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Medinah Country Club is on the clock as the next U.S. Ryder Cup venue in 2012 and the club is wasting no time in preparing for golf's most passion-filled event. A group of 37 Medinah members and staff traveled to Louisville for this year's Ryder Cup to meet with their counterparts from Valhalla Golf Club and executives with the PGA of America.
"We're looking forward to infusing the 39th Ryder Cup with a unique Chicago flavor," said Bill Kamm, general chairman of the 2012 event. "We're already setting the groundwork for what we anticipate will be one of the greatest sporting events ever to hit the Chicago area."
The club has been building a new world-class practice facility and is putting in new white sand in all 74 bunkers on its famed No. 3 course, where the U.S. and Europe will face off in less than four years. At press time, Medinah was in the process of replacing all 88,000 square feet of the existing tan-colored sand in all 74 bunkers on No. 3 with white Tour Signature Sand from Best Sand in Ohio, according to golf course superintendent Curtis Tyrrell, who oversees maintenance of all three of the club's courses.
The Tour Signature sand will make the bunkers both more playable and more aesthetically appealing, Tyrrell said. Tour Signature is comprised of more angular particles that make the sand play firm, drain well, and be more resistant to plugged lies, he said.
Aesthetically, the white sand will create more of a color contrast with greens and fairways thereby giving greater definition to architectural design features and land contours and making them more visible for players, Tyrrell said. He added that when all the old sand is removed, workers will touch up any drainage issues they may find in the bunkers, re-establish the sub-grade areas, install a protective erosion liner, then add the new sand.
Tyrrell's crew also was hard at work on a new 12-acre practice facility, adding space and new hitting angles to the driving range. The crew also was adding a new short game practice area aimed at replicating on-course conditions. The short game area includes three new USGA-grade chipping greens - one with two sand bunkers, the other surrounded by fairway turf and rough.
The driving range expansion will enable players to hit to the southeast corner of the property so that morning players won't have to hit directly into the eastern sun, Tyrrell said.
The 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah will be the first time ever that the Ryder Cup has come to the Chicago area.
Medinah is no stranger to hosting high profile events. The private club has hosted three U.S. Opens (1949, 1975 and 1990) and two PGA Championships (1999, 2006).
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