Like so many renovations, it started simple, and grew into something much grander — like moving your couch and deciding to build a new house instead.
Mistwood Golf Club needed to move a single green.
Now, more than nine months, thousands of cubic yards of dirt and $5.5 million-plus-dollars later, Mistwood Golf Club proudly unveils a facility almost completely remade and reborn.
“We had to move one of the greens — the third — to make way for the (proposed) clubhouse,” explained Dan Phillips, Mistwood’s affable Director of Golf. “But when the architect (Ray Hearn) built it originally, he created a wish list of things he wanted to do. He loved it from the beginning, but this gave him a chance to go back and make it even better.”
And how. “Better,” might be a pretty big understatement for the renewed Mistwood, which has been destined for something greater since the club’s owner, Jim McWethy, bought the place in 2004.
“Since he’s taken over, he’s continually upgraded the course,” Phillips said. “It’s amazing to work for somebody with such a passion for golf.”
They’ve rebuilt every green and every single bunker on the course and also added 19 stacked-sod bunkers for their aesthetic and historical appeal. The course has also been stretched out past the magical 7,000-yard mark.
“Every hole on the golf course has been touched,” Phillips said. “Either a bunker’s been redone, a tee box, a lot of new cart paths and four new bridges.”
It’s easy to see what it means for the club, and the greater Romeoville community, too, which will also benefit from the addition of Mistwood’s new, $1.5 million learning center. Add in the eventual construction of the new clubhouse (expected in 2014) and the result is a facility in the upper echelon of Chicago-area clubs.
Phillips is excited to see the public’s reaction, which will be the ultimate payoff for a job well done.
“It’s been a lot of fun, but a lot of work, too,” Phillips said. “We’ve been closed since August (of 2011) but Ray and Ryan Construction have done a great job. It was an amazing course to begin with, but after seeing what he’s done — from on paper to this — it’s amazing.”
For more information about Mistwood Golf Club, visit www.mistwoodgolf.net.
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