Beverly Country Club - Architectural History

Architectural History

Beverly's mark on American golf was firmly made when club officials decided to ask legendary architect Donald Ross to create a master plan to renovate the course and bring it back to major championship standards. Over the course of nearly a decade, the entire Ross plan was adopted. In a fitting touch of déjà vu, a dedicated group of Beverly members recently led the club through a restoration of the golf course that reclaimed many of the Ross features that had been lost over the decades.

The genius of Ross's work lies in the routing of the golf course, in which no two consecutive holes run in the same direction, despite the fact that the course is laid out within a perfect rectangle that is hemmed in and bisected by three arterial streets and a railroad line. Donny Ross made excellent use of the dominant geological feature of property: a prominent ridge that runs from behind the fifth green eastward through the promontory above the second fairway.

Five holes on the front nine are designed around this ridge, which had been part of the southern shore of prehistoric Lake Chicago, a forgotten body of water that deposited sand dunes along Beverly's back nine. Students of Ross's design “school” will recognize his mark throughout the course, particularly in the tee and green complexes.

With its golf course stretching beyond 7,000 yards, Beverly is now honored as being one of Golfweek's Top 100 Classic Golf courses in the United States.