Why is it Coyote Run Golf Course?

It’s more than 20 years since the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District purchased the site of the former Cherry Hills Golf Course in Flossmoor and recreated it into the popular course that it is today.

Dave Ward, retired superintendent of golf for the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, said the course’s first name was Three Oaks Golf Course “because there were exactly three oaks on the property.”

It was the park district’s executive director, Greg Meyer, who saw coyote on the property and recommended the name Coyote Run.

Ward was hired in 2004 to bring the course to life. He worked on both the 18-hole course and the plantings around the property. Ward has earned a reputation as an expert in native plants, and he meticulously planted various trees, grasses and flowering plants.

Coyote weren’t the only sightings of nature on the golf course. Ward saw the water fowl and other animals, including deer and muskrat, as they started taking up space. Ward got the park district to purchase a dog that was trained to roam the grounds and scare off the critters.

He named the dog Wiley from the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote. Ward said the dog’s “full name was Wiley T. Dog, the T standing for The.” Ward was the dog’s unofficial owner.

The park district took over the restaurant in the clubhouse at Coyote Run in 2011 and named it Wiley’s Grill in honor of the pup.

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