Butler National Golf Club is a private

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

located in

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace H ...

History

Butler National was the creation of Paul Butler, an affluent entrepreneur, philanthropist, and sportsman who was also the founder of the village of

. In 1972, renowned

golf course architect A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

George Fazio George Fazio (November 12, 1912 – June 6, 1986) was an American professional golfer and a golf course architect. Life and career Fazio, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a respected player in the mid-twentieth century and competed in seven ...

designed Butler on what was previously York Country Club. It was built and seeded in the relatively short span of two years, and the construction was completed under the supervision of Fazio's nephew

Tom Fazio Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, an internationally acclaimed architect in his own right. This club was home to the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

from 1974-1990. The course policy of not allowing female members caused the club to lose the Western Open. In May 2007, ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...

'' rated Butler 21st of "America's 100 Greatest Courses."

Course

Butler National is a relatively flat, tree-lined course, requiring solid golf shots to shoot a good score. The Fazio design is penal and rewards successful positioning and shot shaping. A right to left ball flight is preferable as there are more dog leg lefts than rights. Water hazards will frequently come into play as do the deep faced bunkers. There are approximately 40 sand bunkers. The Butler (back) tees play , with a course rating of 78.1 and slope rating of 155. In the fall of 2004, all of the greens were converted to an A-1 Bent grass and the sand to tour grade signature. The greens are fast, but the difficulty comes in reading the greens as they are very subtle.

Membership policy

Butler National Golf Club is one of four all-male golf courses in the Chicago area, which is subject to criticism. Butler has not hosted a PGA or USGA tournament since 1990 due to their admissions policy, most notably missing the opportunity to host the US Open.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1972 establishments in Illinois Golf clubs and courses in Illinois Oak Brook, Illinois