Olympia Fields Country Club (North Course)

Course Date

Location	Illinois, America
Yardage	7353 yards　Par 72
Course Rating	76.6
Playing Date	September 10,2016
Designer	Willie Park Jr.
Opened	1922
Caddie	Yes
Golf Cart	Yes (can drive onto FW）

Rating

Overall Rating

5.05

Course Layout	5
Difficulty Level	6
Greens Condition	6
Fairways Condition	5
Landscaping & Views	4
Level of Satisfaction	5

Flowers coloring the course

The North Course at the Olympia Fields Country Club is a beautiful forest course that is covered with fields of large maple and oak trees. The golf club was first established in 1915, and by 1925 had a total of four courses. However, shortly after the Second World War, the course decided to downgrade to just two courses: the North Course and the South Course. The North Course consists of many long and tough par 4s, with all 18 holes adding up to make a challenging championship course. The bunkers are very strategically arranged and the deep roughs offer players a new level of challenge. The strong slopes of the green will force players to put carefully during many of these holes. This course hosted 2003 US Open.

Scorecard

Hole 3　Par 4　461 yards

The third hole consists of a dogleg to the right with a downhill and blind tee shot. Players will be able to earn additional distance if they can hit over 240 yards. The second is a gentle uphill shot over a creek. The green is strongly elevated, vertically long, and its left and right sides are guarded by two deep bunkers.

Hole 3　Par 4　461 yards (3)

Hole 3　Par 4　461 yards (2)

Hole 3　Par 4　461 yards (1)

Hole 4　Par 4　400 yards

A par four with a slight uphill and a dogleg to the left. Off the tee, there are an OB zone and a fairway bunker along the left side, and the tee shot rolls down to a hollow on the fairway. The approach shot will be a slight uphill shot from the hollow and only the tip of the pin can be seen. The green is slightly elevated and is protected by bunkers on the left and the front right. Players should hit the green as the roughs around it can be quite deep.

Hole 4　Par 4　400 yards (3)

Hole 4　Par 4　400 yards (2)

Hole 4　Par 4　400 yards (1)

Hole 7　Par 4　452 yards

Hole 7　Par 4　452 yards (2)

Hole 7　Par 4　452 yards (1)

The seventh hole is a par four with a slight downhill and a dogleg to the left. There are four fairway bunkers that are spread out along the left and right sides of the tight fairway, which will limit the landing area off the tee shot. There are bunkers that are strategically placed in front and on both sides of the green. The green steeply slopes from back to front.

Hole 8　Par 3　280 yards

The eighth hole is a very long par three, totaling 280 yards. The green tilts towards the right and is guarded by a bunker to its left and three bunkers in front. Furthermore, the narrow green entrance makes this quite a difficult hole.

Hole 12　Par 4　389 yards

Hole 12　Par 4　389 yards (2)

Hole 12　Par 4　389 yards (1)

The twelfth hole is a dogleg to the right. The landing area is narrow with overhanging trees from left and right. The approach shot is over a creek. The green, sloping from back to front, is guarded by two bunkers on its left and one bunker on its right side.

Hole 14　Par 4　450 yards

A relatively straight and long par four with a downhill tee shot. This demanding hole is tight with a river along the right side and trees on the left. The tee shot favors the left center of the fairway as the tree that is planted right in front of the green should be avoided on the next shot. The approach shot is gently uphill and over a river. Since the fairway before the green drops sharply, players must try their best to hit the approach shots directly onto the green that slops steeply from back to front and is guarded by two bunkers on the right and another bunker on the left. This hole was also selected to be in the World Best 500 Holes in 2000 (the latest version to date) by GOLF Magazine.

Hole 14　Par 4　450 yards (3)

Hole 14　Par 4　450 yards (2)

Hole 14　Par 4　450 yards (1)

Hole 15　Par 5　576 yards

The fifteenth hole is a dogleg to the right moving though a forest. Off the tee, there are a hazard along the right and two fairway bunkers on the left. The fairway itself is quite narrow. The flat green is guarded by four bunkers.

Hole 15　Par 5　576 yards (3)

Hole 15　Par 5　576 yards (2)

Hole 15　Par 5　576 yards (1)

Hole 16　Par 3　215 yards

Hole 16　Par 3　215 yards (2)

Hole 16　Par 3　215 yards (1)

The sixteenth hole is a downhill par three. There is a river that crosses in front of the green and runs along the right side of it. There are also bunkers that are strategically placed on the left and front sides of the green sloping slightly from back to front.

Hole 17　Par 4　455 yards

Hole 17　Par 4　455 yards (2)

Hole 17　Par 4　455 yards (1)

The seventeenth hole is a relatively straight par four with a river that runs down the fairway’s right side and a fairway bunker that is placed on its left. The fairway itself is quite narrow, making accuracy quite important on this hole. The second shot is a gentle uphill shot. The green is guarded by bunkers on both its left and right sides.

Hole 19

In order to get to Olympia Fields,it is about a 50-minute drive by car from O'Hare Airport and a 45-minute from Chicago. In 1915, the clubhouse was built at a cost of 1.3 million dollars. It was known to be one of the most luxurious and the largest club houses in America at that time. The locker room is just as large, if not bigger than the size of a hockey stadium and is filled with over a couple dozen poker tables.

Locker room

Restaurant

Lunch

In 2015, Golf Magazine ranked this course 87th in the US. The Top 100 Golf Course of the World (top 100 golfcourses.com) ranked this course 3rd in Illinois state in 2016. There are about 630 courses in all of Illinois state.

The course was designed by Willy Park Jr. He was a great golfer who won the British Open twice. The Olympia Field was his last work. Other famous courses of his works are the Old Course at Sunningale GC (in the UK), Maidstone Club (in the U.S.), and Ottawa Hunt &GC (in Canada).