Lake Forest Country Club renovation uncovers historic designer; Course improvements to feature wider fairways, more playability

by John Benson

When Lake Forest Country Club officials decided to renovate the scenic golf course, the goal was to preserve the past but focus on the future. However, no one expected that the history of the popular Hudson course would be rewritten during the recently completed $2.1-million renovation.

The first of three phases was finished last fall and included a state-of-the-art irrigation system and reconstructed/relocated fairway bunkers, as well as wider fairways with nine new tee boxes on eight holes plus cart path relocation and reduction.

The man responsible for the renovations is respected golf course architect Richard Mandell, who had heard the course was designed by Herbert Strong. It turned out Tom Bendelow was behind the Hudson course, which opened in 1930.

“I looked through old Hudson Times articles and stumbled upon one saying architect Tom Bendelow was there at the grand opening,” Mandell said. “Then I came across a map of the golf course and residential development around it.

“It didn’t have anyone’s name on it, as far as the designer goes, but I have a book that was written about Tom Bendelow with his drawings. If you compare the routing of Lake Forest Country Club from 1929 or so to the book, that’s the same person. That’s how we confirmed it’s a Tom Bendelow course.”

Mandell described Bendelow as an underrated and crucial figure in American golf.

“The characteristics that Lake Forest will have and what Bendelow [designed] is what we’d call an old-school look of flat sand bunkers with grass spaces and just a smattering of mounds,” Mandell said. “The original drawings had size of streams and locations of things. It was very fascinating.”

Mandell said the goal of the Lake Forest renovation was to eliminate many of the previous enhancements, which created a “chopped-up appearance” with old sand bunkers from the 1960s and very “blah-looking” features.

“What Lake Forest has that’s special is the routing of the golf course, which is the location of the golf holes from tee to green, the direction those golf holes go and how they relate to each other,” Mandell said. “So it had the bones of a good golf course routing, but over the years the trees had just overcome the fairways, and it lost a lot of strategic interest.

“The only choice the golfer would have was to hit a straight shot in the middle of the fairway. If he or she missed one way or another, they might be in rough or behind trees. So from a playability standpoint, regardless of Bendelow, we were trying to thin out trees to make it a little bit more playable for the higher handicapped golfers.”

Lake Forest Country Club Director of Agronomy Thomas Bolon added, “Wider fairways will allow for multiple approaches and angles to the greens, which in turn will bring more of the natural terrain into play.”

Relocated bunkers and new tee boxes are more in line with Bendelow’s design.

“Once all phases are complete, Lake Forest will offer six sets of tee boxes that will accommodate all ages, abilities and skill sets,” Bolon said. “When the irrigation system is complete, we will have increased the total number of sprinkler heads from 320 to over 1300.

“The cart paths have been relocated to accommodate the changes in course features. This has resulted in less linear footage of paths and has given us the opportunity to construct the paths out of permeable materials that will result in less surface runoff.”

The current plan is for Phase 2 to be completed in 2020. As far as how the completed and future additions and renovations position Lake Forest Country Club going forward, Bolon is optimistic the course will remain a Northeast Ohio gem.

“In recent years, the club has hosted a number of regional events, including mid-amateur qualifiers, junior qualifiers and a Women’s U.S. Open qualifier,” Bolon said. “I’m confident changes that are in process will preserve the course’s reputation, as well as present a fair and challenging experience for everyone.”