McHenry Country Club sold for $2M to local businessman; gets new name, liquor license

To ensure golfers can have a drink on the links and in the clubhouse, the McHenry Golf Club received a liquor license from the McHenry City Council in a special meeting Tuesday morning.

Formerly the McHenry Country Club at 820 N. John St., the golf club celebrated its 100th birthday in 2022. The name change is due to the course’s recent sale, according to documents filed with the McHenry County Recorder’s Office.

The golf club was sold Jan. 30 to McHenry Golf Club Properties LLC for $1.98 million, according to records filed with the recorder. The city liquor license application was requested by new owner Edward Hinz of McHenry.

The license was approved 6-0, with 5th Ward Alderman Andy Davis absent. The license approval was needed, city officials said, to ensure the golf club can continue serving alcohol with limited interruption while the course is without a restaurant operator.

The course was set to get a second location of Addison’s Steakhouse, and the city awarded owner Jon Descher a liquor license in February. Although the liquor license was approved, the city does not charge for the license until the business actually begins selling liquor, Assistant City Clerk Monte Johnson said.

When he reached out to Addison’s management to determine their opening date and get payment for the 2025-26 license, Johnson said he did not get a response. Descher could not be reached for comment.

“The restaurant hasn’t opened,” Mayor Wayne Jett said at the morning meeting. “The owner of the club has requested the liquor license to actually do business there, for events they have booked.”

The arrangement – where the golf course has the liquor license instead of the restaurant operator – is not unusual, McHenry Chief of Police John Birk said.

“The McHenry Country Club had their own liquor license” separate from the food vendor when the now-closed Metalwood Grille was in the restaurant and banquet space, Birk said.

For the past week, Buddyz Pizzeria in McHenry had been handling the liquor sales, using its catering license to do so, Jett said.

According to the company’s website, Northbrook-based KemperSport is now managing the 18-hole course on the Fox River.

“McHenry Golf Club has a great history as one of the most influential clubs in golf,” KemperSports CEO Steve Skinner said in a news release posted to the site. “We look forward to working with the ownership group to celebrate the history while leading the club into the next generation.”

Attempts to reach Hinz were not successful. The McHenry-based Edward Hinz Foundation had assets of almost $23 million in 2023, according to online charitable giving disclosure records. Hinz is the founder of Durex Industries, a Cary-based custom electric thermal solutions business that was sold to a British company in 2022 for $342 million, according to published reports.