Two golf organizations, the Chicago District Golf Association and the Donald Ross Society, have proposed plans to acquire and revive Calumet Country Club as a golf destination.
Calumet Country Club has been at the center of a multiyear struggle over how the land should be used, with multiple attempts by the owner to develop the property for industrial use meeting resistance from local communities and governments.
The property owner, W&E Ventures, announced last month that golf would be permanently shut down on the course and all infrastructure demolished.
A large part of the golf course’s appeal to golf enthusiasts is in its pedigree. It was designed by Donald Ross, a famous Scottish golf course designer.
“It’s like a Frank Lloyd Wright house. You hate to lose one, and you try to take some time, you make the effort to try and preserve it,” said Vaughn Halyard, president of the Donald Ross Society. “And plus, it’s a tremendous opportunity to deliver excellently architected, excellently conditioned, almost private club-quality golf to the public.”
For Michael Grandinetti, Halyard’s partner in the project, there’s also a sentimental reason to ensure the course is preserved.
“I was a member there for 45 years. We had our wedding reception there in 1970,” Grandinetti said. “I was able to join Calumet at a very young age because my mother and father-in-law were members.”
Grandinetti is a former president of the Chicago District Golf Association, the Chicago area affiliate of the United States Golf Association.
Grandinetti served in a succession of leadership roles at Calumet Country Club over the years, including two terms as president, though he had no involvement in the property sale that kicked off the ongoing development struggle, he said.
“Our desire is to maintain that golf course as a piece of history and as something people can use and appreciate for a lot longer than I’m going to be around,” Grandinetti said.
Halyard said he and Grandinetti were prompted to put together a plan focused on saving the golf course when the village of Hazel Crest issued an open request for proposals for the property’s future.
“It’s no secret that people just don’t want any more industrial. Communities are sick of industrial development,” Halyard said.
In order to bring that vision to life, however, the partnership would need to eventually acquire the property.
Property owner Walt Brown Jr. said there is no opportunity for the partnership to buy the property because it is in escrow for redevelopment. Brown declined to say who would develop the property.
Brown also said that the property cannot be run sustainably or profitably as a golf course because of the property taxes.
“We’ve run the golf course for five years,” Brown said. “The golf course doesn’t have the income to run as a business because of the tax bill.”
Brown said that the industrial redevelopment he envisions would benefit Hazel Crest most, both in terms of jobs and increased tax income.
“With the redevelopment comes jobs for the city and income for the Police Department, Fire Department and the school district,” Brown said.
In order to be developed for industrial use, though, the property would first need to be rezoned, a process controlled by the village. The village’s approval is also necessary to grant the demolition permits needed to tear down the existing infrastructure on the property.
Halyard said the partnership had positive communications with Hazel Crest officials regarding their proposal.
Having a Donald Ross golf course is a valuable asset for the community that should be capitalized on, Halyard said.
“Donald Ross designed courses for the bulk of people to be able to enjoy golf,” Halyard said. “To simplify, a Donald Ross course is designed not to be hard. It’s designed to be enjoyable for the bulk of people. But if you want to really score and want to really win a tournament, or really be an excellent golfer, the shots that you make on the way to putting out and making the green are harder than they would be for just a layperson.”
Halyard and Grandinetti’s proposal for a revitalized course draws on a model prioritizing local residents and emphasizing golf courses as public spaces with a variety of uses.
“Everybody has to learn how to manage when the golf is in play, but if we’re in the winter, I will groom cross-country and hiking trails to our front door because I want you guys to come in and buy some hot buttered rum and hang out in front of the fireplace while people are hitting in the simulator bay,” Halyard said. “Essentially, this is what golf is looking to be about going forward.”
The quality of the course is such that Halyard said he believes it can become a destination for golf enthusiasts.
“If we do it right, which we intend to, we’ll have a waiting list of tee times,” Halyard said.
Grandinetti said as someone who lives in the area, he hoped to see the course not just preserved but opened up for more public use.
“I live in Flossmoor. It would be very comforting to me to drive down 175th Street and look over and see Calumet Country Club maintained the way it used to be and still a viable entity within the community, and actually more accessible to more people in the community,” Grandinetti said.
elewis@chicagotribune.com