Last Go in Long Grove

LONG GROVE, Ill. -- This will be the last summer that many golf enthusiasts will be able to play a round at Kemper Lakes in suburban Chicago, widely regarded as one of the best daily-fee golf courses in the country.

Next year, Kemper Lakes will switch to a private country club that will offer just 300 memberships. Individual memberships to the country club are being sold for $45,000 and so far, 165 memberships have been purchased.

For more than 20 years, Kemper Lakes has hosted some of golf's greatest players and most prestigious events. Among the big events it has hosted are the 1989 PGA Championship won by Payne Stewart, the 1992 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf from 1986-1990.

Also the home of the Illinois Section of the PGA of America, Kemper Lakes is ranked as one of the top 100 public golf courses in the nation. Its signature hole is No. 17, a 203-yard par 3 that requires a shot over water.

The 7,217-yard, par-72 course was built in 1979 by golf course architects Ken Killian and Dick Nugent. Golf Digest recently ranked Kemper Lakes 27th in its listing of the "Top 100 Public Golf Courses in the United States."

A round at Kemper Lakes now costs between $99 and $145.

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