Inside One of Golf’s Most Exclusive Clubs

For years, whenever I told someone I was from the Chicago area, I would get the same question.

“Have you ever played Chicago Golf Club?”

Until this week, the answer was always no.

That changed when the team at Genesis invited me out the day after the Presidents Cup for a small private event at one of the hardest golf courses in the country to get on. There were only 24 players, and for most of the day we basically had the place to ourselves.

The crazy part is Chicago Golf Club does not look that intimidating at first.

It is wide open. There are not trees and water everywhere. You stand on the tee and think, “Alright, I can handle this.”

Then you actually start playing it.

The fairways were firm and fast, the rough was brutal, and the greens were rolling around a 13. A good-looking shot could end up in a bunker, and a putt you thought was perfect could suddenly take off in another direction.

We also played without rangefinders, so every yardage came from sprinkler heads, pacing it off and working through it with the caddie. It felt like stepping back into a completely different era of golf.

Somehow, I made one birdie and shot 85.

For a course I honestly thought played harder than Augusta did when I was there, I will take that all day.

Genesis got me through the gates.

Chicago Golf Club made sure I will never forget it.

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