Medinah Country Club: Course No. 2

Medinah Country Club's Course No. 2 is the club's mid-tier layout — a Tom Bendelow parkland design from 1927 that sat essentially untouched for 90 years before a 2016–2017 restoration by Rees Jones returned its green complexes and bunkering to their 1938 form. With seven tee sets ranging from 1,978 to 6,408 yards, it anchors Medinah's "Golf for Life" program, providing a versatile layout that complements Course No. 3's championship pedigree and Course No. 1's everyday-member role.

Medinah Country Club was founded in 1924 by members of the Medinah Shriners, a Chicago-based fraternal organization that purchased roughly 480 acres of farmland in DuPage County with the ambition of building a country retreat on a scale that befit their elaborate aesthetic. The Shriners engaged Tom Bendelow, the Scottish-born designer who had laid out East Lake, Olympia Fields, and dozens of other American courses in the early twentieth century, to design three golf courses on the property. Course No. 1 opened in September 1925, Course No. 2 in 1927, and Course No. 3 — originally conceived for the club's female members — in 1928. Course No. 2 occupies the middle position in Medinah's three-course hierarchy both chronologically and in competitive stature. Bendelow's original design was a parkland layout that used the property's modest terrain, tree cover, and natural drainage to create a playable course that did not aspire to the championship length of Course No. 3 but provided a full test of shotmaking and course management.

Where Course No. 3 has been repeatedly redesigned over the decades — by Roger Packard in 1986, by Rees Jones ahead of the 1999 and 2006 PGA Championships, and by Tom Doak in the 2020s — Course No. 2 remained essentially unaltered for approximately 90 years, a rare case of a prominent American parkland course preserving its original routing, green sites, and bunker positions through nine decades of changing golf-design fashion. The long period of stability ended when Medinah's membership approved a $3.6 million restoration in January 2015, engaging Rees Jones, Inc. — with associate Steve Weisser serving as co-designer — to bring the course into alignment with the demands of the modern game while recovering features that had softened or disappeared over time. The work took place over roughly a year, with Course No. 2 unveiled on June 14, 2017. The guiding principle was restoration rather than redesign: Jones and Weisser used aerial photographs from 1938 along with historical maps to identify the original shapes, sizes, and locations of green complexes and bunkers, and returned those features to specifications as close to Bendelow's original intent as the historical record allowed. No significant routing changes were made, and no major grading or topographical alterations were undertaken.

The physical scope of the restoration was nevertheless substantial. Over six hundred trees were removed to restore strategic corridors and open playing angles that had been lost as the tree canopy matured. Every green was rebuilt to USGA specifications with sub-surface vacuum systems and gas-exchange capabilities, allowing the agronomy staff to manage moisture and root health with the precision required of contemporary championship-quality putting surfaces while restoring the longer, deeper contours that aerial evidence showed had been part of the original design. All bunkers were reconstructed, some in their original positions and some that had been lost were reintroduced; the rebuilt bunkers were built without the steep faces found on many modern courses, which both honored the original 1920s character and made the course more playable for the full range of Medinah's membership. Cart paths were installed on a wall-to-wall basis — a first for any Medinah course — and the entire playing surface was re-grassed in creeping bentgrass, giving the course the uniform bentgrass presentation favored at championship venues in the Midwest.

The restoration also introduced a seven-tee system to support the "Golf for Life" program, a member-development initiative that pairs each of the seven tees with one of four skill groupings determined by handicap, age, distance, and experience. Beginners can progress through graduated loops — starting at three holes, advancing through six and nine before attempting the full eighteen — while experienced players can choose a tee that suits their current game without abandoning the scorecard structure. The shortest tee plays to just 1,978 yards; the longest stretches to 6,408 yards at par 72. In the club's internal hierarchy, this positioning gives Course No. 2 a clear role: Course No. 3 is the championship venue, Course No. 1 is the everyday members' layout, and Course No. 2 is the course where new golfers are developed and where the full range of Medinah's membership can share a round.