A History of The
Aurora Country Club
 
  
ON TO THE PRESENT
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History


It was after the third fire that the club lost many of its members. Presumably, this was due to declining business conditions in the area in conjunction with the expectation of the major expense involved with rebuilding the main clubhouse. As a result, a significant change in the membership began taking place with new members coming increasingly from outside of Aurora.

The club rolled along until 1982, when it was decided that a new automatic fairway watering system was needed. This was installed during 1982 along with alterations to number one and two fairways as well as the practice putting green in 1983. To the members' surprise in July, about fifty percent of the fairways turned into a dismal swamp and resembled the look (and odor) of overcooked cabbage. It was immediately decided to kill all the blue grass in the balance of the fairways and plant it from scratch with Penneagle Bent Grass.

In 1984 it was decided to refurbish the main clubhouse. A local interior design company was commissioned to upgrade the facilities. This was finished and, with minor changes, is what exists today.

In 1986, after consulting several expert agronomists, it became apparent that the putting greens would always be a constant problem. The combination of the poor soil conditions, a weak strain of grass and the hot humid weather conditions normally associated with Midwestern summers seemed destined to cause continued frustration among the golfing members.

A golf course construction company, which had preformed the work on both the fairways and watering system, was asked to rebuild all 18 putting greens and many tees as well. Hard work, a warm fall and a mild winter helped accomplish this task within a minimum of time. By July 4, 1987, the members were back playing on the newly constructed greens.

Not enough can be said about the efforts of the Board and Greens Committee as well as the membership's patience during this multi-year period. It seemed as is the construction and problems would never end. End they did, however, and now it seems that the club is positioned for the future with literally a new golf course.