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This summer, a project to restore the No. 2 Course at
Medinah Country Club is set to reach completion.
Work at the course is being led by Rees Jones, ASGCA
Fellow, and Steve Weisser, ASGCA, under the guidance of
Medinah’s director of golf course operations Curtis Tyrrell.
Their aim is to restore the course to the original design of Tom
Bendelow, but they’re also introducing some exciting new
features to make it more attractive to players of all abilities.
The No. 2 course is the club’s shorter course, and has
always been popular with higher handicappers, ladies
and juniors. Recognizing that it needs to stay relevant and
do what it can to make the course more fun to play, the
club has gone ahead with plans to introduce its ‘Golf For
Life’ program – a unique set up, which involves multiple
sets of tees per hole to appeal to golfers of all skill levels.
“This type of program is being incorporated at a number
of golf courses around the country to help the game grow
and keep people in the game,” Jones said in an interview
with
Golf Course Architecture
. “Medinah wanted to take
a leadership role in introducing this program. There are
seven sets of tees. When a beginner takes up the game,
they can play the forward tee and as they get better they
keep moving back. Then, as you get older and you can’t
hit it as far, you start moving forward again. I think this
is going to be a golf course that every caliber of player,
from the entry level player to the young player to the older
player, can play and enjoy if they play the proper tees.”
According to Robert Sereci, the club’s general manager
and COO, this development reflects the need to move
the needle on the game and cater to all. “We have more
members coming in than we have had in eight years,” he
says. “You can have all the gimmicks and payment plans,
but ultimately you have to give them something to show up
for. We believe that our new ‘Golf For Life’ program does
exactly that.”
What makes ‘Golf For Life’ unique is that it offers up a
comprehensive program designed to help players build up
the skills they need to improve their game. Each member
meets with professional staff for a game evaluation, is
assigned one of seven tee boxes as starting point, and
then begins a structured system for improvement.
Sereci says that the club has already begun explaining
the program to its membership, and they have embraced
it. “All of the measures we are putting in place are
designed to make playing golf at Medinah more vibrant
and fun,” he explains.
CASE STUDY: MEDINAH NO. 2
A program for success