Bloomington Country Club
Bloomington Country Club (Bloomington, IL) is one of the oldest Clubs in Illinois having been founded in 1896. The Club formed as a nine-hole course, built in 1903 and was expanded to 18 in 1941. The original routing remains in place with a few tweaks accommodate road alignments. The Club has a rich history with the Illinois golf scene and has hosted the Illinois State Amateur a record eight times.
The latest State Am to be hosted at Bloomington occurred in 2018. Prior to hosting the event I was involved in updating the playability of the golf course by reviewing the courses bunkers and green surrounds. The final project involved re-energizing the golf course by incorporating the Capillary Concrete liner system and using Pro Angle Bunker Sand, which gives the course an updated look that you normally see on TV.
Along with these updates we completely gutted the green surrounds to sod the areas with updated bluegrass that eliminate grass contamination. This provides a high-quality surround with a dense strand of grass. Bunkers were then re-imagined by moving bunkers closer to the putting surface. Other bunkers were also removed, and we incorporated bentgrass chipping areas to provide more options around the greens. This work kept the course very playable for the membership yet provided the tournament golfer with a stern test of golf. This was witnessed by having the highest winning score to par in the State Am since 2004.
