Old Orchard Country Club: Plenty of Tests at Every Waiting Turn in Illinois

Mt. Prospect, IL - Hitting the ball a country mile is more a handicap than an asset at Old Orchard Country Club, a 6,119-yard course settled in residential Mount Prospect since original construction in 1932, about 40 minutes west of Chicago. Only a master with the irons with a great short game can shoot his average, with tests at every waiting turn.

What it lacks in distance is far from lost. You'll make it up quickly if you spend any time in the clubhouse, which includes a unique sushi bar, pro shop and restaurant before or after walking the finely-tended grounds of Old Orchard. A very large banquet facility is available for private parties.

"We want to be able to offer public golfers private conditions," Mark Heidkamp, Director of Golf, said. "The course is always in great condition and it is unique."

The short, tight fairways demand you keep the ball straight and possess a willingness to go conservative. With just three par-5's of average distance, measuring from 500 to 520 yards, the big hitter can have flaws exploited by a ready mix of doglegs, water, timber and guarded greens.

A typical Old Orchard hole requires key club decisions by the individual golfer, based on his or her level of advancement and shot-making ability. All fairways are narrow with oaks and mature pines leaning in to add to cage-like feel. Bunkers as deep as they are wide make a mockery of your short game and challenge every approach before greens sloping front to back and side-to-side - some two-tiered - make pulling out the putter all but a picnic.

"It is not a course where you want to swing from your ankles," Heidkamp said. "The small landing areas and thick rough make it difficult if you don't keep it straight. You've got to be able to move the ball around and use every club."

When it comes to finesse, members point straight to the signature 17 th hole. The distance varies here, depending on pin and tee placement, between 206 and 226 yards - either way, tee to green is entirely over water. A large putting surface with multiple slopes displays traditional twin bunkers left and right and don't look for a safe haven deep, where you'll find less than 10 yards between the rear fringe and OB.

"The wind comes at you out of the west most of the time there," Heidkamp said. "It can play with you a little bit. That makes it a tough place to finish."

The par-5 ninth carries the course rating as the toughest hole and lives up to the billing. A tee shot is made into the backdrop of apartment windows, allowing for perception miscues in terms of distance. The hard dogleg right isn't easy to set-up from the tee, with bunkers and hovering limbs complicating a conservative iron play to the left.

"I only take my driver out of the bag if I'm out on a round for fun," Heidkamp said. "Then I'll try to cut the dogleg. If you get over the trees, it leaves you a long iron. But when I play a more serious round, I hit a low iron and then try to make it to the green with two nine irons."

On the right, with the angle tight 225 yards from the pro tees, a shot floated around the bend immediately encounters a long, narrow pond, which flows through the center of the fairway. Even the longest of hitters should play an iron for any chance at reaching the green in two. Realize you'll have to hit a clean iron or fairway wood to find the dance floor.

"It's tough not to have a tendency to be aggressive," Heidkamp added. "You can't do that or you'll be in trouble."

If you can, forget about what you've seen on the front nine. Two doglegs, 12 and 18, remain, but now the enemy becomes water. Nearly every hole requires a shot over or around the wet stuff with three straight holes (13 through 15) featuring fairway lagoons knifing and snaking through vital landing areas.

"You can be in the water on almost every hole out here," Heidkamp said. "You also have to look at certain holes where the fairway is only 15 yards or so wide."

In the last five years, Old Orchard has extended several holes to add enough yardage to clear the 6,000-yard mark from the championship tees.

The fourth hole is a par-4, now 373 yards rather than 300. A stretch of water is ready to swallow tee shots 185 or less, about 20 yards short of the turn on this dogleg left. Big hitters have a large enough plain to make the turn on a draw, but less experienced, and/or timid golfers should follow the conservative pattern and use a two or three iron.

Backing the tees up about 50 yards added length to the sixth (now a par 4 at 339 yards) and helped make 18 the climax it is supposed to be. Formerly a 320-yard par 4, some 70 yards were added to make the round-clincher worthy of its reputation.

"It definitely makes it a better finish," Heidkamp said. "To follow that, with the distance, after number 17 was an improvement."

With 240 members, who are fundamentally season-pass holders with no equity involved, an inability to get on the course is an irregular complaint. Tee times are necessary, especially on weekends when play days are commonplace. Member times are always prior to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, leaving early and mid-afternoon times for public golfers.

"We can accommodate almost everyone on weekends," Heidkamp said, noting the best time to make an appearance for a non-member is 1 p.m. on weekends.

What you won't find at Old Orchard, save a small putting green, is a practice facility. With suburban expansion engulfing the club's driving range in recent years, the site lacks a place for you to hone your skills without walking the links, though private lessons are available.

"If I was grading our (club), I'd say we were an 8.5 or maybe a 9 on a scale of 10," Heidkamp said. "I don't think we're a 10, since we lost the range. And I guess you could look at the yardage and say we could use the extra thousand yards or so, then we'd be a perfect 10."

Old Orchard Country Club (Public) 700 West Rand Road Mt. Prospect, Illinois 60056 Phone: (847) 255-2025

Green Fees: $59 w/cart, M-TH $69 w/cart, F, SAT, SUN $39 w/cart, F, SAT, SUN after 4 p.m.

RATINGS:

Men Course Slope Blue Tees 70.1 130 White Tees 68.7 127
Women Red Tees 71.1 126

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.