This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land

Practically from its inception as an independent nation, the US has been saddled with a municipal and legal system unable to handle the complexities of land ownership and operation. In an age of massive bureaucracy and corporate corruption, its seems as if land use is destined to become either neglected or abused.
Nowhere is this loss of competency more clearly display than in the disaster that has been the Fort Sheridan renovation project. Once a military base, the Lake County forest preserve took over the land in the post-Cold War base closure period that saw the end of the line for the likes of Glenview NAS, Fort Sheridan, O'Hare ARS, and others across the nation. During the land transfers, both Glenview and Fort Sheridan were placed into a mixture of public and private ownership, with the Fort Sheridan community eventually becoming a full-fledged residential development. However, while the Glen prospered under a majority-private ownership that developed a successful PUD with residential components, 2 golf courses, a middle school, a recreation center, and 3 major commercial centers, Fort Sheridan lagged behind, housing only a fledged golf course and an old military cemetery. With the loss of the golf course under the regime of LCFPD, homeowners in Fort Sheridan were now left with a lot of open land and not much else.

However, the golf course was a vital part of the land transfer and is in fact a legal requirement under the deed handed to LCFPD. In the grant of the lakeside land that formerly housed the bustling army complex, "the land herein conveyed shall be a golf course and recreational open space in perpetuity and not devoted to another use". Thus, the golf course cannot be ignored. If LCPFD were to have chosen to abandon the golf course concept, they would have been in violation of their agreement with the US Army, a fact that probably kept the golf course alive during the past few years in which the majority of county leaders seemed satisfied with ignoring the opportunity at hand.

That is what Fort Sheridan is. An Opportunity. Whereas the county and many critics of the renovation plan seem to view the concept of a golf facility as a financial burden, many of us who know the business of golf see the land as an opportunity to create something truly special. Golf is a game designed to be played along the water. From its early years in St. Andrews through to the great courses of today in Pebble Beach, Whistling Straits, Bandon Dunes, and countless others, golf and the sea have gone hand in hand. Unfortunately, urban sprawl has forced many of these great seaside links to be located in areas not easily accessible from major metropolitan areas. Whistling Straits is 90 minutes from Milwaukee. Pebble Beach is 2 hours from San Francisco (on a good day). Torrey Pines is about as close as it gets to seaside golf in the city, but even that can be an hour drive from downtown during the seemingly endless Southern California rush hour. Bandon is, well, its a schlep. St. Andrews, same story. But Fort Sheridan is just 25 or so miles from the center of Chicago, the nation's 3rd largest city and arguably its most golf crazy metropolis. With Chicagoans willing to make the drive to Kohler and very willingly pay the $400+ to play the Straits, how can the LCFPD argue that a similar seaside links just 40 minutes from downtown couldnt be a world-class (and highly profitable) attraction?

Then there is the impact on the local golf market, a market that critics have called saturated and unable to bear the additional supply. What these people are ignoring is the potential attraction a world-class seaside course could create on Chicago's north shore. LCFPD seemed worried about the impact a championship layout at Fort Sheridan would have on their crown jewel up north, ThunderHawk. What they fail to realize is that Spyglass Hills is nothing without Pebble Beach. The Bull couldnt survive without Whistling Straits. Kingsbarns in Scotland thrives off its proximity to St. Andrews. And ThunderHawk would benefit in much the same way from a championship layout at Fort Sheridan. What the county supervisors (obviously not avid golfers themselves) are failing to see is that golf is an industry in which quality supply does indeed create its own demand. Creating a destination golf course so close to a city as enticing as Chicago would make the north suburbs as sleek a golf destination as our nation has to offer. Accessibility, culture, restaurants, and a variety of quality layouts leave the North Side just that top notch golf resort short of truly being able to compete with the likes of Kohler, Traverse City, and Galena in the Midwest, and even Pebble, Bandon, and Myrtle Beach nationally.

But the forest preserve simply isnt able to make that happen. While LCFPD has done a tremendous job with Countryside, Brae Loch, and especially Thunderhawk, they simply dont have the finances nor the know how to take that next step up to golf travel destination. However, the land Fort Sheridan sits on is ripe for just such a development. The location, high above a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan is about as good as it gets. Even Whistling Straits (also sitting on a former military establishment) lacks the pristine ravine setting that would provide for a layout that majestically opens up to the grandeur of the water much like Spyglass Hills and Pebble Beach on the Monterrey Peninsula or Harbor Town in South Carolina. The availability of land for a potential resort property is certainly there and could perhaps even utilize the embattled grounds of the former Barat College just up the road. But while State Parks systems have been successful in similar destination endeavors such as Torrey Pines (The Lodge at Torrey Pines) and Saratoga Spa (New York), the county isnt capable. But there are many entities, locally and nationally, fully capable of bringing the site into its own. First of all, the property could be turned over for operation by the Jemseks. Known for their wildly successful operations at Cog Hill, Pine Meadow, and St. Andrews (West Chicago, not Scotland), the Jemseks have the knowledge of the golf industry and of the local market necessary to make a potential course profitable while at the same time providing public good through the extension of junior programs the Jemseks have made a key part of their current operation. Then there is Kemper Sports. Although no longer involved in their flagship course in Kemper Lakes, Kemper still maintains a heavy local presence through operations such as the Glen Club (now a full-fledged destination course with the partnership with Summit Hotels in creating a 21-room operation within the clubhouse) and Hawthorn Woods Country Club, as well as municipal operations such as Vernon Hills Golf Course and the Chicago Park District courses (including Sydney R., oh its Waveland for god's sake, an operation whose history can certainly tell us something about missed opportunities along the shores of Lake Michigan). In addition, Kemper has the expertise to develop a world-class destination facility, backed by their experience in the operation of Bandon Dunes, now considered by most to have topped the Monterrey as the nation's top golf destination. Outside of the locals in Kemper and Jemsek, there is always the option of turning to the big names, the likes of Kohler, Trump, and others. In fact, Trump himself has led a similar project in Los Angeles, taking an environmentally sensitive area that was mandated for public use and creating a public-private enterprise that has led to the establishment of the next great west coast golf destination (as well as a damned good PUBLIC beach, if I may say so myself). I dont need to go any further, its pretty clear that while LCPFD may not see themselves able to successfully operate a world-class facility at Fort Sheridan, there are plenty of people out there who can and are more than willing to look into doing so.
That said, perhaps the best course of action for LCPFD would be to sell off the land designated for the golf course. Drawing upon the concepts laid out in similar public-private projects such as Trump National in LA, LCFPD could allow for the maintenance of a wonderful open-use area and public beach while at the same time allowing the lakeside plot to be used to its greatest capabilities as a championship golf course. The details of ownership vs. operation, of what land to sell and what to maintain, those are details I will admit I cannot handle until I finish up that degree in 3 years time. But even now I can tell you that what the county is proposing for Fort Sheridan is simply a wasted opportunity. Its time for the LCFPD to cut their losses and hand over Fort Sheridan to someone who appreciates the value in such a pristine plot of land in such close proximity to the golf-loving metropolis that is Chicago. Sell Fort Sheridan and lets get started making Chicago's North Shore the next great American golf destination.