last month<\/a> that golf would be permanently shut down on the course and all infrastructure demolished.<\/p>\nA large part of the golf course\u2019s appeal to golf enthusiasts is in its pedigree. It was designed by Donald Ross, a famous Scottish golf course designer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 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,\u201d said Vaughn Halyard, president of the Donald Ross Society. \u201cAnd plus, it\u2019s a tremendous opportunity to deliver excellently architected, excellently conditioned, almost private club-quality golf to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Michael Grandinetti, Halyard\u2019s partner in the project, there\u2019s also a sentimental reason to ensure the course is preserved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a member there for 45 years. We had our wedding reception there in 1970,\u201d Grandinetti said. \u201cI was able to join Calumet at a very young age because my mother and father-in-law were members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandinetti is a former president of the Chicago District Golf Association, the Chicago area affiliate of the United States Golf Association.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur 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\u2019m going to be around,\u201d Grandinetti said.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that people just don\u2019t want any more industrial. Communities are sick of industrial development,\u201d Halyard said.<\/p>\n
In order to bring that vision to life, however, the partnership would need to eventually acquire the property.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Brown also said that the property cannot be run sustainably or profitably as a golf course because of the property taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve run the golf course for five years,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe golf course doesn\u2019t have the income to run as a business because of the tax bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown said that the industrial redevelopment he envisions would benefit Hazel Crest most, both in terms of jobs and increased tax income.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the redevelopment comes jobs for the city and income for the Police Department, Fire Department and the school district,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s approval is also necessary to grant the demolition permits needed to tear down the existing infrastructure on the property.<\/p>\n
Halyard said the partnership had positive communications with Hazel Crest officials regarding their proposal.<\/p>\n
Having a Donald Ross golf course is a valuable asset for the community that should be capitalized on, Halyard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Ross designed courses for the bulk of people to be able to enjoy golf,\u201d Halyard said. \u201cTo simplify, a Donald Ross course is designed not to be hard. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Halyard and Grandinetti\u2019s proposal for a revitalized course draws on a model prioritizing local residents and emphasizing golf courses as public spaces with a variety of uses.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody has to learn how to manage when the golf is in play, but if we\u2019re 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,\u201d Halyard said. \u201cEssentially, this is what golf is looking to be about going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The quality of the course is such that Halyard said he believes it can become a destination for golf enthusiasts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do it right, which we intend to, we\u2019ll have a waiting list of tee times,\u201d Halyard said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Grandinetti said.<\/p>\n
elewis@chicagotribune.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two golf organizations, the Chicago District Golf Association and the Donald Ross Society, have proposed plans to acquire…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":492424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[14672,14676,14677,5404,14679,14720,14683,112513,1430,8413,112514,1818,728,112515,14696,112516,11210,14704,14706,14707,62,14716,67,132,68,17075],"class_list":{"0":"post-492423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-blue-island","9":"tag-calumet-city","10":"tag-chicago-heights","11":"tag-cook-county","12":"tag-country-club-hills","13":"tag-daily-southtown","14":"tag-dolton","15":"tag-frankfort","16":"tag-golf","17":"tag-harvey","18":"tag-homer-glen","19":"tag-illinois","20":"tag-local-news","21":"tag-lockport","22":"tag-markham","23":"tag-mokena","24":"tag-oak-lawn","25":"tag-orland-park","26":"tag-palos-heights","27":"tag-palos-hills","28":"tag-sports","29":"tag-tinley-park","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-will-county"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115838468907423439","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}