Flossmoor bounces back, hosts Illinois Open

Writing from Flossmoor, Illinois

Monday, July 31, 2023

It was four years ago, and Flossmoor Country Club was on its last legs. Members were leaving, bills were starting to pile up, and the odds that the club where golf was first played in 1900 would shut its doors for good at the end of 2019.

Enter George Goich, who with the rest of his family grew up as members at nearby Olympia Fields Country Club. Goich, a golf professional by then headquartered in New England, inquired about purchasing the club on Western Avenue. His brother David, a former Olympia Fields club president, and an acquaintance were brought in as partners.

Things were so dire, they began paying utility bills to keep the lights and heat on before the deal was completed early in 2020.

Exit Flossmoor Country Club. Enter Flossmoor Golf Club, concentrating on the game and not the frills surrounding it. Tennis is no more. Evening dining is out. The pool is now run separately. It’s golf first and foremost.

A club comprised greatly of town residents that was down to 89 members now boasts about 270, just short of Goich’s self-imposed limit of 300.

“I thought that Beverly had a great model, one of being golf-centric, and that it would work further south,” Goich said last week.

He thought correctly. This week, Flossmoor shows itself off by hosting the 74th Illinois Open, running today through Wednesday.

“This is the biggest showpiece we’re allowed to do here,” said Goich, understanding that the parking lot holds only so many cars.

The 168-man field will tackle a course primed to test the best in the state, and a bit beyond its borders. The distance of 7,136 yards will be maxed out, the par of 72 a sturdy test, especially since it hasn’t rained since Thursday night. Goich boasted the greens have been pushed to a speed of 14.5 on the Stimpmeter recently, and would like to see that again.

“We have an incredible canvas at Flossmoor,” said Brad Slocum, who oversees tournaments for the Illinois PGA. “If it stays dry, by Wednesday this course could be a monster.”

Slocum and executive director Carrie Williams emphasize they don’t want carnage, but instead a test befitting championship golf. Flossmoor is a course that has brought the best player to the top of the pile before. In Illinois Opens alone, Bob Harris (1955) and Lance Ten Broeck (1984) triumphed there, along with Jock Hutchison in the 1920 PGA Championship and Chick Evans in the 1909 Western Amateur.

“It tests every part of your game relentlessly,” said Brian Payne, a Flossmoor member who won the Illinois Open in 2002 and is the house threat this week.

Depending on the setup, there are a pair of drivable par 4s – the fourth and 14th – and a 626-yard par 5 that, if the wind is from the south, will be a driver-3-wood-4-iron combination for much of the field.

“There are 18 distinct, memorable golf holes here,” Slocum said.

To which Goich added, “If you play it when it’s firm and fast, there’s a double-bogey lurking on every shot. It’s a very difficult golf course from the sides of the holes. You have to pay attention.”

The nine past champions in the field include defender David Perkins, Mike Small, Ray Biancalana, Korn Ferry Tour regulars Tim “Tee-K” Kelly and Vince India, and Curtis Malm. While Small, the University of Illinois head men’s coach, is in the same classification, no club professional has won the Illinois Open since Chicago Golf Club assistant Todd Tramaglio at Orchard Valley in 1998.

The purse is expected to be at or over $100,000, as it has been the last several years, with about 20 percent dropped in the winner’s pocket.

– Tim Cronin