Chevy Chase Country Club

Chevy Chase Country Club Overview
The club currently known as Chevy Chase CC opened in 1927 as the Wheeling Golf and Country Club and was designed by Tom Bendelow. Although it’s now owned by the Wheeling Park District, the place has quite an interesting history. The branding changed to Columbian Country Club shortly after it opened, and then in 1935 it re-opened as the Bon-Air Cafe and Country Club. The Bon-Air promoted itself as the “World’s Finest Theater Country Club” and had big acts perform, drawing audiences from around the midwest. Somehow the club got involved with the Skidmore-Johnson gambling syndicate and ran an underground casino. It shut down in 1942. In 1949, it re-opened as Chevy Chase. At the time, General Manager Herbie Vogel said, “We are going to feature golf, swimming, and very fine dinners. There will be absolutely no gambling.” The Wheeling Park District purchased the property in 1977.

With tee box names like Midnight, Burnt Red, Hunter Green, and Natural, you can tell this place takes itself pretty seriously. The course measures 6,630 from the Midnights and has a course rating of 71.8. Much like the beautiful clubhouse and event space, the course itself is well groomed. The layout is somewhat tight at times with many parallel fairways and there’s a ton of water to get in trouble with. Lots of interesting mounds and ridges dot the landscape.

There’s no driving range at Chevy Chase. There’s one medium-sized practice green to get calibrated before your round. While the overall clubhouse is enormous, with a charming event space for weddings and banquets, the pro shop is on the smaller side, with a modest selection of merch. There’s a restaurant for the golf course that has an outdoor seating area. Important note: they serve a hot dog here that’s absolutely fantastic! Huge, charred, juicy, and a great deal too.