The Ryder Cup
During my time in Chicago I went a couple of times to the glorious Medinah Country Club (I wrote about one visit here), which is host to this week’s Ryder Cup.
Medinah was designed as a retreat for the Masons in the early 1920’s. The Mason’s were known as the Medinah Shriners and their goal was to have built the best country club in North America with a 54-hole golf complex and a variety of other recreational activities. They succeeded and today Medinah has 3 golf courses, a lake, swimming pool and I read 18,000 trees all set within 640 acres of stunning countryside. It also has a distinctive club house (photo) blending Byzantine, Oriental, Louis XIV, and Italian architecture characteristic of many Masonic structures.
Scottish architect Tom Bendelow was hired to design all 3 courses in the 1920’s but No.3 (they are called 1, 2 and 3) is by far the most famous and it is on these 7,657 yards that the Americans and Europeans will battle it out.
Bendelow, who moved to Chicago in his 30’s and stayed there until he died, is believed to have designed at least 480 courses in his lifetime, and among his other notable courses are Olympia Fields, also in Chicago, East Lake in Atlanta, French Lick in Indiana and Dubsdread in Florida.
No. 3 course is known for its length, when it hosted the PGA Championship in 2006 it was the longest-ever major championship venue and is made even more difficult by the plethora of trees and plenty of thick rough. Lake Kadijah comes into play on several holes, with four holes that require crossing a branch of the lake.
The par 3 13th, across the water, can play as long 244 yards but it’s the 17th that is the jonah though and has played a large role in the outcome of some of the course’s big events in the past. Look out for that one.
I have a couple of mates going this week, I did get asked, but have nowhere enough brownie points to do it. Medinah is about 30 miles west of downtown Chicago and 40,000 spectators are expected every day which will give a nice boost to the local economy.
Hopefully the Europeans can bring the cup home.
