History
The Monticello Golf Club was legally organized as a corporation on January 3, 1922, when the Illinois Secretary of State signed the certificate. The petitioners were A.C. Edie, L.C. Burgess, Witt England and Burl Edie.
On March 1, 1922 the 60 original stockholders of the Monticello Golf Club purchased 27 acres of land from Mary I. Dighton for $12,000. Each of the 60 stockholders put in $200 for the investment.
The golf course had sand greens. The circular greens were a little smaller than the ones today and had an inch or so of fine sand mixed with oil. The oil served to keep the sand from blowing away and gave a surface some thickness. The hole was in the center of the green. A wooden board on edge, with a handle, was used to drag the sand to make it smooth, when one was ready to putt.
Although very few sand green golf courses exist today, they were common in those days. LeRoy, Farmer City, Villa Grove and Sullivan all had similar courses until after World War II. Those courses were gradually changed to modern day bent grass greens.
Before our sand was replaced with grass greens, the course holes were played in a different order than today. The fifth hole today was the first hole. After playing the five holes on the North side of the course, golfers teed off on their number six, which is now our first hole. The finishing hole was our current number four. The layout of the hole was even longer than it is today. It was a par 6, making an 18-hole round par 74.
The first clubhouse facility was a screed in house. A second club house severed the club from 1963 – 2016 which housed a bar, dining room, apartment upstairs, and a large patio. The second club house was demolished to make way for the current clubhouse opened spring of 2017.
In 1954 the local Women’s golf association was formed.
A major change in the grounds took place in 1972 when grass greens replaced the old sand greens. Generally speaking the new greens were in the same location as the old ones.
In 1987-88 the fairway watering system was installed. In recent years some additional tees have been added.
The list of those responsible for the long success of the Monticello Golf Club would contain too many names to be placed here. The membership should be very proud of their golf course.