Ravisloe began as a nine-hole course laid out in 1901 by James Foulis and Theodore Moreau, soon after the club’s formation, with an expansion to 18 holes undertaken between 1910 and 1913 under William Watson. The club subsequently engaged Donald Ross in 1916 to modernize and re-strategize the course. Club history records that Ross’s principal construction occurred 1917–1919, with fine-tuning continuing to 1924. Secondary summaries align with this sequence, describing the Ross work as a thorough renovation rather than a ground-up original design.
Primary plan sheets from Ross’s office have not been made public online by the club; the most detailed timeline available to researchers comes from the club’s own history page and independent historical summaries. Those sources indicate that the Ross remit substantially revised bunkering and green contours across the existing corridors, creating a more exacting set of targets while retaining the site’s walkable footprint near the Illinois Central rail line.
In the modern era, the club commissioned David Esler to lead a restoration beginning in 2001–02, widely characterized as a bunker restoration to Ross specifications alongside associated refinements. Trade coverage in 2002 announced the project and framed it explicitly as a Ross-oriented restoration; subsequent local pieces echoed that focus and noted a budget on the order of $1 million.
After financial distress in late 2008, the property was purchased in February 2009 by Dr. Claude Gendreau, a veterinary surgeon. He reopened Ravisloe to the public and invested in both course and clubhouse improvements, a change in operating model that has allowed the Ross/club legacy to be widely accessible to daily-fee golfers.
Unique Design Characteristics
The Ross-era strategy at Ravisloe is legible in the bunker placements and green complexes that the 2001–02 restoration sought to revive. The routing contains two unusual sequencing choices visible on today’s card: back-to-back par fives at holes 2 and 3, followed three holes later by back-to-back par threes at 6 and 7. The 7th in particular plays across a substantial water carry, a presentation long noted in public course profiles; while water is not a defining theme elsewhere on the course, greens are generally compact and tilted, with flanking or diagonal sand hazards that influence angle and trajectory into the targets.
The bunker work completed c. 2001–02 restored scale and placement in accordance with Ross precedents, giving the course its present visual identity—steeper-faced, strategically sited hazards around modest green pads that ask for controlled approaches. Reporting from the time of the project explicitly described the intent as returning sand forms and placements to Ross’s original specifications rather than introducing a new, unrelated scheme.
Within that context, several holes offer the clearest surviving expressions of Ross’s course-defense logic as it exists today: the short par-four 5th (angle-dependent approach to a small target), the 6th–7th one-shot pair (contrasting lengths and the 7th’s water hazard setting), and intermediate par-fours on the inward nine where flanking bunkers and front-to-back tilt make distance less valuable than position.
Historical Significance
Ravisloe’s historical importance within Ross’s body of work rests on its role as a major Midwest renovation of a pre-existing Chicago-area club course. The club’s early history—Foulis/Moreau origins, Watson’s expansion, and the later Ross overhaul—captures a developmental arc common to early-century American golf, but unusually well preserved at a single site. The course’s public conversion in 2009 transformed an early, historically Jewish-membership country club into an accessible Ross venue for the Chicago region, a shift widely covered in golf media. The property’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021 further underscores the architectural and landscape significance of both the Spanish Mission clubhouse and the course itself within Cook County.
Independent architecture outlets have also singled out Ravisloe as a must-see example of classic public-access design in the U.S., pointing specifically to the back-to-back par sequences and the layered authorship (Foulis/Moreau, Watson, Ross, and the Esler restoration). While such assessments are not formal rankings, they do reflect the course’s contemporary reputation among students of classic design.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and par/yardage. Public cards list par 70 at ~6,343 yards from the back tees, with some outlets noting a par-71 option (typically tied to how the 12th is set). That dual listing appears consistently across third-party scorecards and long-form photo essays. The basic hole sequence—including the 2–3 par-five pair and the 6–7 par-three pair—remains part of the modern presentation.
Extent of Ross fabric. The 2001–02 Esler project was restoration-oriented, concentrating on bunkers and the visual/strategic frames around greens, rather than rerouting holes. As a result, the Ross influence is most evident in the hazard patterning and approach demands over the original corridors. The greens read today as compact and canted, with surrounds that encourage ground-contour play; multiple public descriptions emphasize the challenge derived from these targets rather than from extensive water or forced carries.
Post-2009 stewardship. After the 2009 sale and reopening to the public, the owner invested in capital improvements to both course and clubhouse. Recent coverage notes additional landscape management and an arboretum program launched in 2022, which formalized tree-inventory and dedication practices across the property. These programs have not altered routing or par/yardage; they provide environmental context for continued maintenance of playing corridors.
Integrity summary. In the absence of posted Ross drawings or a hole-by-hole restoration atlas, the most defensible conclusion is that Ravisloe today preserves Ross’s 1917–19 strategic character—especially in bunker placements and in the demands of its smaller greens—while operating atop the earlier Foulis/Moreau-Watson corridors. The Esler work refreshed those elements for contemporary play without re-imagining the routing, and the public operating model since 2009 has ensured broad access to one of Chicago’s classic-era Ross remodels.
Sources & Notes
Ravisloe Country Club — “History.” Commission in 1916; Ross renovation 1917–19 with fine-tuning to 1924.
Wikipedia — “Ravisloe Country Club.” (Used for authorship and early timeline cross-check: Foulis & Moreau 1901, Watson 1910–13, Ross renovation 1917–19.)
Golf Course News (Mar. 14, 2002) — “Esler to restore Ross design at Ravisloe.” Announces the David Esler restoration and its Ross-focused objective.
IllinoisGolf.com (Oct. 17, 2022) — “Homewood Bound! Restoration Makes Ravisloe a Premier Public Golf Complex.” Notes Ross work 1916–24 and describes Esler’s 2002 bunker restoration to Ross’s specifications.
Golf Digest (Mar. 23, 2009) — “The Man Who Saved Ravisloe.” Details Dr. Claude Gendreau’s purchase and the decision to reopen as a public venue.
Chicago Golf Report — “A Chicago Golf Classic: Ravisloe Country Club.” Confirms the 2009 purchase and reopening; summarizes historical authorship.
GolfScout — Photo essay / course notes. Observations on total yardage (~6,405) and par-70/71 dual presentation; description of 7th over water.
The Fried Egg (Dec. 16, 2019) — “Must-Sees of Public Golf Architecture in America.” Notes Ravisloe’s authorship lineage and the distinctive 2–3 (par-5s) / 6–7 (par-3s) sequencing.
National Park Service — Weekly List (Sept. 3, 2021). Confirms National Register of Historic Places listing for Ravisloe, 9/1/2021.
Club & Resort Business (Nov. 7, 2022) — “Ravisloe CC Becomes an Arboretum.” Notes the establishment of an arboretum program on the property.