Tiger Woods has skeptics

In just four months, Chicago plans to break ground on an audacious project the refashioning of two sleepy golf courses on the South Side into a high-caliber course that borders two struggling neighborhoods plagued by unemployment and violence.

But the lakefront golf course project has been conceived and planned largely out of public view, rankling park watchdogs who say the community has had no voice in such a significant remaking of public lands.

Its backers who include Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Park District Chief Executive Michael Kelly and a bevy of influential golf industry leaders see it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put Chicago on the national golf map and at the same time draw tourists to the South Side, spur badly needed economic activity, create jobs and introduce more low-income children to golf and its caddying and scholarship opportunities.

The golf course project has not been unveiled or voted on at a Chicago Park Board meeting, nor have there been any public hearings.

Discussion should open up further Monday when a Park District official attends a meeting of the Jackson Park Advisory Council, the liaison group between park officials and neighborhood residents.

Chicagoan Peter Wawire, 38, plays a quick round on a blustery day at the Jackson Park Golf Course on Chicago’s South Side on Jan.

The project’s backers emphasize that the renovated public facility, which will include a shorter family-oriented course and practice facility, will not expand on the current golf courses’ footprint.

Raising the money in a more traditional way, by finding investors who are seeking a return, would have required pushing up fees beyond what would be acceptable for a course in a public park, said Rolfing, who had a $90,000 Park District contract last year to assess the project’s feasibility.

Tiger Woods will help design a golf complex project for the Jackson Park and South Shore courses.

The lead-off donors include prominent figures like Mike Keiser, a prolific golf course developer whose projects include the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on the Oregon coast, and the private equity executive Rodney Goldstein, who has a long history of civic involvement on the South Side and will head up the fundraising.