhouse.
* The clubhouse has also undergone a big renovation. This 62-year-old building that was once just a "pass through" to the course has been reconfigured inside and out. It now features an expanded golf shop, lounge area, outdoor patio and the new 13ninety bar and restaurant where we are now.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Sunset Valley Golf Club hosted the North Shore Open from 1928-1938. The 1930 North Shore Open hosted some of th best players in the world including Walter Hagen (two time US Open Champion and first American to with the British Open); Tommy Armour and Jock Hutchinson.

In 1956, Sunset Valley started hosting the North Shore Amatuer golf tournament with continues to this day attracts top local talent.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
After the renovation it is hard not to make the case that all 18 holes are our signatures.

The highlight of the course is the new signature Hole #4, designed as a breathtaking peninsula surrounded by a lake with natural stone walls covering the embankment outlined with colorful flowering plants. From the back tees, the hole plays 162 yards. The green slopes pretty sharply to the right toward the water. The best play is to aim for the center of the green and get your par with the putter.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is number 8 - a short par 4 with strategically placed bunkers up the fairway. I love challenging the bunkers with my driver leaving a short shot (100-50 yards) into a long oval green.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
13ninety Restaurant & Bar is a casual hip resturant lounge with an awesome view of the golf course. The restaurant offers indoor and outdoor seating serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The locals have been raving about our new menu and my favorite is the 13 ninety club - a sandwich piled high with turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce and cheese.

13 ninety also features a full stocked bar offering signature cocktails and local craft beers.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 6726
Slope: TBD
Rating: TBD

More Information
Sunset Valley Golf Club
1390 Sunset Road
Highland Park, IL, 60035
847-432-7140

www.sunsetvalleygolfclub.org

Revised: 08/27/2018 - Article Viewed 13,653 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.