Shoreacres

Seth Raynor designed Shoreacres in 1916 on a Chicago-suburb lake bluff thirty miles north of the city, on a piece of Lake Bluff, Illinois land that the founding members had been using as a private beach since 1900. The course is built around the network of ravines that cut through the property — Raynor used them as natural hazards rather than fighting against them, and the result is one of his most-praised inland template-course designs. The closing four holes traverse the deepest of the ravines, and the par-3 thirteenth — a 196-yard Redan modeled on the fifteenth at North Berwick — has been ranked among the cleanest American Redans by writers on Raynor's templates.

The scorecard reads 6,725 yards from the back markers, par 71, with a slope of 140 and a course rating of 73.5. The par-71 is the marker again — three par-5s, eleven par-4s, four par-3s. The four par-3s sit between 136 and 216 yards. The 136-yard fifteenth is the shortest one-shotter and is built as a Short template, with a green crowned in every direction. The 214-yard seventh is the longest and plays directly across the property's deepest ravine — the kind of one-shotter Raynor used the natural topography to make ferocious without adding length.

The number-one handicap is the 487-yard fifth — a long par-4 with an approach into a Biarritz-template green, the famous swale running through the putting surface. The 467-yard second-hardest is the par-4 fourth; the 487-yard third-hardest is the par-4 twelfth. Two of the top-three hardest holes are over 480 yards, which is the slope-rating signal that Shoreacres is meant to be played from the appropriate tee for the appropriate game.

The course is private and access is members-and-guests only. The Chicago lakefront climate moderates the playing window into April through October, with the lake effect cooling the property by two to four degrees compared to inland Chicago suburbs. The greens reach their championship pace in late August; September delivers the firmest fairway conditions. Walking is the standard mode of play; caddies are available.