Fort Sheridan Golf Course in Question

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A plan for a proposed new golf course on a 250-acre site overlooking Lake Michigan in Lake County seems to be losing altitude before it can even get airborne. According to a TribLocal report, the Lake County Forest Preserve District board is weighing its options after no bid requests were submitted for the parcel of land that was once owned by the U.S. Army, which closed its Fort Sheridan base on the property in 1993. The property’s northern section included an 18-hole golf course.

Lake County Forest Preserve District Executive Director Tom Hahn pointed to a decline in rounds played across all Lake County Forest Preserve golf courses. “The climate out there for the golf industry is poor,” Hahn said. “Many golf courses are closing down.”

The Fort Sheridan site was decommissioned as a military base in 1993. The Lake County Forest Preserve acquired what is now the Forest Preserve property from the military in 1998. Under the terms mutually agreed when the transfer of property took place, the original golf course was to be restored.

After commissioning a feasibility study, the concept of building a self-sustaining golf course on the land came into question. Golf courses operated by Lake County cannot be financed by taxpayer dollars; construction and operating costs must be self-sustaining. In addition, a new golf course would have to compete with the many other public courses on the North Shore in a declining golf market. In recent years, Lake County has been losing money on two of its three existing golf courses.

Current Lake County Forest Preserve Golf Courses include ThunderHawk in Beach Park, Countryside in Mundelein and Brae Loch Golf Club in Grayslake. The forest preserve district staff will be working on other options for the site, hoping to have a plan in place over the next couple of months.

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