The Beverly Country Club, located in the American city of

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, is one of Chicago's historical cornerstones. The club was founded in 1908 and initially designed by George O'Neil, also the club's first professional golfer. Shortly after, well-known golf course architect

Tom Bendelow Tom Bendelow (1868–1936), nicknamed "The Johnny Appleseed of American Golf" and "The Dean of American Golf", was a Scottish American golf course architect during the first half of the twentieth century. He is credited with having designed som ...

helped fortify the layout. In 1918, the legendary architect Donald Ross created and executed a master plan to renovate the course. In 1919, Eddie Loos was serving as the head professional and paired with

Jim Barnes James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 – May 24, 1966) was an English professional golfer and a leading figure in the early years of professional golf in the United States. He is one of three native Britons (with Tommy Armour and Rory McIlroy) t ...

to win a memorable match played against

Jock Hutchison Jack Falls "Jock" Hutchison (June 6, 1884 – September 27, 1977) was a Scottish-born professional golfer who was based in the United States. Early life Hutchison was born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, the son of William and Helen (née Fa ...

and Bob MacDonald. Since, the Beverly Country Club has been a mainstay in American golfing circles. In 2002, the members of the Beverly Country Club adopted a plan to completely restore and rejuvenate the golf course. Under guidance of golf course architect and restorer Ron Prichard, the course has recaptured the design concepts which Ross himself included in his original work at the Beverly Country Club. The Beverly Country Club was annexed by Evergeen Park, Illinois in April of 2025. It was previously located in unincorporated Cook County, bordering both Evergreen Park and Chicago.

Architectural history

Beverly's mark on American golf was firmly made when club officials decided to ask legendary architect Donald Ross to create a master plan to renovate the course and bring it back to major championship standards. Over the course of nearly a decade, the entire Ross plan was adopted. In a fitting touch of déjà vu, a dedicated group of Beverly members recently led the club through a restoration of the golf course that reclaimed many of the Ross features that had been lost over the decades. The genius of Ross's work lies in the routing of the golf course, in which no two consecutive holes run in the same direction, despite the fact that the course is laid out within a perfect rectangle that is hemmed in and bisected by three arterial streets and a railroad line. Ross made excellent use of the dominant geological feature of property: a prominent ridge that runs from behind the fifth green eastward through the promontory above the second fairway. Five holes on the front nine are designed around this ridge, which had been part of the southern shore of prehistoric

Lake Chicago Lake Chicago was a prehistoric proglacial lake that is the ancestor of what is now known as Lake Michigan, one of North America's five Great Lakes. Formed about 13,000 years ago and fed by retreating glaciers, it drained southwest through the ...

, a forgotten body of water that deposited sand dunes along Beverly's back nine. Students of Ross's design "school" will recognize his mark throughout the course, particularly in the tee and green complexes. Stretching beyond 7,000 yards, Beverly is regularly named by golf publications as one of the nation's best courses, and recently ranked No. 51 on

Golfweek ''Golfweek'' is a golf magazine and digital media outlet based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is part of Gannett's USA Today Network. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1975 by Charley Stine and was originally named ''Florid ...

's list of the Best Classic Courses in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Tournament history

Over the years, Beverly has been the host of one

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

(1931); one

U.S. Senior Amateur The U.S. Senior Amateur is a national tournament for amateur golf competitors at least 55 years of age. It is operated by the United States Golf Association (USGA). The tournament starts with 36 holes of stroke play, with the top 64 competitors ad ...

(2009); one

Western Junior The Western Junior is the oldest national junior golf tournament in the United States. It was founded in 1914 and is organized by the Western Golf Association. It is played at a different course each year, primarily in the Midwestern United States ...

(2011); four

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

s (1910, 1963, 1967 and 1970); two

Western Amateur The Western Amateur is a leading annual golf tournament in the United States for male amateur golfers. It is organized by the Western Golf Association. The Western Amateur features an international field of top-ranked amateur golfers. It was firs ...

s (1930, 2014); three

Women's Western Open The Women's Western Open was an American professional golf tournament founded in 1930. The LPGA was established in 1950, and it recognized the Western Open as one of its major championships through 1967. All of the events back to 1930 have been d ...

s (1937, 1960 and 1965); and the 1943 Chicago Victory National Open, a wartime substitute for the National Open. The Beverly Country Club hosted the 2011 Western Golf Association (WGA)

, making it one of only a handful of clubs that has hosted three original WGA Golf Championships: the

(known now as the BMW Championship), the

and the Western Junior. In 2014, Beverly hosted the Western Amateur for the first time since 1930. The tournament, played July 28 – August 2, was won by Beau Hossler. The tournament also saw Beverly's long-standing course record of 64, broken by Doug Ghim with an 8-under 63, in the second round of stroke play. The course record had stood for 47 years. The Western Amateur will return to Beverly in 2026.

Famous tournament champions

* 1910

won by

Chick Evans Charles E. "Chick" Evans Jr. (July 18, 1890 – November 6, 1979) was a prominent American amateur golfer of the 1910s and 1920s. Evans, who won the 1910 Western Open, became the first amateur to win both the U.S. Open (golf), U.S. Open and U. ...

* In 1925,

Virginia Van Wie Virginia Van Wie (February 9, 1909 – February 18, 1997) was an American amateur golfer, best known for winning three U.S. Women's Amateurs, 1932–34. The Illinois-born golfer was the daughter of wealthy parents and learned the game at the Bever ...

captured one of her first championships at Beverly Country Club * 1931

won by

Francis Ouimet Francis DeSales Ouimet () (May 8, 1893 – September 2, 1967) was an American amateur golfer who is frequently referred to as the "father of amateur golf" in the United States. He won the U.S. Open (golf), U.S. Open in 1913 U.S. Open (golf), 1 ...

* 1963

won by

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Since embarking on a professional career in ...

* 1967

won by

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

* 1970

won by Hugh Royer Jr. *

Patty Berg Patricia Jane Berg (February 13, 1918 – September 10, 2006) was an American professional golfer. She was a founding member and the first president of the LPGA. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a fem ...

and

Babe Zaharias Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; Didrikson; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball, and track and field. She won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the ...

have each held the women's course record which is still held by Susie Maxwell

Caddie tradition

The Beverly Country Club has a long, proud relationship with the Western Golf Association and the Evans Scholars Foundation, a charitable trust which provides full-tuition scholarships renewable for up to four years to deserving caddies. The program started in 1930 and was originally endowed with the donated golf winnings of

, all of whose golf winnings went toward the scholarships as a way of preserving his amateur status. Today the Evans Scholarship Foundation is supported by tens of thousands of contributors across the country, one of the largest of which is the Beverly Country Club. With 356 of the 11,556 Evans Scholars alumni, The Beverly Country Club boasts the record for the largest number of Evans Scholar alumni from any single club in America.

Holes

References

"Beverly Country Club"

"Western Golf Association"
{{coord, 41, 44, 05, N, 87, 41, 05, W, display=title Golf clubs and courses in Chicago Golf clubs and courses designed by Donald Ross Sports venues completed in 1908 1908 establishments in Illinois