Blue skies, balmy temperatures and decidedly springlike breezes have sent area golfers searching for their golf clubs.
As a result, two Lake County Forest Preserve courses are taking advantage of the early taste of spring by opening a few weeks early.
Ft. Sheridan Golf Course, on the old army base along Lake Michigan, opened Saturday. ThunderHawk Golf Club, near Beach Park, opened Wednesday.
“We want to give golfers from Lake County and the surrounding areas an opportunity to play golf as early as possible as we prepare for the 2000 golfing season,” said Dan Prezell, director of revenue facilities for the Forest Preserve District.
The district had planned to open the courses between March 15 and April 1, but the warm weather had golfers champing at the bit, Prezell said. More than 200 golfers played at Ft. Sheridan on Saturday and Sunday.
Players had to walk the 18-hole, par 69 course because of concerns that the ground was still too damp for motorized golf carts.
It was the earliest the course had opened since the district took control from the Army in 1994, Prezell said.
The forest preserve’s other golf courses–Brae Loch Golf Course near Grayslake and Countryside Prairie & Traditional Golf Courses near Mundelein–are open year-round, weather permitting.
The decision to open ThunderHawk and Ft. Sheridan was made last week after Prezell saw the forecast for temperatures in the 70s and no rain.
“We talked about it and decided, let’s get them open,” Prezell said. “It took a little scrambling, but we did it.”
About 20 golfers showed up early Wednesday to kick off the season at ThunderHawk, named one of the top new public golf courses in the nation last year by Golf Magazine and recognized by Audubon International for its design as a plant and wildlife sanctuary.
This is the first full season for the course, which opened last year in late April.
Bill Ebdon, general manager and head pro, said he had received a couple of hundred calls in the past week, asking when the 18-hole, par 72 course was going to open.
Although it was the middle of the week, the lure of the links appeared to be too much for some of the players, whom Ebdon suspects were playing hooky.
“Who knows,” he said. “I may be able to get out there too before the sun goes down.”