Downers Grove Golf Club celebrates its 130th season By Brian Weis

Downers Grove Golf Club celebrates its 130th season

By Brian Weis

The Downers Grove Golf Club is now open for its 130th season. The historic course was established in 1892 as America's first 18-hole golf course. Now a 9-hole par 36 course, Downers Grove Golf Club is owned and operated by the Downers Grove Park District. Open to the public from sunrise to dusk Sunday through Saturday (weather permitting), the course is located at 2420 Haddow Ave. in Downers Grove, Illinois.

The Downers Grove Golf Club holds a significant place in U.S. history. The course was established in 1892 as the original Chicago Golf Club, when Charles Blair Macdonald, who was, according to Golf Journal, "a true and imposing pioneer of golf in America" persuaded thirty of his Chicago Club colleagues to contribute ten dollars each to design and construct a 9-hole golf course. When the inaugural season had ended, Macdonald convinced Chicago Golf Club members to add nine more holes to the course. Therefore, in 1893, the first eighteen-hole golf course in the United States was established on the site. After numerous owners and after being converted back to a 9-hole course, the site was purchased by the Downers Grove Park District and was renamed the Downers Grove Golf Club in 1968.

Today, the Downers Grove Golf Club offers opportunities for golfers of all ages to experience this stunning, well-maintained course. Children ages 3 to 18 can learn the game of golf and improve skills with golf camps all summer long. Private, semi-private and group lessons are led by two certified golf professionals and include parent/child, junior and adult lessons. A Ladies Scramble League and Junior League for children ages 12 to 18 are offered starting in June. Adult couples can compete against other couples in a friendly competition featuring contests, prizes, dinner and an adult beverage at the Couples Scramble from 2 to 7 pm on July 16.

The driving range at the Downers Grove Golf Club offers a range shelter covering 10 of the 24 hitting stations. The shelter features seating, infrared heaters and ceiling fans that provide a comfortable golf experience even on rainy days. The range also features a large practice putting green, sand trap and chipping area. Renovations were recently completed to the short game area of the driving range to create a new lesson tee. This new lesson tee will provide a truly private learning experience provided by our certified instructors from the PGA, USGTF and PGTCA. A new short game green and bunker will be available behind the lesson tee for use by students and the public.

The newly renovated Clubhouse provides golfers with a comfortable setting to relax, grab a sandwich or snack and enjoy a cold adult beverage. The expanded Pro Shop now offers an extensive line of merchandise from the top manufacturers in the industry. New this summer will be a rotation of local food trucks and vendors on select days.

Last year, Downers Grove Golf Club welcomed a record-setting 44,717 rounds on the course. Ken McCormick, General Manager at the Downers Grove Golf Club, is looking forward to another great season in 2022.

"It's fantastic to see so many new and returning golfers enjoying this truly unique and historic course. As the course celebrates its 130th anniversary in 2022, we encourage golfers to visit over the coming year to see the great improvements we've made and to learn about this significant site and its part of golfing history," said McCormick.

To learn more about the Downers Grove Golf Club, to view golf rates and register for programs or events, visit downersgrovegolfclub.org.

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Revised: 03/15/2022 - Article Viewed 2,771 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.