Nestled on 209 well-manicured acres, Conway Farms Golf Club is a walking-only private club located in the northern Chicago suburb of Lake Forest. The course, designed by Tom Fazio, opened in 1991, and six years later it hosted the 1997 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship won by Pepperdine. A year later, the U.S. Junior Amateur was conducted at Conway Farms, where James Oh edged future PGA Tour winner Aaron Baddeley in the championship match.

The 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur will be the club’s second USGA championship.

Conway Farms also was the host site for the 2009 Western Amateur, sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open in 2008 and the American Junior Golf Association’s Canon Cup in 2002 and 2006.

Fazio designed Conway Farms in the tradition of Scottish links courses. The vision for this golf club began in 1956 when three Lake Forest families had the vision and foresight to purchase a farm straddling old Conway Road, thus giving way to the naming of the club. The club’s founders wanted a walking-only facility that supported fast play and amateur golf. Virtually half of the club’s membership possess single-digit USGA Handicap Indexes.

Conway Farms also boasts World No. 1 Luke Donald as a member. Donald, who competed on two winning Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup Teams (1999 and 2001), played the course a lot during his All-American career at nearby Northwestern University and later joined when he became a member of the PGA Tour. Conway Farms’ director of golf, Jeff Mory, was instrumental in recruiting Donald to Northwestern when he was the Wildcats’ head coach.

Knollwood Club, which is being used as the companion stroke-play qualifying course, was the host site for the 1982 U.S. Mid-Amateur, which was won by William Hoffer. It was the second Mid-Amateur played. It also hosted the 1956 U.S. Amateur Championship, which was won by E. Harvie Ward Jr.