Glen View Club is a private

country club A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offer ...

located in

Golf, Illinois Golf is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, incorporated in 1928. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 514. The community is primarily residential, and has a dedicated police department, post office, and Metra tra ...

, a suburb just north of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

History

Founded by a group of Chicago businessmen on March 29, 1897, it was originally the Glen View Golf and Polo Club; its name was shortened a few years later to the Glen View Club. The club was situated so as to be close to a commuter railroad from Chicago, and the village of Golf got its name from the simple sign – "Golf" – that directed riders from the makeshift station to the course. In 1899, Glen View Club was one of the founding clubs of the

Western Golf Association Founded in 1899, the Western Golf Association (WGA) is one of the United States' oldest golf organizations. Its headquarters are located in Glenview, Illinois. The WGA sponsors six golf tournaments: the Western Junior; the Western Amateur; the Wo ...

and hosted the inaugural

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 ...

and

Western Amateur The Western Amateur is a leading annual golf tournament in the United States for male amateur golfers. It is organized by the Western Golf Association. The Western Amateur features an international field of top-ranked amateur golfers. It was first ...

tournaments that same year. Other notable founding clubs included

Chicago Golf Club Chicago Golf Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago. The oldest 18-hole course in North America, it was one of the five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association ...

, Skokie Country Club,

Onwentsia Club Onwentsia Club is an 18-hole golf course in the central United States, located in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. Course history In Lake County, the par-71 course is from the back tees; it has a course rating of 72.8 with a s ...

, and Evanston Golf Club.

Golf

The par-72 golf course at Glen View measures from the back tees, and carries a rating of 73.4 and a slope Richard Leslie, the first head professional, who consulted with

Herbert J. Tweedie Herbert James Tweedie, Jr. (July 21, 1864 – July 9, 1906) was an English golf course architect. Tweedie was one of the first golf course designers to build courses in the American midwest. Early life Tweedie was born in Bombay, India, on Jul ...

on the design, is credited with the original layout of the golf course. In 1910,

Tom Bendelow Tom Bendelow (1868–1936), nicknamed "The Johnny Appleseed of American Golf" and "The Dean of American Golf", was a Scottish American golf course architect during the first half of the twentieth century. He is credited with having designed some ...

was credited with changes to Glen View’s hazard scheme. Bendelow is well known for his designs at

Medinah Country Club Medinah Country Club is a private country club in Medinah, Illinois, with nearly 600 members and containing three golf courses, Lake Kadijah, swimming facilities, a golf learning center, golf shop, gun club, racket center and a mosque-evoking B ...

, Skokie Country Club,

Beverly Country Club The Beverly Country Club, located in the American city of Chicago, Illinois, is one of Chicago's historical cornerstones. The club was founded in 1908 and initially designed by George O'Neil, also the club's first professional golfer. Shortly after ...

East Lake Golf Club East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones and much of its clubhouse serves as a tribu ...

and

Olympia Fields Country Club Olympia Fields Country Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Olympia Fields, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, about south of The Loop. It contains two eighteen-hole courses, North and South. The North Course is co ...

. In 1913, two of the games most prolific architects,

Harry Colt Henry Shapland "Harry" Colt (4 August 1869 – 21 November 1951) was a golf course architect born in Highgate, England. He worked predominantly with Charles Alison, John Morrison, and Alister MacKenzie, in 1928 forming Colt, Alison & Morrison ...

and Donald Ross, began changes to Glen View.

, referred to frequently as H.S. or more formally as Henry Shapland, was known for participating in the design of over 300 golf courses around the globe, primarily in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. His most notable work in the United States was with

George Arthur Crump George Arthur Crump, Jr. (September 24, 1871 – January 24, 1918) was a hotelier and golf course architect primarily known for designing and building Pine Valley Golf Club, which, at the time of its opening, was considered the most difficult golf ...

Pine Valley Golf Club Pine Valley Golf Club is a golf course in Pine Valley, Camden County, in southern New Jersey. It was ranked the number one course in ''Golf Magazines 100 Top Courses in the U.S. and the World in 2012, 2015, 2019, and 2020. It is a private cl ...

, a course frequently ranked as the best in the country. Donald Ross is most famous for his work at Pinehurst No. 2,

Aronimink Golf Club Aronimink Golf Club is a private country club in the eastern United States, located in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, a suburb west of Philadelphia. Its championship layout is consistently rated among the nation's top golf courses. Aronimink is curr ...

Seminole Golf Club Seminole Golf Club is a private golf club in the southeastern United States, located in North Palm Beach, Florida. Designed by Donald Ross in 1929, it is consistently ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the nation. History Investment banker ...

, Oak Hill Country Club,

Inverness Club Inverness Club is a private golf club in Toledo, Ohio. Opened in 1903, the club has hosted four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, two NCAA Men's Championships, and the Solheim Cup. Inverness is the only club to have hosted the U.S. Open, U.S. ...

and

Oakland Hills Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

. In 1922, select holes of Glen View were redesigned by William S. Flynn. Flynn is most well-known for his design of Shinnecock Hills (on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

). The course as it stands today still includes elements from each of the aforementioned architects. Glen View was the home club of the legendary

Chick Evans Charles E. "Chick" Evans Jr. (July 18, 1890 – November 6, 1979) was an American amateur golfer of the 1910s and 1920s. Evans, who won the 1910 Western Open, became the first amateur to win both the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in one year, a f ...

the namesake of the Evans Scholars Program. A member of the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

, he won both the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

and the U.S. Open in

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * ...

, and a second U.S. Amateur The course has hosted several major tournaments, including the inaugural

and

in 1899, the U.S. Amateur in 1902, and the U.S. Open in

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

. Annual member events include a member-member tournament called the "Royal and Ancient," and a member-guest tournament called "Twa Days."

Clubhouse

The original clubhouse was designed by Holabird & Roche, known today as

Holabird & Root The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern ...

, with help from consulting architect

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...

. The original clubhouse opened in 1898 but was destroyed by a fire in May 1920. The club once again turned to Holabird & Roche to design a new clubhouse that was built on the same site and exists to this day.

Other activities

The club also has facilities for paddle tennis, tennis, skeet and trap shooting, ice skating, and swimming.

References

External links

*
Club information
{{U.S. Open golf venues 1897 establishments in Illinois Golf clubs and courses designed by Donald Ross Golf clubs and courses designed by Harry Colt Golf clubs and courses designed by Tom Bendelow Golf clubs and courses in Illinois Sports venues completed in 1897 Sports venues in Cook County, Illinois