The BMW Championship was played at Chicago courses seven times since it replaced the Western Open on the PGA Tour schedule in 2007. Olympia Fields was the last Chicago site, in 2023, and this year’s tourney tees off on Thursday at Bellerive, in St. Louis. What happens at Bellerive, though, will have a big…
Author: lenz
If ever there was a “Dream” baseball game, this is it
DYERSVILLE, Iowa — The “Field of Dreams” hit the theaters in 1989 with Kevin Costner starring in a movie that underscored the beauty of baseball. Joy and I watched the movie on television and loved it. That led to us squeezing in a trip to the “Field of Dreams” complex during our golf/travel writing trip…
Old Elm’s Don Wegrzyn was the ultimate PGA professional
It’s hard to imagine any Illinois club professional contributing more to golf in the state than Don Wegrzyn. Wegrzyn, who passed on at the age of 88 in Libertyville on June 11, entered golf as a caddie at the Onwentsia Club, in Lake Forest, in 1952 as he was entering his freshman year at Northern…
One review — but for two worthwhile, though very different, books
It’s been a while since our last Book Review, and this time I’ll be trying something new. You get two reviews for the price of one this time, and the common thread between the two is….me. These two are fine contributions on two of my very favorite topics – journalism and golf. I read…
Could an amateur win the weather-delayed Illinois Open?
The 77th Illinois Open crowns its next champion on Wednesday at Wynstone, in Barrington, and it just might be an amateur. Historically that seems unlikely. The biggest tournament for Illinois residents hasn’t had an amateur winner since Patrick Flavin in 2017, but there were 52 amateurs among the 156 who started the 54-hole test…
Illinois Open is next; Presidents Cup uniforms unveiled
The previous six 18-hole qualifying sessions to determine who plays in next week’s 77th Illinois Open brought out the best from the amateur entrants. Bloomington’s T.J. Barger, coming off a record-setting senior season at Illinois State, was the best. He shot a 10-under-par 62 at the Atkins Golf Club in Urbana in a round…
Something old, something new — and all good
Our golf/travel writing trips were rarely like our latest one. This basically swing through the Midwest took us to a variety of courses in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. We didn’t play every one that we visited. Some we just toured, but we finished off the journey playing for five straight days. That’s rare for…
Want more than golf? Door County is overwhelming
SISTER BAY, WI. – Since creating a website focusing on golf travel in 2009 most of the destinations we visited focused on, well….golf. In more recent years we decided that wasn’t enough. So did the our followers, be they travelers or the folks who wanted to get those travelers to their destinations. We mixed in…
Two great performances highlighted Korn Ferry stop at The Glen
By Len Ziehm A big golf story could be in the works – and this one isn’t on the PGA Tour. It exploded on that circuit’s alternate circuit – the Korn Ferry Tour – at last week’s Evans Scholars Invitational at The Glen Club, in Glenview. Tommy Morrison came out the winner, and – standing…
Golf needs more facilities like Michigan’s Wee Course
BENTON HARBOR, MI. – There’s been no shortage of projects, equipment or promotional efforts designed to create more golfers, but I’ve seen none better than the Wee Course — a facility built beside the Harbor Shores Resort in the Southwestern Michigan community. In this case Wee means a short course, but one that encourages play…