Joliet Country Club opening golf course to public next year

The Joliet Country Club golf course will be opened to the public in 2019.

The club, which opened in the early 1900s, has been unable to sustain itself through memberships and has been under the ownership of Lisle-based real estate company ROC Inc. since 2016.

Members still will have privileges at the club, but opening the golf course to the public is expected to generate more revenue, said Michael Hansen, a member of the club and its attorney.

“We think it’s going to be pretty seamless as a transition,” Hansen said.

The club in October announced that management would be turned over to ROC, saying then that the move was made for the long-term interests of the club, and ROC would announce specific plans at the November membership meeting.

Those plans, announced Monday, include putting the golf course under the management of KemperSports, a Northbrook-based company that manages golf courses across the country, and opening it to the public. KemperSports also manages the Bolingbrook Golf Club.

The club will continue to exist.

Single membership in 2019 will cost $3,000 with rates varying for seniors, young professionals, pool-only and other categories.

The membership package includes unlimited golf; ability to make tee times 14 days in advance; access to the member-only Grill Room; free range balls; free locker; member tournaments and social events; 10 percent discount on pro shop merchandise; special pricing on guest green fees; and access to other KemperSports properties at reduced pricing.

The public will have access to the clubhouse and most of its facilities. The new management is expected to promote the club restaurant to bring in more business.

The pool will continue to remain open to members only, although the club has a pool-only membership for $800.

It became increasingly difficult to operate the golf course as a private club, Hansen said.

ROC Inc. acquired the Joliet Country Club after taking over the bank loan that members took out to build a new clubhouse in 2001. ROC took over the loan in 2014 and worked out a lease-back arrangement to the club in 2016 when the company also became the owner.

“There just weren’t a sufficient number of members at the rate we needed to charge to operate the club,” Hansen said.

He also noted that a number of golf courses have struggled.

“There’s just an overabundance of them,” Hansen said.