Cog Hill No. 4 ‘Rees-toration” ahead of schedule; course will play tougher
The right rear bunker on the 16th hole shows the deep, sodded faces typical of the new look to Dubsdread’s bunkering. The rear of the green is smaller and the bunker is larger. Copyright Phil Kosin
By Phil Kosin Chicagoland Golf Editor
Construction is going full blast these days at Cog Hill No. 4, Chicago’s PGA Tour tournament course.
Restoration of "Dubsdread" (as regulars call it) by the “Open Doctor”, golf course architect Rees Jones, and under the watchful eye of project major domo Greg Muirhead and Cog Hill golf course superintendent Ken Lapp, is ongoing on all 18 holes, with several holes on the back nine furthest along.
"Now remember, this is a restoration," said Jones. "The tailor did a pretty good job of cutting the original cloth. What Dick Wilson did here in the 1960s just needed some updating. Much of what we're doing is to offset the distance generated by today's players using today's equipment."
We took a tour the other day, and since the construction zone is totally off-limits to curious golfers due to insurance regulations, we thought we’d provide some photographs to show readers exactly what’s going on. We've also included a few "before" photos to jog your memory.
“Mother Nature has been very cooperative,” said Lapp, whose crews and employees from Midwest Irrigation have been working hard on sodding, irrigation and drainage work. Every sprinkler head on the course has been replaced as part of a new system, and miles of new sod has already been put down. Hundreds of miles of electrical wire is being laid to operate the system.
The heavy work – done by shapers riding those big, yellow diggy-things – is being handled by Wadsworth Golf Construction Co. of Plainfield, Ill., one of the foremost golf course builders in the world with over 650 courses built in the last 40 years. Brent Wadsworth's shapers are truly maestros on bulldozers, being able to delicately coax the huge machines into removing layers of soil and clay one-half inch at a time. No kidding.
There are many changes. I can tell you the course will definitely play a bit tougher for all of us, and especially for the big boys on PGA Tour. I think the old course record of 63 should be pretty safe for awhile. The course will be playable at par the original par 72 – as well as 71 and 70. The former par-5 No. 5 has been converted to a long par-4 for Tour players, as will be the former par-5 No. 15.
Here’s a few of the most visible changes: many bunkers have been added, both skirting fairway landing areas and greenside. All are deeper than what they replaced, but owner Frank Jemsek is making sure most will have an area where a golfer can walk out, on the side toward the tee. The bunker faces are sodded and higher, and more fairway bunkers have been added to catch not only our wayward tee shots, but the super-long drives of today’s Tour players.
Two of the biggest structural changes are a large pond (to replace two huge willows that came down in a storm) inside the elbow of the dogleg and an enlarging and deepening of the fairway bunker on No. 7 (see photos). And the barranca fronting the par-4 13th green has been restored and the front of the green moved backwards. There are water controls which can adjust the flow of water in the ravine from trickle to deep flow, as needed.
All of the tees and greens will be brand new, with contours that should offer more hole locations. All greens will be equipped with SubAir systems, pumps which can suck rainwater out of a green to dry it or send water or cool air to the grass on hot days. Never again will the PGA Tour (or USGA) be able to complain there is too much moisture on the putting surfaces, making them too soft.
There have been other interested observers the last few weeks, including Mike Davis, the director of competitions for the United States GA; PGA Tour agronomist Dennis Leger; and Paul Vermillion, formerly of the USGA and now the head of agronomy for the PGA Tour.
''We drove Mike Davis around and he gave us almost three hours of his time,'' said Cog Hill owner Frank Jemsek.
''He gave us some advice. We said we were putting in deep bunkers to supposedly make it harder for the PGA Tour players. He said it doesn't seem we could make it much harder for them, but that it will make it much harder for our regular customers."
"[Davis] must have talked to Rees Jones and liked what Rees said, or he wouldn't have been out here," Jemsek added. ''I truly believe there will be another U.S. Open in Chicago. This is too great a golf market for it not to return."
The U.S. Open has been committed to sites through 2014. There really isn't another facility in the Chicago metro area that in addition to having a suitable course could also support the massive infrastructure required to host a U.S. Open. The USGA has said privately it will not return to Olympia Fields mainly because of the poor logistics it encountered in 2003. In addition, that year the USGA received a mild shock when Cook County handed it a bill for about $500,000 for security and traffic control. The norm is for the tournament locale to absorb the cost of those services, in return for the millions of dollars in revenue (and sales taxes) the Open generates for local businesses.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting more photos and a hole-by-hole account of the changes, some of which are different from what was originally planned.
The old grass wall has been removed and the barranca (ravine) in front of the 13th green has been restored; note the front of putting surface has been moved backwards, and the green is slightly wider. Copyright Phil Kosin
Here is the old front of the 13th green, with the ravine filled in and the high, near-vertical wall of sod just behind where the original ravine was filled in. Copyright Phil Kosin
This view is from behind the 18th green. looking back up the fairway. There is a new spectator mound above the green, and the putting surface has been lowered five feet for spectator visibility. Copyright Phil Kosin
A view looking across the pond at the 18th green shows the newly-lowered putting surface. The left rear of the green is no longer elevated, and the green is down closer to the water. Copyright Phil Kosin
Here's a Chicagoland Golf archive photo of the old 18th green, looking up the fairway in the same view as above. Note the relatively shallow bunkers. Copyright Phil Kosin
The sodding and bunkering on the par-3 12th hole is nearly complete, as seen here. Rees Jones has added several new hole locations and a new, longer back tee. Copyright Phil Kosin
The view from the left fairway on No. 8 showing the newly-cleared area around the spectator footbridge, with a better-defined water hazard. The original idea of having several pools of water on the right side of the green connected by water cascades was nixed after Jones visited the course in mid-November. Copyright Phil Kosin
This is the tee box view of the "old" 12th hole -- note the difference in bunkering styles by comparing it with the photo above. The high, sand-packed faces have been tweaked -- with sodded faces. Copyright by Phil Kosin
A view of the new pond and new larger and deeper fairway bunkers as seen from the tee box on No. 7. Copyright Phil Kosin
Looking back toward the tee, the new pond in the elbow of the dogleg at No. 7 on Dubsdread will require from the tips a drive carrying 325 yards. Copyright Phil Kosin
