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gg July 2, 1927 WINNETKA TALK TT TTT TEU MO i HU TTT North Shore Golf Clubs nnn nono r aan en aU UU SUE UU TET EET TTT TTT TEER ULE UHH TR 3 Skokie, 29 Years Old, a Great Golf Organizatiot Fine Clubhouse od Course "Show Place" Club, Favoring Expansion, Develops Rapidly--Called a Scientific Set of Holes By RAY Co PEARSON EFORE this century of marvelous progress opened, before "some- thing" called radio amazed the world and before Ameri- can youth winged across the Atlan- tic from New York to Europe, a group of men who sought sur- cease from business cares got together and formed the Skokie Country club. It was way back in 1897-98, to be more exact, that these sportsmen selected a site for their club on the wooded fringe of Glencoe just east of the Skokie marsh. They started modestly, rode along in this century's "parade of progress" and today Skokie with its beautiful clubhouse and equal- ly beautiful golf course is one of the "show places" of the famed north shore. "PRO" PHIL GAUDEN, Developed Rapidly In this series the writer has selected some twelve golf clubs and of those to be described Skokie enjoys the dis- tinction of being one of the oldest. | There may be clubs antedating Skokie in the Chicago district but it would not take a great many fingers to count | them. We have said that Skokie start- ed modestly, but development fast and certain as the years rolled by has re- sulted in an organization as as the well known rock of Gibralter. The Skokie of twenty-nine years ago isn't the Skokie of today, except in one respect--a spirit of good fellowship that would be hard to beat. It has grown, grown beyond the dreams of that small group of men who formed the organization. It is still growing and there is an interesting story con- cerning the club which has nothing to do with golf. It is the story of busi- ness acumen; it is the story of a shrewd judgment which prompted the organizers to pick the site for their club on the north shore. Rise in Ground Values Helps Just how much Skokie was "set back" when the land was secured back in 1898, the writer doesn't know, but we can safely juggle figures to arrive easily at the conclusion that Skokie staunch | of North Shore HIS is the fifth of a series of , articles about the great golf clubs of the north shore. The story herewith ' 'presented describes the Skokie Country club, one of the oldest in the Chicago District. It is a story of progressiveness that made success. THE PICTURES: Miss Eva Johnson, club champion (insert); Stanley Hopkins, club champion (upper right); Skokie's fine club- house (lower left); the tennis courts (bottom). land was bought cheap. Figure out what land values were on the north shore twenty-nine years ago, follow through on the meteoric rise which very closely resembles a pyramiding proposition and we find the explana- tion of why Skokie is the staunch or- ganization it is today. Paul G. Chace, secretary of the club, has given me some interesting informa- tion, which concerns not only the to- day, but the future of Skokie. I asked him if the club carried a bonded in- debtedness. Expansion Good for Club "Sure, it has," he answered, "but it is not the sort of obligation, which re- mains at a set figure, or is reduced or paid off at a specified time. We have found expansion good for our club and always are improving and increasing our holdings. Only recently we ac- quired some acres of Skokie marsh land. Some day this will be drained and then that ground will be just as valuable as any in our section." And then came the explanation of this expansion move. "Sometime," continued Mr. Chace, "Sometime, and perhaps the time isn't far off, Skokie is going to find that some of its present grounds are too valuable for a golf club. Then we'll dispose of it and move over on the land recently acquired. So you see a little bonded indebtedness is trivial business." There is an incident which should be mentioned here. A few years ago the clubhouse was burned down. Out of the ashes there came a bigger and better clubhouse. Just another evi- dence of the progressive spirit at Skokie. The club membership is restricted to three hundred. There is a waiting list and it is not small. We are informed that ° has no place at Skokie. Members pla "goodfellowship" as their big ho (Continued on Page 21) "aristocracy"