Augusta National of Midwest: Top 100 course Rich Harvest Farms can test world’s best

Chicagoland is home to a number of excellent golf courses, many of which are capable of hosting top-tier events, such as Medinah No. 3, Olympia Fields and Butler National.

This includes Rich Harvest Farm, a beautiful Jerry Rich-designed farm located in Sugar Grove, a quaint little Midwestern town about 45 miles west of downtown Chicago.

As you approach this golf course along Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway, you’ll notice fewer freeway lights, fewer cars and more countryside. Suddenly you’re in the heart of America, the region that feeds and nurtures the country, far from the shadows of the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Building.

Surely, a picture-perfect golf course can’t exist amongst corn, cows and cabbages.

But there is one.

Upon arriving at the main gate of Rich Harvest Farm, a friendly security guard welcomes you into a beautiful oasis amongst farmland. You’ll quickly notice that not a blade of grass grows out of place, every tree looks like it belongs in the Garden of Eden, and there are beautiful flowers blooming everywhere.

It’s no wonder this place has been dubbed the “Augusta National of the Midwest.” The caddies at Rich Harvest Farm wear full-length white bibs similar to those golf fans see at the Masters each year.

But when computer billionaire Richie bought the charming property in 1985, he didn’t initially intend to build a golf course there.

“I just wanted to create a golf hole where I could practice hitting wedge shots into the green, but I wasn’t really interested in anything beyond that,” Rich said.

“Just by mowing the grass, I can hit the ball 70 or 100 yards further.”

A few years later, in 1987, he decided to get a bit more creative and expand the range, adding a few more holes, creating multiple teeing areas and three greens that could all be played at different angles and lengths.

But Rich soon grew tired of it, so he decided to expand the small course for himself, and spent the next decade painting his 18-hole masterpiece.

“One of the things I always do wherever I play is look at the design of the golf holes. The first time I played at Augusta I thought, ‘What was Bobby Jones thinking when he designed Augusta National?’ And as I played every hole I understood what he was thinking,” Rich said.

“Bobby Jones was a great amateur player, but he wasn’t a golf course designer. I often thought, ‘If Bobby Jones can design Augusta National, he can design Rich Harvest Farm.’ So I spent 10 years building 18 holes.”

Charlie Darling/Rich Harvest Farm

course

The course at Rich Harvest Farms measures 7,704 yards from the farthest tee, a length often used for the U.S. Open. Golf driving distances have increased dramatically over the last 25 years, but the course is a test of the world’s best players. But with the Northern Illinois men’s and women’s golf teams practicing at Rich Harvest Farms, it’s already a challenge for the next generation of professional golfers.

A sign on the pavilion even reads, “Amateurs who go professional… will play at Rich Harvest Farm.”

It’s no wonder the course has hosted major events since it opened in 1998, including the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships, as well as numerous other collegiate events.

In 2009, Rich Harvest Farms hosted the Solheim Cup, drawing incredible crowds to Sugar Grove to watch the best women in the world. That year, a stellar performance from Michelle Wie led the USA to victory, 16-12. Wie led the competition with 3.5 points.

Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

A few years later, the club hosted the 2015 Western Amateur, where Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa failed to qualify, proving just how difficult the course can be.

“The tee shot is the key,” Rich said when asked what his priorities are on the course. “You’ve got to be in the short grass to get to the green, but if you have a bad drive, you can’t do that.”

In fact, this golf course requires not only the length of your tee shot, but also its accuracy: the thick, sturdy rough on the edges of the course punishes even the most inaccurate shots, making for a long day if you get out of position, and there are plenty of trees to get in the way.

Speaking of trees, Rich Harvest Farms’ signature hole, the 388-yard par-4 dogleg left third hole, once had a tree standing in the middle of the fairway.

Rich thought the tree bisecting the fairway would set the hole apart from most, while still providing a challenge for players, but one of Rich’s closest friends, the legendary Sam Snead, was definitely stumped by the tree.

Charlie Darling/Rich Harvest Farm

So after building the course, Rich met Snead at Pine Tree Golf Club in Florida and invited the seven-time major champion to play on his newly built course. Upon arriving at the third hole, Snead looked at Rich with a puzzled look and asked, “Jerry, where do I hit it?”

Rich responded that Snead should hit the ball at the base of the tree, which would guarantee a shot onto the dogleg left green. Snead did just that, and his tee shot landed in the “crotch” of the tree. One of the greatest golfers of all time, Snead backhanded his second shot away from the tree, landing the ball just a few feet from the tree trunk. He then hit his third shot onto the green and, miraculously, earned himself a par. So Rich named the third hole “Snead’s Crotch.” The tree has since been cut down, but the legend lives on.

While every hole at Rich Harvest Farms is stunning, the one that immediately springs to mind is the gorgeous par-3 14th hole, colloquially known as “5 Silver” because Rich calls the two nine-hole courses “Gold” and “Silver.” Either course can be played in any order.

The 14th hole at Rich Harvest Farms was inspired by the 12th hole at Augusta, with water in front of the green, a pencil-thin putting surface, and a bunker guarding the center of the green similar to the ones above Ray’s Creek in Georgia. But this green at Rich Harvest Farms is much more undulating than the Augusta green, and a large depression in the center of the green means no room for error, making it very easy to three-putt (just ask the author).

Rich Harvest Farm

But overall, most of the greens at Rich Harvest Farm have a lot of humps and bumps that slope in all directions, just like Augusta, so finding the fairway is really important because you need spin to stop your shot on the green, and you can only put spin on the ball from the fairway.

“It’s a good golf course,” Cameron Smith said ahead of the 2023 LIV golf event at Rich Harvest Farm.

“I think it’s really important to stay in the fairway around here. The trees aren’t very pretty. The greens are pretty sloped and if you hit it in the wrong place around the green, it’s quickly going to be your fifth or sixth shot.”

Rich Harvest Farm will host two LIV golf tournaments in 2022 and 2023, won by Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau, respectively. The Saudi Arabia-backed circuit has certainly generated its fair share of controversy, but it also employs some of the best players in the world.

So with the Western Open being eliminated and major golf championships no longer being held frequently in the Chicago area, Rich decided to host a LIV golf event in his own backyard.

Rich Harvest Farms stepped up again and experimented with the best in the world, resulting in huge success, just as Doral’s Blue Monster continues to do to this day.

Rich was inspired by Jones, Snead and his good friend Bob Murphy, but it was legendary architect Dick Wilson who inspired him most. Wilson designed the Blue Monster at Doral, Pine Tree and Bay Hill in Orlando. If you play at Rich Harvest Farms, you’ll notice that the bunkers are very similar to those Florida courses. Most of the greens are also elevated, a Wilson specialty.

Charlie Darling/Rich Harvest Farm

Giving back

Rich takes great pride in the golf courses he has built and the tournaments he has hosted, but he is most proud of the Illinois Kids Golf Foundation, an organization he founded to introduce golf to underprivileged children in the area.

But it all started with a pivotal moment when he was 10 years old and growing up in Wood Dale, Illinois.

“Someone told me I could make money caddying, and of course, I was 10 years old and had no idea what a caddy was. It was at Brookwood Country Club on Addison Road, and we lived about four miles away, so I got on my bike, parked my bike and stood around the buildings for a few minutes and this guy came out of one of the buildings,” Rich said.

“He walked to the back of the building and came out with a push cart. He put his golf bag on the cart. I didn’t know it was a golf bag at the time, but he gave me two minutes of instruction. I pulled this cart for a woman for nine holes, and when we were done, she gave me $1.25.

“I was the happiest kid in the world at that time. I don’t know if it was a tip or a paycheck. But I’ve told this story over and over again, because it wasn’t $1.25 or Jerry Rich pulling the cart, but this guy who knew I didn’t know anything about golf gave me a chance. He could have easily said, ‘Hey, kid, get out of here.’ But he didn’t. He gave me that chance, and so 30 years later when I built this place, I wanted to give something back to him, so I started the Kids Golf Foundation. Now I play golf for over 8,000 kids a year in Illinois.”

Since its founding in 1998, the Kids Golf Foundation has provided more than 275,000 Lincoln children with the opportunity to learn to play golf, but the true value of the program lies in the life lessons they learn and the tools they take with them throughout their lives.

“Golf is a game, [we] And teach them how to apply these life lessons when they go out. [in their communities]” said Mary Timm, site coordinator for the Kids Golf Foundation.

“Hundreds of kids have come through the program and it’s been so much fun to watch them internalize it. They take life lessons like honesty, integrity and not just starting but finishing and apply them to the game of golf.”

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.