The club engaged Donald Ross in 1914 to plan and build an original 18-hole course on newly acquired acreage west of Chicago. Construction and opening occurred that same year, and the routing immediately exploited a small stream that diagonally bisects the front-nine envelope, organizing early-round strategy around a series of crossings and lay-ups.
Ross later returned to Oak Park to make revisions. Secondary sources converge on a follow-up visit roughly six years after opening; one contemporary account notes explicit 1921 direction from Ross regarding the fourteenth hole, where the club had deviated from his initial plan by building a dogleg to avoid costs in heavier timber. On that return, Ross instructed the club to provide a proper green to suit the dogleg alignment, a small but telling intervention that shows he adjusted his architecture to the built reality rather than insisting on restoring a straightaway corridor that had already been abandoned. Taken together, these notices place Ross’s second phase at Oak Park circa 1920–1921.
Subsequent modernization came much later. In 2007–2008, the club retained Rick Jacobson to renovate bunkers, tees, and putting surfaces and to add length while expanding greens outward to recapture perimeter hole locations. A follow-on 2014 bunker project—again under Jacobson—refined sand lines with an explicit brief to preserve Ross character.
Unique Design Characteristics
Oak Park’s most identifiable Ross fingerprint is the way the “winding stream” governs the first six holes. Players either play over it from the tee, face it before the green, or decide whether to challenge it mid-hole. The opener is a notable example: a par-5 bending left with staggered fairway bunkers, then a carry over the stream that sits roughly 50 yards short of a slightly raised green—hardly a gentle welcome. The opening sequence forces line-in and distance control in Ross’s typical risk-reward cadence, but here that cadence is structured almost entirely by water and angles rather than topographic heaves.
Away from the creek, Oak Park leans on sand and short-grass as the primary shapers of play. Cross- and diagonal bunkers still appear in places to interrogate driving lines, a presence reinforced by Jacobson’s restoration and re-bunkering a decade and a half ago. Green pads today are appreciably larger than the mid-20th-century versions, with perimeter hole locations returned; that work, while modern, re-introduces the corner pins and “use-the-ground” entries Ross intended on these relatively modest green sites. The par-4 14th is the clearest single hole where the Ross record meets the course as built: the dogleg left—constructed by the club for economy in the 1910s—was regularized in 1921 when Ross directed a green that fit the dogleg rather than a straightaway; the present hole, still doglegging left, reads as a collaborative artifact of Ross’s second-phase supervision.
The best surviving ensemble of what most observers would recognize as “Ross at Oak Park” is that creek-laced front-nine corridor (Nos. 1–6). Those holes still compel golfers to choose conservative lay-ups or aggressive carries that bring the stream and flanking bunkers into play, and their green sites—now expanded—allow the sort of edge-pinned recoveries that reward ground-game solutions.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s Midwestern chronology, Oak Park matters on two counts. First, it stands as his first original design in the Chicago area (1914), preceding a number of later commissions and remodels in the region. Second, it is an early illustration of Ross solving a routing on essentially level ground by leaning on a single linear hazard; that “one watercourse, many decisions” pattern would recur in later work on similarly constrained sites. While Oak Park is seldom ranked among the state’s absolute elite today, it occupies a respected tier in regional listings and is still referenced by raters for the strategic interest of its creek-driven front nine and the revived sand scheme. Its competitive identity is anchored by the Radix Cup, inaugurated in 1962 to honor Oak Park member and Chicago golf patron Harry Radix; the matches have been staged at the club in the overwhelming majority of years since. The course also periodically hosts U.S. Open final/sectional qualifying when regional schedules align.
The club’s professional lineage has added to that reputation. Horton Smith, who later won the Masters in 1934 and 1936, served the club; and Errie Ball, head professional from 1946–1969 and a participant in the inaugural Masters, is enshrined in both the PGA Golf Professional and Illinois Golf Halls of Fame. Such ties have kept Oak Park in the conversation when Chicago golf history is surveyed.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing: The 1914 Ross routing remains the course’s framework. Later work has not altered the fundamental front-nine corridor organized by the stream, nor the back-nine’s pivot to drier, sand-shaped ground. That said, without access to the club’s original Ross drawings or early aerials, it is not possible here to quantify every green relocation or tee shift since 1914.
Greens: Jacobson’s 2007–2008 project expanded putting surfaces to reclaim lost corner pins and reconnected short-grass surrounds to many green pads; this was followed by a 2014 bunker program that further sharpened entries and exit lines. The cumulative effect is a course that, while modern in turf presentation, reads more like Ross’s Oak Park in terms of target size and angles than it did in the late 20th century.
Bunkers: The current arrangement reflects both the Ross patterning (cross-bunkers and diagonal fairway hazards that influence lay-up/carry choices) and Jacobson’s 21st-century reconstruction. Several sources credit the 2008 work with installing new bunkers and expanding greens, language that suggests a hybrid of restoration and renovation rather than strict historic replication.
Trees & vistas: Like many Chicago-area clubs, Oak Park undertook significant tree management during its recent update cycle to reopen intended lines of play and sight; this is documented in regional commentary on renovations at Oak Park and peer clubs.
Events & set-up: The course today typically plays 6,700–6,800 yards depending on tee selection. Its par-72 remains unchanged, and course rating/slope in publicly available listings (e.g., 72.7/132) reflect a test appropriate for championship team matches and qualifying fields while remaining member-friendly on most days.
Prospective work: Public‐facing communications in 2025 suggest the club has collaborated in recent years with architect Tyler Rae on planning conversations about Ross features. These are not yet fully documented in club minutes or press releases; any future scope should be confirmed against primary sources before being treated as settled history.
Key uncertainties and how they arise:
Exact date of Ross’s return. Top100 summarizes a return “six years later” (≈1920), while the CDGA’s feature ties a discrete correction at the 14th to 1921. Absent club minutes or Ross correspondence, the most responsible reading is that a follow-up phase occurred circa 1920–1921, including work at No. 14.
Scope of recent planning. Social posts imply ongoing discussions with Tyler Rae; until the club issues a formal announcement or files permits, this should be treated as provisional.
Sources & Notes
Oak Park Country Club — Golf page. Confirms Ross authorship (1914) and notes 2007 renovation by Rick Jacobson; hosts a “Detailed Score Card” link (BlueGolf).
Top100 Golf Courses — “Oak Park (IL).” States Ross laid out the course in 1914, returned six years later to make revisions; summarizes 2008 Jacobson work (new bunkers, expanded greens); describes the stream’s influence on holes 1–6 and the character of cross-bunkers.
Chicago District Golf Association (Medium) — “The Enduring Genius of Donald Ross.” Notes Oak Park as Ross’s first original Chicago-area design (1914) and describes his 1921 guidance on the 14th hole green to suit the dogleg as built.
Chicago Golf Report — Oak Park Country Club profile. Provides yardage (6,757 yds), par (72), rating/slope, and describes specific features of Hole 1 (bunkering, stream ~50 yards short of the green), plus professional history (Horton Smith; Errie Ball).
Illinois PGA / CDGA — Radix Cup materials. Establish the club’s role as near-permanent host of the Radix Cup (since 1962; majority of editions played at OPCC) and document the 62nd–63rd editions in 2024–2025.
OPCC General Manager position brochure (CMAA PDF). Summarizes the 2008 Jacobson renovation scope (new tees, bunkers, expanded putting surfaces, added length) and notes U.S. Open sectional qualifying held at the club periodically.
Sandtrapper news item. Notes completion of a 2014 bunker restoration at OPCC under Jacobson with an explicit historic-preservation brief.
Tyler Rae social post (X/Twitter). Indicates ongoing collaboration conversations with OPCC in recent years; treated as preliminary unless corroborated by club release.