Golf

Known throughout the region for its unrivaled course conditions, our championship golf course offers six sets of tees with yardage ranging from 5,400 to 6,800. Our picturesque 18-Hole golf course is open year round for play (weather permitting) and features 135 acres of tree-lined fairways with small and undulating Bentgrass greens and tees providing a challenge for players of all skill levels. Course rating from the Blue Tees is 73.1 with a slope of 138, and from the Red Tees 72.4 with a slope of 131. Course conditions are wonderful throughout the season thanks to our accomplished GCSAA Course Superintendent, Steve Van Acker, and his team. 

We provide important amenities including a driving range, short game area, practice putting green, fully stocked Golf Pro Shop with apparel and equipment for men, ladies and juniors (including a line of tennis apparel), bag storage, golf services, newly renovated men's and women's locker rooms, caddie program, and halfway house filled with beverages, sandwiches and snacks.

We hold several exciting Golf tournaments and events for members and their families as well as Ladies Leagues, Junior Golf and Tiny Tots Golf programs. 

Golf Members are able to experience and enjoy Troon Advantage and Troon Prive Programs. Please refer to Membership section to learn more.

Coming Spring 2024: Expanded Golf Pro Shop and new Golf Cart Barn.
Coming Fall 2024: 2 New Golf Simulators.

GOLF STAFF
Our professional staff includes Head Golf Professional David Thompson, PGA, who has been recognized as one of the BEST Junior Golf instructors in the country, LPGA Professional and Golf Shop Manager Stacey Kain, and Hank Haney Certified Golf Instructor Keith Kirkpatrick. The staff is here to help you improve all facets of your game, and offers both individual and group instruction.  

FRITZ FRANZ
1928-2007
Crystal Lake Country Club has a distinguished history of accomplished golfers, none more prominent than the late Fritz Franz. The first golf tournament he won was a caddie tournament in 1939. After caddying and even working during World War II as interim golf professional at Crystal Lake Country Club, he joined as a member in 1946. He won his first club championship on his 18th birthday in 1947, and his name appears on the trophy 18 times. In April 2007, Crystal Lake Country Club fittingly renamed its championship trophy The Franz Cup. He won 60 amateur tournaments, including the Chick Evans, the Midwest Amateur, The Crystal Lake Country Club Championship, the Butterfield Invitational, the Butler National Tournament, the Champion of Champions and the Joliet Amateur. He was named to the Illinois Radix Cup Team for 10 consecutive years.

His exceptional senior golf career included qualifying for the USGA Senior Amateur three times. In 1985, he played in the USGA Senior Open against players such as Billy Casper, Gary Player, Gene Little and Arnold Palmer, and in 1987, he won the inaugural Illinois Senior Championship. He won the U.S. American Senior Match Play in 1988, and Medal Play in 1989, and he was ranked the fifth best senior player in the nation by Golf Digest those same two years. He broke 70 for five consecutive decades.

He earned 15 varsity letters at Crystal Lake Central High School. He received both a football and golf scholarship to Tulane University. In 1950 he finished 10th in the NCAA Golf Championship behind players such as Gardner Dickenson, Arnold Palmer and Gene Littler. After college, he served 5 1/2 years as a jet pilot in the U.S. Air Force. He flew 88 combat missions in Korea and served as Aid De Comp to General Timberlake.



Permission to use photo courtesy of Tulane University

FORBES ALEXANDER LEITH
1896-1973

Forbes Alexander Leith was born in 1896 in Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, a small fishing village on the North Sea. It was at Cruden Bay Golf Club where he learned the game of golf-caddying, and serving a four-year apprenticeship to learn how to make golf clubs, how to care for a golf course as a greens keeper, and how to teach other people how to play golf. After the apprenticeship was completed, he volunteered for the British Army and served for 4 years a Medical Corpsman in France during World War 1.

After the war, he was an Assistant pro to Allan Bow at Barnstead Downs Golf Club in England for three years. He immigrated to the United States in 1922 when golf was becoming very popular in America and Scottish Golf Professionals were in great demand. He had accepted a job offer from Chick Evans to be the Assistant Pro at Edgewater Golf Club in Chicago. That winter, he returned to England, married his English fiancee, Beatrice Brooker, and brought her to Deerfield, IL where he was the Head Pro at Briargate Golf Club in 1923 and 1924.

In 1925 he signed a contract with Crystal Lake Country Club in Crystal Lake, IL to be their Head Professional and Superintendent of Grounds. They had an aggressive building program underway; at the time, Crystal Lake Country Club consisted of 9 holes, which had been designed and built by George O'Neil, Joseph Roseman, and Jack Croke. Forbes Leith supervised the construction of their second nine holes and in 1926, he planned, designed and supervised construction of the second 18 holes, which comprise the present 18-hole course at Crystal Lake Country Club. For the next 15 years, he was the Head Pro and greens superintendent of these 36 holes at CLCC.

While at Crystal Lake Country Club, he regularly contribute articles to the Crystal Lake Herald ranging from "British Golf in Wartime" to a series of golf lessons covering one club at a time, to various articles on current conditions and treatment of the golf courses with weather related problems. In 1941, Leith accepted an offer from Glen Flora Country Club in Waukegan, IL to be the Head Golf Pro and Superintendent of Greens. After nine years he moved on to Calumet Country Club in Homewood, IL again as Head Golf Pro/Greens Keeper, until he retired in 1956. Even then he continued to give golf lessons to the teaching staff at Onwentsia Country Club in Lake Forest, IL. He passed away in 1973 at the age of 77.

Leith was an excellent golf instructor, often teaching 6 to 8 hours daily during the season and he was a fine golfer with a beautiful classic golf swing. Also, he was indeed an outstanding greens keeper. Every morning he would start the day by walking the entire course, checking the condition of each green, etc. He received a great deal of recognition yearly from members of the club, the Chicago golfing community and guest professionals (such as Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Jug McSpaden) for the superb condition of the greens.