Could a local Chicago golf course potentially rise from the ashes due to the slow housing market? According to a recent Patch report, the land in west suburban LaGrange on which the Timber Trails Country Club used to sit is now part of a proposed nine-hole golf course.
Opened in 1931 and closed in 2004, Timber Trails Country Club was a rolling Robert B. Harris design that originally featured 18 holes. The course and 45-acre property was purchased by the Anderson family in the mid-1960s and sold for $45 million for real estate development.
Since the sale, a handful of single-family homes and townhomes have been built, but the great majority of the 45 acres sits unused. There’s now a proposal for the undeveloped western half of the property for a new nine-hole golf course.
The group behind the proposal includes local Western Springs residents and representatives of Jemsek Golf, which currently manages Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Pine Meadow in Mundelein and St. Andrews in West Chicago.
Jemsek Golf Design has developed a concept design for a 3000-yard, par-35 course, including a driving range. The residents used legendary nine-hole Pottawatomie Golf Course in St. Charles as a template for what could be created on the now vacant parcel of land. Designed by the prolific golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr., Pottawatomie has been ranked among the best nine-hole golf courses in the nation by Golf World Magazine.
The local development group is hopeful that the addition of the Jemsek name to the process will help attract investors and win over PNC Bank, who currently owns the property. Let’s hope these local residents can help bring some of the magic that once was Timber Trails Country Club.
Timber Trails Country Club (Closed in 2004)
11350 W Plainfield Rd
La Grange, Illinois 60525
