CHICAGO (AP)
More than 20 years after it was first discussed, there’s a golf course at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the three-hole Legacy Course at the school in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community was held recently. Play will start in the spring.
Several years ago, the golf course plan began taking shape when teacher Robert Bush asked then-principal David Gilligan about installing a putting green. Bush, who teaches agricultural mechanics and technology, thought a putting green would teach students more about soil and grasses.
That’s when Gilligan told Bush about the original plan for a golf course. Suddenly, a putting green became three par-three holes of 96, 140 and 136 yards.
Students did all the work, learning firsthand about a wide range of jobs, Bush said.
Current Principal William Hook often saw mud-covered students coming in for classes after spending an hour working on the course.
Junior Mark Taylor, of Mount Greenwood, was one of those students.
“There were a lot of dead trees to clear out. Some of the challenges were cutting stumps out, using tractors. I did a lot of grading with Bobcats. That was cool,” Taylor said.
“The surprising thing was actually building it. I didn’t think high schools built golf courses. We did a lot of work, and it looks phenomenal out here,” Taylor said.
The Legacy Course has two sets of tee boxes for each hole, giving golfers a different perspective if they play the course twice. Best of all, it will cost nothing to play.
“The community has been really supportive of us and we wanted it to be accessible to the residents,” Hook said. “We’re not trying to make money here. This is an ongoing learning experience. We’ll be upgrading the greens, adding sand traps.”
Bush said each of the school’s 600 students worked on the course.
“This provided numerous and valuable lessons that would have only been theory in a classroom,” Bush said.
Bush contacted golf course architect Greg Martin, who designed Rich Harvest Links in Sugar Grove and offered his expertise for free.
“When I heard they were going to be building it, that’s when I got excited. When they get involved in design and construction, they begin to understand the full extent of the industry,” Martin said.
On Tuesday, Oct. 20, dozens of students wearing green and yellow T-shirts reading “We Built It” took the first swings at the new course.
As senior Jasmine Lucas, 17, watched her peers test their skills, she reflected on the project.
“It was amazing how we turned this land from weeds and trees and dust and dirt to a beautiful golf course,” Lucas said.
Vandals drove across part of the course this spring, but their destruction is long gone.
“You have to move on,” Lucas said.
Now that she helped build a golf course, she may have a new hobby.
“I don’t golf, but I’m going to try now,” Lucas said.
