- Charles Blair Macdonald – Chicago Golf’s founder was also the driving force behind the formation of what is today the USGA. Macdonald also won the first U.S. Amateur championship, and was a pioneer in American golf course architecture. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
- Robert Todd Lincoln, the eldest son of Abraham Lincoln, was an early member and early club President; he became Secretary of War under both James Garfield and Chester Arthur. James B. Forgan, a native of St. Andrews Scotland, was President of the First National Bank of Chicago. Judge Barton Payne, another early member, served as Secretary of the Interior under Woodrow Wilson. Marshall Field was the most prominent Chicago retailer. Silas Strawn, at one point the President of the USGA, was a prominent Chicago attorney. Robert S. McCormick, American ambassador to Austria-Hungary and Russia, was the father of future Chicago Tribune publisher Robert R. McCormick and son-in-law to Joseph Medill the then-owner of the Tribune. Dr. John B. Murphy was a renowned surgeon and medical inventor.
- Foulis Connection: 1895 – James Foulis is engaged from Scotland to be first professional at Chicago Golf. His brother David subsequently joined James at Chicago Golf. James Foulis won 1896 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. The brothers built a successful clubmaking business from Wheaton, and earned several patents. They and their family are buried approximately 200 yards north of Chicago Golf’s entrance.
- Chick Evans and Robert Gardner – Both Evans and Gardner became members in 1916 and remained members for several years (1919 for Gardner, 1923 for Evans). The two Chicago Golf members met in the finals of the 1916 U.S. Amateur, in which Evans defeated Gardner to become the first double-winner of the U.S. Open and Amateur championships. Evans lived in the clubhouse and cottages for several years beginning in 1912 – he would practice early in the morning, take the train to work in Chicago, and practice in the evening. Gardner of course had won the 1909 U.S. Amateur at Chicago Golf, several months prior to setting the world pole vault record while an undergraduate at Yale. Evans is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
- Olympians – Margaret Abbott, part of a Chicago Golf family, won the 1900 Paris Olympic Games for golf while studying art in Paris; amazingly she died in the 1950s not even aware that she was an Olympic champion. Future Chicago Golf Club member Mason Phelps was part of the winning team in the 1904 Olympic Games for golf held
at St. Louis. - Ben Crenshaw – A two-time Masters champion, Ben began staying in the Chicago Golf cottages in the late 1970s during the Western Open. His sense of history and expertise in golf course architecture not only drew him to Chicago Golf, but have helped the club maintain an effective stewardship of our golf course.
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