Nine holes at Schaumburg Golf Club close for renovations

The Players Course at Schaumburg Golf Club in Schaumburg, Illinois, is being renovated as part of a major project.

Work is being led by a team from Lohmann Golf Designs, and will focus on each of the club’s three nine-hole courses separately over a number of years.

The course at Schaumburg was originally designed by the Langford and Moreau firm in the 1920s, though significant modifications were made in the early 1990s.

Recent tests however found that the infrastructure of the greens and bunkers were no longer sustainable, and a multi-year renovation plan was drawn up.

The first phase of this focuses on the club’s Players Course and driving range, and is now underway. The first phase of construction will be carried out by golf course builder Golf Creations, whose base is in Marengo, Illinois.

Two holes on the Players Course will be reconfigured to help alleviate flooding issues. The size and position of the practice putting greens will be altered, while work will also be done to address drainage issues.

Features of the original Langford and Moreau design which have been lost over time will also be reintroduced.

GCA spoke to Todd Quitno of Lohmann Golf Designs to find out more.

“The greens will generally stay the same, with a few tweaks to increase pinning area on a few steep slopes,” he said. “Primarily, the greens are being cored of their existing profiles, drainage reviewed for viability and hopefully kept, then rebuilt to USGA recommendations. With phase one of the project, we are building one new green on the golf course to accommodate a change in the 25th and 26th holes. These currently play par four and par three respectively. They will be switched to par three, par four to allow more room for extending the driving range.”

Quitno said that the tees will, in the main, remain intact, but will be laser-leveled and regrassed with a new variety of bentgrass.

“Fairways will also be regrassed,” he said. “We will be adding two forward teeing yardages. The primary forward tee will play to around 2,300 yards, while back tees currently extend to 3,197 yards. We will also be adding a ‘family tee’, which will sit at the beginning of the fairways and allow play at 1,900 yards give or take. This a takeoff from the Longleaf Tee System.”

Quitno and the project team have exciting plans for the Players Course’s bunkering.

“We plan to redevelop the bunkers in a way that evokes the original Langford and Moreau features, restoring a few of which still exist on the course,” he said. “The bunkers will generally be placed on long diagonals that extend further and deeper as you move away from the centre line of the hole. The risk offers greater reward the more you bite off, as the backside slopes of the bunkers will careen balls further down the hole to ideal approach positions. We’ll be using a flashed sand look to give the bunkers maximum visibility, while using Better Billy Bunker and Pro Angle sand to minimise hand maintenance.”

As well as the work on the Players Course, a longer driving range will be built as part of the project’s first phase. This will feature around twice the amount of grass tee space than before.

“The range tee will be widened by 50%, and a new 7,500 sq ft practice putting green will adorn the entrance, while a new teaching tee and chipping area at the south end of the range for private lesson use will be added,” Quitno confirmed.

Once work on the Players Course is complete, the focus will shift to the club’s other two nine-hole courses – the Tournament and Baer nines.

18 holes will remain open for play at Schaumburg Golf Club throughout the multi-year project, which is scheduled for completion in 2020.

Sean DudleySean Dudley

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