Arlington Lakes

Arlington Lakes Golf Club

Arlington Lakes is the type of golf course that every community needs.  Located in suburban Chicago, it is owned and operated by the Arlington Heights Park District.  As a Park District course, its clientele is golfers of every age group and every ability.  Playing to 5,400 yards, the team understood that the new plan needed to continue to appeal to this broad range of players.  When I was commissioned to create a Master Plan for the course, all of this was kept in mind.

There are many courses that look to attract the low handicap golfer, Arlington Lakes is not that type of course.  The course is very popular with leagues of all types, but is biggest appeal is senior golfers, women, juniors, and beginners.  Even though the original design contained over 100 sand bunkers, golfers were not detoured because you could still easily play an 18-hole round in less than four hours.  Looking at all of this, we created a golf course that improved playing conditions, reduced unnecessary maintenance, and provided a challenge to all levels.

The final plan at Arlington Lakes is a golf course that removed over 60% of the sand bunkers, reducing the final number to 37.  We also rebuilt half of the greens, and resurfaced all the putting surfaces to improve playing conditions.  Finally, we chose the option to reverse the routing of the golf course to create a layout that has the third, sixth, and ninth holes return to the clubhouse.  This, combined with rebuilding all the tees, created course where golfers have the option of playing as few as three holes.  Time strapped golfers can now still enjoy an affordable opportunity to get out and play a few holes.

Junior golfers will also see the addition of a set of tees to suit their ability.  These new tees create a 2,700 yard golf course where par 4's measure between 130 and 180 yards.  This improves enjoyment by providing these golfers the opportunity to reach putting surfaces in regulation.  Along with the three and six hole options, beginning golfers will be able to get on and off the course before they get tired or bored.

All of these options has created a public golf course that provides golfers everything they are looking for today.  A fun round of golf, at an affordable price, able to be played in a short amount of time.

In 2016 Arlington Lakes was selected as a recipient of the ASGCA's Design In Excellence Award.