Architect: new Medinah No. 1 a ‘special’ course
Medinah Country Club has unveiled its re-designed No. 1 course, the first major development at the club since last September’s Ryder Cup matches were played on its No. 3 layout.
Michigan architect Tom Doak began work on No. 1, which opened in 1924, on Oct. 1, the day after the epic Ryder Cup ended. That layout was used primarily for parking during those matches and the re-designed layout won’t be opened for play until next spring.
Doak created six new holes in his $6.3 million re-design and also supervised the expansion of the water rentention areas, which will benefit the club’s neighbors in a four-square-mile flood plain.
“No. 1 was the most played golf course here,” said Doak, “but I had played only No. 3, and I was never the biggest fan of it. I was surprised when the club called me about doing work here, but I’m glad they did. No. 1 was always a good, fun course for the members. Now it’s a special course.”
One thing Doak didn’t change was No. 18, one of the country’s few par-3 finishing holes. It’ll still require a tee shot over water, and while the challenging par-5 ninth also will keep its place in the rotation.
“No. 9 would be a very good finishing hole,” said Doak. “I hadn’t thought of reversing the nines at the beginning, but there were a lot of pros and cons both ways. I don’t have a problem with a par-3 finishing hole.”
“This shows that Medinah continues to move forward,” said Don Larson, the club’s Ryder Cup chairman. “Now we’ll have two world-class golf courses.”
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