CDGA Chicago Adaptive Open

Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, a four-course Chicagoland public golf behemoth, deftly balances business obligations with using the game for the greater good. The bustling nature of Cog Hill means employees see nearly every imaginable outing in a calendar year.

And, unlike some other cool-weather facilities, Cog Hill uses as much of the calendar as possible. Christmas Day is the only scheduled closing. Day after day, month after month, outings help fill the four courses. Even in January, arguably the harshest of Windy City months, Cog Hill conducts the aptly named Eskimo Open on Courses No. 1 and No. 3. Once temperatures fully thaw, the outing business becomes brisk.

“Every day from the middle of May through October — I don’t want to say it feels like an event day — it is an event day,” director of grounds operations Reed Anderson says. “We will have a shotgun almost daily on a golf course during that time frame and if we don’t have a shotgun, it’s 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. full tee sheets. There are no breaks. We have to be real creative on how we get stuff done around here.”

From events conducted by major golf associations to four-course corporate outings, the Cog Hill staff provides memorable experiences for participants of nearly every imaginable type of outing. Consider it the work-here, seen-it mantra guiding Anderson’s team of more than 70 employees.

“I’d like to think we make it shine every day,” he says. “That’s part of the reason why I take such pride in having this job because we get to put out such a great product for anybody in Chicago to play 364 days a year. I’d like to think we don’t need to put too much lipstick on for tournament days — however we do. We might double cut, we throw in an extra roll or cut the water to firm things up. We feel like we’re good every day so we don’t have to take the extra steps, but there are certainly a few little wrinkles we can add in if we need to.”

Last year Anderson’s team hosted a unique event on the No. 3 course: the inaugural Chicago District Golf Association Chicago Adaptive Open. The tournament included golfers with physical and intellectual disabilities competing across 15 sport classifications. The par-72 layout had yardage setups of 4,807, 5,843 and 6,060 as players started rounds on the first and 10th tees.

Ensuring players could safely enter and exit bunkers required the crew to add sand or ramps to some of the course’s steeper bunkers, with the goal of keeping as many hazards in play for the event as possible. For many employees, the tournament represented the first experience hosting an adaptive event. Reasons behind temporarily altering bunkers and storing dozens of wheelchairs in the maintenance facility resonated with the crew once they learned about the tournament’s inspirational participants.

“Throwing extra sand at the bottom of the bunker probably didn’t make sense to some of the guys until they understood who was going to be playing he golf course,” Anderson says. “We informed our team what was going on so they could get excited about it. There were some cameras and that type of stuff around. It’s exciting when their product gets to be showcased a little bit.”

In typical Cog Hill fashion, activity didn’t slow on the facility’s other three courses as adaptive golfers were competing for money and ranking points. Courses No. 1, 2 and 4 were packed during that weekend. “It never stops here to the say the least — including on event days,” Anderson says.

Impactful outings and robust play numbers will likely always remain a Cog Hill staple.

“This place has done so much for golf in Chicago, golf in Illinois and golf as a whole,” Anderson says. “We’re proud to host some of these cool events.”