{"id":2083,"date":"2017-12-25T08:15:29","date_gmt":"2017-12-25T15:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/?p=2083"},"modified":"2017-12-26T07:16:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-26T14:16:57","slug":"green-award-puts-chicago-county-course-alongside-pinehurst-bandon-and-other-environmental-gems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/travel\/2083\/green-award-puts-chicago-county-course-alongside-pinehurst-bandon-and-other-environmental-gems","title":{"rendered":"Green award puts Chicago county course alongside Pinehurst, Bandon and other environmental gems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bunkering<\/a>

Bunkering has turned the green at the par-five 15th into risky business. And the tee shot on No. 16, a short par-four (upper left), must avoid a marshy wetland.<\/p><\/div>\n

Every once in a while, awards turn out right.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly the case with Golf Digest\u2019s Green Star environmental award for 2017, which nails it on the screws by honoring The Preserve at Oak Meadows.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just take my word for it. Oak Meadows is just a 15-to-20-minute drive from O\u2019Hare. So allow time if you\u2019re changing planes.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll find is a public daily-fee course done right.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Oak Meadows renovation plan called for DuPage County to address multiple needs: Tame the often-flooded Salt Creek for area residents as well as golfers while delivering an updated golf course that would be an attractive gem to public golfers.<\/p>\n

Mission accomplished for Chicago-area designer Greg Martin and Ed Stevenson, who has transitioned from golf director to executive director of the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.<\/p>\n

“The Preserve at Oak Meadows, a daily-fee course in Addison, Ill., might be the most important new golf course of 2017,\u2019\u2019 Golf Digest architecture editor Ron Whitten wrote. “The Preserve demonstrates that a golf course can serve golfers and the greater community.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Prairie<\/a>

Prairie vistas are now the scenic signature at previously tree-laden Oak Meadows.<\/p><\/div>\n

Using land from an adjacent, but overgrown nine-hole layout, Martin was able to come up with an 18-hole course on a 27-hole tract with room for wetlands that greatly diminish the flooding issue.<\/p>\n

The Golf Digest award, Martin said, “validates our effort to integrate an exceptional golf experience with valuable environmental benefit.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The result is that Oak Meadows, which was a pleasant but unremarkable parkland course, has become a visually enchanting prairie marvel. Ben Hogan, who won the 1941 Chicago Open at Oak Meadows, would be startled by the removal of 1,500 trees.<\/p>\n

But modern golfers will appreciate the visual change, which brings native grasses and prairie vistas to land previously occupied by stodgy trees.<\/p>\n

And the new Oak Meadows is a shotmaker\u2019s delight, as noted in my review.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hats off to Martin and Stevenson for envisioning and completing a project that adds another must-play to the growing list of Chicago-area public courses that have\u00a0completed terrific\u00a0renovations in recent years.<\/p>\n

And a tip of the cap to Ron Whitten for adding The Preserve at Oak Meadows to a list of Green Star Environment Award winners that includes Pinehurst No. 2, Bandon Dunes, Pebble Beach and Kiawah Island.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s pretty good company for a suburban muni in the terrain-challenged Chicago suburbs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every once in a while, awards turn out right. That\u2019s certainly the case with Golf Digest\u2019s Green Star environmental award… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":2079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4,18,17],"tags":[82,3839,622466,1011300,1011302],"class_list":["post-2083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-travel","category-lifestyle","category-courses-and-travel","tag-golf-digest","tag-golf-course-design","tag-greg-martin","tag-the-preserve-at-oak-meadows","tag-ed-stevenson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/12\/View-from-15-Green-to-16-Fairway-BOTTOM.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2088,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions\/2088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/herbgould\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}