KemperSports To Take Over Management Of Canal Shores Golf Course In Evanston, Wilmette

EVANSTON, IL — For the first time since its establishment more than a century ago, Canal Shores Golf Course will be operated by a professional management company.

The Evanston Wilmette Golf Course Association, the volunteer-run nonprofit that operates the course, last week signed a contract with Northbrook-based KemperSports to start operating the course, according to representatives of both organizations, who declined to disclose the terms or duration of the deal.

Located on 82-acres of mostly publicly owned land in both Evanston and Wilmette along the banks of the North Shore Canal, the course originally opened in 1919. According to the association, founder and former Evanston Mayor Peter Jans wanted to make golf accessible to everyone.

The land is owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The MWRD leases it to the two municipalities, which then lease it to the nonprofit. The course receives no taxpayer funding.

KemperSports President Josh Lesnik said the course is in need of reinvestment and repairs.

"The golf course was not in great condition in 2021," Lesnik said. "Although we obviously completely intend to have it remain accessible and affordable, you got to have better golf course conditions."

Improving the condition of the course, including its irrigation system, will be one of KemperSports' first priorities, Lesnik said.

"Even a $15 to $30 golf course still needs grass on the greens, and you need water to have grass on the green, so we're going to improve that as best we can," he said.

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Karl Leinberger, president of the Evanston Wilmette Golf Course Association, told Patch his organization was looking forward to working with the management team at KemperSports.

"We had known Kemper for a while, and Kemper had reached out to us, and we just got to talking and we just realized that their missions and our missions really dovetail quite well," Leinberger said.

KemperSports manages more than 130 golf facilities, including The Glen Club in Glenview and Deerpath Golf Course in Lake Forest. According to its president, it owns about 10 of them outright, while the rest are leased from or managed on behalf of their owners.

Lesnik said KemperSports aims to implement some of its best practices from other courses to bring Canal Shores revenue above its expenses so it can cover the cost of needed reinvestments.

"The golf course survives a lot on donations right now. What we want to do is get to a point where we can balance the budget, really help them," Lesnik said.

"With the resources we've been given, we want to really improve the hospitality," he added. "From a service standpoint: be able to get a sandwich or a hot dog on a consistent basis."

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 20 percent of Canal Shores' revenue came from donations, while 60 percent comes from golf fees and 20 percent from other sources, such as the Out of Space concert series or parking revenue during Northwestern University football games, according to Leinberger.

Canal Shores has seen increased use since the pandemic, its board president said. According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of new golfers in 2020 reached a 17-year high, and even more rounds were played in 2021 than in the first year of the pandemic.

"People were looking to get outside, get some fresh air, we have 82 acres of open green space and so our usage was up both from golfers as well as just people who were walking their dogs, jogging, birdwatching, things like that," Leinbergers said. "It was up across the board for us."

The existing association has been very successful in getting young people involved with the game of golf, Lesnik said, and the new management team hopes to create more opportunities for young people through involvement in golf, including through possible partnerships with the Western Golf Association, which offers Evans Scholarships to caddies, and the youth golf organization First Tee.

Canal Shores has received certification as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and has been recertified by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf. In 2020, course officials and community members published an action plan for implementation of its 2017 Ecological Restoration Master Plan. The new management company hopes to assist, its president said.

"Our company has a proprietary environmental program that all our golf courses participate in, and it really matches up well with what they're trying to do with their ecology mission," Lesnik said. "There's all sort of different things golf courses can do now with butterflies, bees, certain plant life, managing what goes in and out of the golf course and those types of things."

Leinberger said KemperSports understands the course's unique charm while bringing proven expertise running golf courses.

"We're incredibly excited to have Kemper on board because it's family-owned and it's locally based," Leinberger said. "We have four pillars to our mission, which are golf, youth development, ecology and community, and those are four things they also emphasize at their golf course management places throughout the country."

Related:

• 'Out Of Space' Hosts Third Years Of Concerts At Canal Shores
• Canal Shores Golf Course Celebrates 100 Years
• MWRD Votes To Allow Easement For Road Through Canal Shores
• Canal Shores Golf Course Board Adamantly Opposes Proposed Roadway