|
Totally Renovated 18-Hole Course At Indian Lakes Gives Chicago Area Its Only World-Class Golf Resort New Blackhawk Trace Course Now Open for Resort Guest and Public Play; West Suburban Resort Now an Upscale State-of-the-Art Golf Complex Contact Barry Cronin BLOOMINGDALE, Ill. (July 12, 2003) - With the completion of golf course architect Rick Jacobson's massive renovation of 18 holes at Indian Lakes Resort, the Chicago area for the first time has a world-class golf resort located just minutes from downtown and O'Hare International Airport. The Blackhawk Trace course (formerly known as the West Course) formally opened as an integrated 18-hole rotation on July 4. The first nine holes opened last summer, the second nine just last week. The original East Course will undergo renovation in the near future. "Rick Jacobson is a nationally renowned architect who has transformed a solid but somewhat dated, 1960s-era golf course into Chicago first real upscale, state-of the-art resort golf experience," said Dan Smith, managing director of Indian Lakes Resort. "Golf at Indian Lakes has a proud past, but thanks to the dramatic improvements made over the last few years, its future is even brighter." Jacobson has completely changed the character of the original Robert Bruce Harris-designed course into a golf experience that is strategically challenging as well as aesthetically pleasing, in the following ways: * Replaced the original 1965 vintage, saucer-style bunkers with new bunker complexes inspired by the work of the famed Alistair McKenzie, who designed Augusta National GC. Ala McKenzie, many of the new bunkers slope dramatically down from the green and feature sand flashed high on the slopes with fingers of turf bleeding down into the bunkers. * Installed four separate teeing areas on nearly every hole in order to accommodate various levels of play. The separate tee areas replaced the original tee box design, which consisted of one long tee box with room for three sets of tees one behind the other. * Renovated the greens in order to recapture or create new pin placements. Added fairway bailout areas not included in the original design. * Dramatically upgraded all playing surfaces. Original bluegrass tees and fairways have been converted to high quality bent grass. The greens, originally poa, have been changed to bent grass. * Incorporated fescue grasses in order to provide contrast and texture to the turf. * Installed new irrigation and drainage systems to improve overall course conditions. "Our goal in extensively renovating the two 18-hole golf courses at Indian Lakes has been to raise the courses to the highest standards of conditioning, challenge and aesthetics demanded by today's golfers," Jacobson said. "One of the ways to make golf more fun and more interesting is to create golf holes that are memorable both for the way they look and the way they play." Par for the Blackhawk Trace course remains at 72. Yardages are 6,966 from the championship tees; 6,471 from the gold tees; 5,814 from the white tees, and 4,943 from the forward tees. Greens fee on the newly renovated course are $75 weekdays $85 weekends, including cart. The massive $6 million renovation of the resort's two golf courses is a primary element in Indian Lakes, $20 million renovation led by the resort's owner, First Hospitality Group, of Des Plaines, Ill. The project included major upgrades of the resort's 314 guest rooms, dining facilities, lounges, 50,000-square feet of meeting and banquet rooms, atrium and lobby, internal corridors and the exteriors of its four primary buildings. It can accommodate groups of up to 800 for a meeting or convention. The resort also added Spa Vargas, a fashionable full-service spa, which services golfers for a massage or other treatments following a round of golf. "The addition of Spa Vargas to the resort's excellent recreational amenities is an important enhancement to the quality services we are striving for," Smith said. "Our vision is to make Indian Lakes into a complete full-service resort with superior complementing amenities." The resort also has an important affiliation with Chicago-based Levy Restaurants, which manages the resort's food and beverage operations. This includes the resort's onsite restaurant outlets as well as creative catering for pre-golf breakfasts, on-course lunches, and awards banquets or barbecues following golf outings. The resort hosts hundreds of golf outings and parties annually for corporations, associations, and charities. Functions are held in the newly renovated state-of-the-art conference center or in a large tent complex near the golf courses. Levy operates several of Chicago's preeminent downtown restaurants - including Spiaggia, Bistro 110 and Mia Torre - as well as food and beverage operations at many college and professional sports stadiums, racetracks, arenas or convention centers. Indian Lakes Resort is located at 250 W. Schick Road in Bloomingdale, about 25 miles west of downtown Chicago and 12 miles from O,Hare. More information on a wide variety of special golf rates and packages is available by calling 630-529-0200 or toll free 800-334-3417. To view the resort's website, go to www.indianlakesresort.com. Jacobson is known nationally for such heralded original 18-hole designs as Augustine GC in Stafford, Va., Bull Run CC in Haymarket, Va., Bear Trap Dunes in Ocean View, Del., and Morningstar Golf Club in Mukwonago, Wis. He also is known for his renovations of such highly regarded classic courses, including Pete Dye's Des Moines CC, site of the 1999 U.S. Senior Open; Northmoor CC in Highland Park, Ill., a Donald Ross course; Bob O'Link GC, another Ross course in Highland Park; North Shore CC in Glenview, Ill., and H.S. Colt/C.H. Alison course. |