9/7/2021 - By Mike Hess

2021. The year Cog Hill Golf and Country Club will finally get to put their recently constructed Extreme long drive course to its true use. Back in 2019 Cog Hill was approached by the World Long Drive Association about being a potential venue for the final stage of their World long drive championship. This was obviously a very exciting notion for Chris Flick, Director of Course Maintenance, to take on. And what a challenge it was.

The world Xtreme Long Drive™ Championship is a series of five tournaments, growing in intensity and culminating in the world championship at Cog Hill. The events of the tour run as follows:

1. Leagues
2. World Championship Qualifiers (Q-series)
3. The XLD™ Tour World Challenge Series (majors)
4. The XLD™ Tour
5. And finally, The 2021 XLD™ World Championship at Cog Hill

The course in and of itself is a sight to behold, and is not the type of playing field you would normally see on a golf course. That being said, Cog Hill had their work cut out for them to construct an area large/long enough to accommodate. “We couldn't find an area on the four golf courses which could work, and our driving range just wasn't long enough to contain the big hitters.” Said Chris Flick regarding the space. After months of searching for an adequate area on the club’s property, the leadership at Cog Hill finally decided on a 50-acre stretch of land which had since been converted into a farm field. Formerly used as extra parking for the BMW Championship, the area was less than ideal as it had not been maintained as a playing field like the rest of the course. “It wasn't flat as it was an expansive field with rolling mounds and huge fence rows filled with mature trees.” Although this is quite the feat and would not be easy, Chris and the team at Cog Hill were up to the challenge!

With the amount of time before the competition (January-September), there just was not enough time to reach out and set up a contractor to do the job right away. Chris and his team got right to work, moving dirt, chopping fully mature trees, and digging brand new irrigation lines (as the closest source was ¼ mile away). “You can imagine that our Grounds Department knew we were already months behind schedule. The field that was selected had major drainage issues, so while one in-house crew was installing a drainage pipe, another crew was laying out the dimensions and grade of the grid.” All hands were on deck and by the determination of the crew at Cog Hill, the project got finished with time to spare.

After 5 longs months of work, moving 30,000 yards of earth, setting 105 irrigation heads, and laying 4,000 lbs. of seed, the field was prepped and fully seeded by early June. “The grid is elevated, with a 1% crown, and 1% incline from the tee in the direction that competitors hit. It is 100 yards wide, and 500 yards long, seeded with Triple A tall fescue, and mowed at 1in.," specified Chris, regarding the finished course.

Unfortunately, the competition in 2020 was postponed. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was too risky to gather so many people at the time, and they were forced to postpone. “While the World Long Drive Association no longer exists, we hosted an amateur event in May and are scheduled to host another event in September with the Xtreme Long Drive™ Championship organization.” Which is now the organization hosting the world championship for long drive.

Even though last year’s competition was unable to happen, spirits are high at Cog Hill looking toward September, and finally utilizing their course. The preliminary competitions are already underway, and the world championship is looking to be one of the largest in Xtreme Long Drive™ history. Stay tuned for more information following the competition in September!