A Peek Into the Rich History and Iconic Clubhouse of 108 Year Old Olympia Field Country Club, Home to The 2023 BMW Championship

The FedEx Cup Playoffs are one of the most exciting series of events on the PGA Tour. Every year, golfers look forward to the playoffs, which start with the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and conclude with the Tour Championship. There are a total of 3 playoff tournaments, and with every event’s conclusion, the number of golfers in the field keeps on reducing depending on the performance of the golfers. 

The 2023 FedEx Cup has begun at TPC Southwind, and it will be followed by the penultimate BMW Championship at the Olympia Field Country Club in Illinois. The BMW Championship week will commence on August 15th, and conclude on 20th August. Let us get to know a bit more about the rich history of the Olympia Field Country Club which has been home to quite a few notable major tournaments in the past. 

A peek into the rich history of the Olympia Field Country Club

The golf club was founded almost 108 years ago, in 1915. It is a private golf club located in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Amos Alonzo Stagg was appointed as the first president of the club and he was the athletic director at the University of Chicago, and also a head coach of the college football team. 

The club now contains two eighteen-hole courses, North and South. But when it was established, there were four courses in the club. During the Second World War, the club fell into financial difficulties and had to sell half of its land. As a result, the fourth course became the North Course, and the remaining three courses were turned into one, now known as the South Course. The North Course is regarded as one of the top three courses in the Chicago area, and is usually ranked in the top 50 courses of the US. The South Course is also one of the top 10 courses in Illinois. Olympia Fields is one of the few private golf clubs in America that has its multiple courses ranked. 

The North Course was designed by the 2X British Open champion, Willie Park Jnr, and the South Course was designed by Tom Bendelow. The course was lengthened before the 2003 US Open was organized. The North Course features some significant elevation changes, a meandering creek, and hundreds of beautiful native oak trees. The South Course is remarkably known for its dramatic elevation changes and its strategic use of Butterfield Creek.

Read More: How Is FedEx Cup Related To The BMW Championship? The Intriguing Format And History Of The Penultimate Event Before The Tour Championship

Here’s a slight comparison between the two courses:

Iconic Clubhouse of Olympia Field 

Other than its beautiful golf courses, Olympia Field is highly renowned for its one-of-a-kind clubhouse. The clubhouse was finished in 1925, and a whopping amount of $1.3 million was spent during the process. The clubhouse was a liberal translation of English Tudor that is 80 feet high. It also has a dining room that seats eight hundred, a cafe seating six hundred, and one outdoor dancing pavilion but five hundred feet of the veranda. The club operated its own ice-making plant and its own hospital.

The clubhouse has a four-faced clock tower that has become the trademark of the club. In 2005, the club began a $9.5 million renovation project to improve the practice facilities, revamp some of the bunkers, and make other improvements.

List of major tournaments organized at Olympia Field Country Club

The popular Illinois club has been home to plenty of major events. The list given below includes all the major events on the PGA Tour,  LPGA Tour, amateur golf, and the senior golf tour that had been held at Olympia Field Country Club. 

Other than the mentioned major tournaments, this golf course has been home to 5 Western Open tournaments in 1920, 1927, 1933, 1968, and 1971. This is the second time that the BMW Championship is being organized at this venue. Earlier, the FedEx penultimate event was organized on the same soil in 2020. 

The top 50 golfers from the FedEx St. Jude Championship will go to the Olympia Field Country Club to display their stunning skills and make way for the FedEx Cup finale, Tour Championship. What are your thoughts about this iconic and historic venue that is hosting the 2023 BMW Championship?

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