Designer Notes:

Black Tees 338 yds Blue Tees 372 yds White Tees 315 yds Red Tees 291 yds

I have always been a big fan of short to medium length par-4’s that can grab the player’s attention. I am also a strong advocate of creating golf holes that can be attacked using optional routes to the same target, which brings the thinking player’s skills to the forefront of the game. With this in mind, the 5th hole at Prairie Landing is one of my favorites.

Prairie Landing is a unique daily-fee facility built for the DuPage Airport Authority in the western suburbs of Chicago in 1994. Incorporated into the master plan for the airport expansion, the objective of the golf course was to create a world-class golf experience on a flat piece of farmland while incorporating FAA guidelines, stormwater management and wetland preservation. In fact, we dealt with so many agencies and non-golf influences that our nickname for the project was “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

To prevail at Prairie Landing, the player must visualize shots, have imagination, and use the slopes, ridges and mounds like bank shots in billiards, allowing the appropriate “leave” to the hole. The course has an abundance of choices, with many great opportunities to be a hero.

The 5th hole, already tabbed by Chicagoland Golf as one of their top 18 holes in Chicago, is an intimidating par four that forces players to make a decision immediately at the tee. The conservative play to the right side of the creek, which was created to carry airport runoff, will yield an approach shot that must carry water, wetland vegetation and a greenside bunker to the narrow portion of the green. A successful “heroic” drive to the left fairway must carry both the water and a meandering bunker to a generous landing area. This gamble could allow the tee shot to roll up very close to the open entry green. The small green tilted toward the water on the course allows no gimmies. Par is well earned on this intriguing hole.