On April 4, local residents will have the opportunity to say birdie or bogey regarding the future of the Glencoe Golf Club.
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After years of sitting on the village’s fairway, Glencoe residents will vote on a $15 million bond sale referendum in next month’s municipal elections that would transform the village’s golf club.
If approved, the bond sale proceeds are set for construction of a new approximate 10,000 square foot clubhouse/pro shop that would house a private event space including a conference room and a bar/restaurant open year round. The new building — which due to its placement on the course would reverse the club’s 9th and 18th holes — is set to replace the existing clubhouse. That structure is over 100 years old and has been labeled as dilapidated and beyond rehabilitation by village officials.
Beyond the new building, other new amenities include a space for cross-country skiing and sledding, an event lawn/open space for games such as Cornhole, a bicycle repair and rest station, indoor golf simulators, a community garden, croquet court and a new parking lot.
“From the very beginning we have structured this project to provide service, facilities and amenities as more of a community center, not just a golf club,” according to Dale Thomas, president of the Friends of the Glencoe Golf Club, a nonprofit organization established to assist with the project.
The dining room will be large enough for outings such as birthday parties and other private events and may be a destination for people just looking to eat out.
“Our intention is to have a high quality restaurant that would operate year round that people that do not play golf can go to,” Thomas said.
Village officials project a refurbished golf club would generate an additional $100,000 for the village annually.
A series of neighboring public courses including Northbrook’s Heritage Oaks, Highland Park’s Sunset Valley and the Wilmette Golf Course have all undergone significant revamps in recent years with the Winnetka Golf Club currently being upgraded.
Thomas said the referendum was not tied directly to the changes made at neighboring courses, but conceded there is some connection as golf industry experts suggested to village officials many years ago changes were necessary.
“If we don’t do it, our competitive position could steadily erode,” Thomas said.
The referendum question boils down to whether Glencoe residents will support the renovation that village officials estimate would add another $140 in property taxes for every $10,000 paid on a yearly basis for the next 20 years.
“A taxpayer who can afford to pay $20,000 probably isn’t going to think about swooning dead for an additional $280,” Thomas said.
On its website, the village said Glencoe residents represented 23% of rounds played at the course in 2022.
The property tax impact is not scheduled to come all at once, as the bonds are set to be issued in installments over the next three years.
Moreover, Thomas said the Friends of the Glencoe Club has already raised nearly $1 million and he expects some people will want to make donations large enough to have sections of the club named after them.
If approved, this bond sale would be in addition to three previously issued Village of Glencoe infrastructure-related bond sales passed by voters in 2012, 2015 and 2021.
Louis Goldman, the former President of the Glencoe Library Board, is opposed to the referendum, saying that it isn’t worth the additional property taxes.
“The golf course is used only by a small portion of Glencoe residents — most course golfers are non-residents,” he said. “Also, the $15 million amount sought is excessive for what should be the mere replacement of the existing clubhouse with a facility typical for community golf courses. Glencoe does not need a $15 million grandiose country club level restaurant and venue space which will be an unnecessary cost drain on the existing golf course revenue stream.”
Two active bond sale measures for Glencoe include the renovation of the New Trier High School Winnetka campus passed in 2014 and one for the Glencoe Park District’s Takiff Center makeover nearly 20 years ago.
The referendum represents the latest chapter on the future of the Golf Club that was established in 1921. Since its inception, roughly half the land belonged to the village and the other half to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.
In June 2017, the two sides amended the long-standing land sharing agreement allowing the village to explore making the changes at the Golf Club and build a new clubhouse.
Thomas said the future of the 126-acre Golf Club is uncertain if voters say no on April 4.
“If we can’t build this, eventually the golf club is not going to be sustainable and all that green space is going to disappear,” he said.
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Thomas believes the portion of Glencoe’s land might be developed and was not certain what the county would do with its chunk.
After years of discussion about the future of the Golf Club, the question is now in front of the voters.
“At this point something must to be done for the clubhouse and we have to get the advice of the residents of what they want done,” Village President Howard Roin said in December when the village board moved to put the referendum on the ballot in the upcoming election.
In other election matters, formal challengers did not materialize against the Glencoe Caucus slate of candidates for village board, Park District commissioner, public library trustee or the Glencoe 35 school board.
However, there is a contested election for the New Trier High School board.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.