PARK PEOPLE:
Tracy Raoul W R I T T E N BY
Sharon Barrett
Tracy Raoul lays out her golf shirts –one blue, one purple, one red, one gray, puts the red one back. There’s no way Philip will wear red. Her husband never wears red. She chooses the blue, and calls to her sons, home from college, “Blue today?” The selection of the color they’ll wear to the golf course is always the first thing the Raoul family does on golf day. It might not matter to anyone else on the Jackson Park Golf Course, but for this foursome, it’s a ritual. Team colors, Raoul colors. This is a family with a deep love for the game. Golf is their ‘thing.’ Ahmad yells, “Ok,” and Abdel seconds it. As soon as Philip weighs in, Tracy will call their daughter, Akila, who lives nearby, to get her vote. They’ll figure out how to divide up to play with five once they get to the practice putting green. The shirts go on, the clubs come out, and the family piles into the car for the seven-minute drive to Jackson Park. It’s usually Jackson Park or South Shore Golf Course on these Sundays. The Raoul children grew up playing golf there, learning the rules of the game, perfecting their swings. They’re good golfers now, better than most. At 22, Abdel’s handicap is 2. Ahmad, 19, is at 1.8. (they shoot in the 70s, close to par). The
two are already making their mark on the game, on their college golf teams, and the junior circuit. They’ve played the notable courses, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst. Earlier this year, Ahmad played the Wells Fargo Pro-Am at Quail Hollow. “We’ve been all over the country with them,” Tracy says. But the course they’re heading to today will always be home to them. It’s where they fell in love with the game, and golf has been good to them. They’re both riding on scholarships in golf and academics, Abdel at Prairie View A&M, where he’s studying Mechanical Engineering, Ahmad at Winston Salem, where he’s working toward a degree in Computer Science. Together, they’ve won enough awards, including the prestigious Ted Rhodes Scholarship and First Tee College Scholarship, to decorate their rooms back home. “My husband and I instilled values in our children. We set the foundation,” Tracy says. “But golf gave them drive, perseverance. Through golf, they began to socialize more, to express themselves, and build self-confidence. They learned how to network. Golf is a character builder. It gives you skills you carry through life. They lead fulfilling lives around golf.” Jackson Park is buzzing this Sunday, as Chicago parks always are on weekends. There’s a baseball game underway, children on the playground, walkers on their way to the Japanese Garden. A few out-of-towners circle the Statue of the Republic, the 24’ gilded bronze ‘Golden Lady,’ often mistaken for the 65’ original that towered over the 1893 World Colum-
bian Exposition. The Museum of Science and Industry, the only remaining building from the Exposition, is to the north. The Tom Bendelow-designed Jackson Park Golf Course, where the Raouls are playing today, is to the south. As golf courses go, Jackson Park, the only 18-hole course in the Chicago Park District portfolio, is a pretty one. Those into reviewing courses online say the greens are well-groomed, the view of Lake Michigan is lovely, and though it has some holes that can be challenging, the course needs updating. The family hits the putting green, scorecards come out. Today the stakes will either be the fewest putts or the most fairways. The winner will choose dinner. The two brothers may have a side bet. They can’t help but compete, but Akila won’t join them. She’s here for family time. She played golf in high school, the only girl on the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools’ Golf Boys team. She still plays for fun when she can get to the course. She’s been busy. This spring, she was awarded a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from Loyola University. Abdel tees off. Ahmad follows. While Tracy waits her turn at the tee, her mind wanders. She looks out on the golf course and sees the vision she’s been holding on to for six years. It was in 2017 when she became as much a golf advocate as golf mom. NBC Sports golf analyst Mark Rolfing, a former Chicagoan, was working on a plan to revitalize the Jackson Park Golf Course. “When I looked at the park, I saw a golf course that should have been packed with golfers. School was out. Where were all the children?” Rolfing remembers the day the idea came to him. Why not give the course new life, merge the Jackson Park and South Shore courses into one 7,341-yard, 18-hole championship-caliber course?
