lenz – Page 115 – Len Ziehm On Golf

Harbor Shores prepares for its second Senior PGA shootout

You know what might be the nicest part of the Senior PGA Championship? It’s the one golf major played on any of the pro tours that seems to like coming to the Midwest. In fact, this Champions Tour shootout is the major played closest to Chicago in 2014. The closest the PGA Tour gets for a major is August’s PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville. The closest LPGA major is June’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, in North Carolina.

This year’s 75th anniversary of the Senior PGA presented by KitchenAid is May 22-25 at Harbor Shores, in Benton Harbor, MI. – just a two-hour drive from Chicago and well worth the trip. I’ve been to the last two Senior PGAs and found them as captivating as any golf competitions – even without big-name players winning the title.

Harbor Shore also hosted in 2012 and Bellerive, the tradition-rich St. Louis club, was the venue last year.

Going forward, French Lick Resort will host the championship in 2015 and Harbor Shores has already committed for both 2016 and 2018. The 2017 site hasn’t been announced.

This tourney wasn’t always so Midwest-friendly. Sixty of the first 62 Senior PGAs were played in Florida. The first two championships, in 1937 and 1938, were played at Augusta National and the first champion was Jock Hutchison – the long-time Flossmoor Country Club pro. Those were the days when Augusta National was just getting started as the home of the Masters, an event first played in 1934.

Bringing the Senior PGA to Harbor Shores for the first time in 2012 represented a radical departure in tradition for the PGA of America. Harbor Shores’ Jack Nicklaus-designed course had been open for only 10 months before England’s Roger Chapman emerged as the surprise champion.

Now Harbor Shores is firmly in the tourney’s rotation. That shouldn’t be considered so surprising, according to championship director Jeff Hinz.

“Think about who designed the course,’’ said Hinz. This Nicklaus design has received rave reviews, though the No. 10 green – the biggest, most undulating putting surface the Golden Bear ever created – isn’t always spoken of in glowing terms.

“The first time people see it, you wonder `what’s it all about?’’’ said Hinz. “Now it’s my favorite hole on the golf course.’’

Harbor Shores’ course won’t look much different than it did two years ago. The most significant change came with the rebuilding of the No. 17 green, a move designed to tie the par-3 hole in more closely with a nature trail behind the putting surface.

The daunting par-4 seventh hole was altered, mainly to facilitate daily play. The third-hardest hole on the course in the 2012 Senior PGA featured a very large, deep bunker marked with dune grass. Now sod has replaced the dune grass. Otherwise there are no notable changes to the course.

With the rest of the facility, though, that’s another story. The grand opening of the Inn at Harbor Shores, a 92-room hotel on the St. Joseph River, will be celebrated during the tournament. It also has 14 luxury suites and its top two floors are condominiums. The rooftop is a meeting area.

Next to the Inn is a new 100-slip marina, which can accommodate boats up to 90 feet long. The hotel, marina and residential real estate comprise a $114 million parcel that will get full exposure for the first time during tournament week.

Then there’s the Renaissance Athletic Center, a 23,000-square foot state of the art fitness facility located near the second hole of the course with an additional outdoor field and swimming pool. There’s also a lot more real estate on the premises than there was in 2012. Two of the condominium developments were in the early stages of development two years ago. Now Hideaways is 65 percent filled and Fairways is at 30 percent. The new Trailside Cottages, opened for only one year, are half-sold.

Hinz views the setting as something special.

“It’s small town, middle America hosting a major golf championship,’’ he said. “The 156 players come from all over the world, and the people who came two years ago will be pleasantly surprised by the growth and development.’’

The competition will be as stiff as ever, with U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson in the field after missing last year’s event at Bellerive with a wrist injury. A two-time champion (2001, 2011) he was one of 28 winners of previous major championships invited to this Senior PGA, and about 20 are expected to compete at Harbor Shores. Colin Montgomerie, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Rocco Mediate and Jeff Maggert – established players before turning 50 within the last year – will be playing in the tournament for the first time and the popular Peter Jacobson will make his Harbor Shores debut after missing the 2012 tourney because of illness.

Defending champion in the 156-man starting field will be Kohki Idoki, who rarely plays outside of his native Japan. The Champions Tour mainstays trying to dethrone him include Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Curtis Strange, Mark O’Meara, Hal Sutton, Hale Irwin, Craig Stadler, Kenny Perry, Jay Haas and Fred Funk. Perry set the Harbor Shores record with a 62 in the final round two years ago, even though that sizzling score wasn’t enough to overhaul Chapman.

The tourney’s 1,870 volunteers are spread across 23 states, a testament to the tourney’s widespread popularity.

A variety of ticket options are available. Grounds-only tickets are $15 for the Tuesday and Wednesday practice rounds, $30 for the four tournaments rounds and $100 for all six days. Tickets allowing admission to the 19th hole amenities are $45 for the two practice days, $60 for the tournament rounds and $225 for the entire week. Complimentary off-site parking and shuttle service is included in the ticket prices.

Juniors 17 and under will be admitted free if accompanied by a ticket-buying adult. For ticket questions call (800) PGA-GOLF or check the tourney’s website at PGA.com.

Chicago trio seeks success on Web.com Tour

The PGA Tour changed its qualification procedures last year, relegating its brutal 90-hole fall Q-School tournament to offering only spots on the satellite Web.com Tour in 2014. The new format, though, resulted in unprecedented success for Chicago players.

Rarely did a local golfer make it through Q-School to the PGA Tour under the older format, but three – Vince India (Deerfield) Andy Pope (Glen Ellyn) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Elgin) — survived under the new one. They entertain hopes of playing their way on to the big circuit in 2015 via the Web.com circuit.

The trio has been in all seven Web.com events this year, five of which were held outside the U.S. border, and had only modest success. Pope, who attended Glenbard West and Xavier University, had the best tournament showing with a tie for 15th in last week’s weather-shortened WNB Classic in Midland, Tex. His payday there accounts for $10,200 of his $12,325 season winnings.

India, who won the 2010 Illinois Amateur at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club and was the Big Ten’s player-of-the-year for Iowa in 2011, has been the most consistent. He made the cut in five of the seven tournaments but has faltered on the weekends. His $8,673 in winnings is good for only 108th on the tour’s season money list, 14 spots behind Pope.

Sainz, from Larkin High School and Mississippi State University, was the best of the trio at Q-School with a 10th place finish. He was a hot player at the right time in late 2013 when – in a month’s stretch – he won The Players Cup on the PGA’s Canadian Tour, lost the Illinois Open title in a playoff at The Glen Club in Glenview and then won the Chicago Open at Cantigny in Wheaton, where he had worked the pro shop during his college days.

Those strong showings gave him momentum for Q-School, where he shot a final-round 63, but it didn’t carried over to 2014. Though he’s made only three cuts and $5,248 in seven starts Sainz made Web.com history when he holed a 250-yard second shot for a double eagle in the first round of the Chile Classic. It was the first albatross in the tourney’s three-year history.

All three players will be in the field for this week’s South Georgia Classic, played for the last seven years on one of the tour’s most respected courses – Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta, Ga. The field will be stronger, too, with John Daly and Lee Janzen – both winners of two major championships – joining such veteran tourists as Billy Mayfair, Jesper Parnivik, Dicky Pride, Hunter Haas and Rod Pampling.

Bob Spence, the first head professional at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove, supervised the building of Kinderlou Forest – a Davis Love III design that opened 10 years ago. Spence, back at Kinderlou for another design project, greeted the Chicago area trio upon their arrival.

Upgrades at Royal Melbourne

Jay Blasi, who assisted famed architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. on the construction of Chambers Bay – the new Washington course that will host the U.S. Open in 2015, is overseeing renovation work at Royal Melbourne in Long Grove. Tweaks are being made at the Nos. 8 and 17 holes but the most work is coming on the practice range.

A 4,200 square-foot green, a new green-side bunker and more fairway and rough turf are being added to allow for practice on longer approaches to the green. The work, to be completed by July 15, will permit more short-game instruction for both members and non-members at the Royal Melbourne Golf Academy.

The home explosion that damaged several homes near the course last week was only a minor problem for golfers. One nine was closed for a day to allow for removal of debris but it opened the following day.

Here and there

Northwestern, third in the Big Ten women’s tournament on Sunday, was given the No. 7 seed in the NCAA West Regional on Monday. NU will join defending NCAA champion Southern California in the 24-team field. Also headed to the West, to be played at Washington’s Tumble Creek course, are Wisconsin, seeded No. 16, and Notre Dame, No. 18. Illinois’ Amber Schuldt was given an individual berth in the Central Regional.

Two new charity events have been scheduled for May – the Wake Up Narcolepsy outing on May 10 at Whisper Creek in Huntley and the Champ Community Project Celebrity Pro-Am on May 28 at Old Orchard in Mt. Prospect. LPGA Tour player Nicole Jeray, who has coped with narcolepsy, will be featured at Whisper Creek.

The Golfsmith Demo Day will be held at Downers Grove Golf Club from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, and it’ll be followed by the nine-hole Spring Swing Scramble tournament.

A two-month series of fitness workshops hosted by Dr. Paul Callaway will begin at Cantigny next Tuesday.

NU, Illini will defend titles in Big Ten golf at French Lick

Illinois and Northwestern have become perennial contenders for the men’s and women’s golf titles in the Big Ten Conference, and that’ll again be the case when collegiate postseason play begins this weekend.

The NU women shared last year’s Big Ten title and are the highest-ranked conference team (No. 12) in the national polls. Last year coach Emily Fletcher’s team shared the title with Purdue – NU’s first-ever Big Ten crown in women’s golf. This year’s team has no seniors and will defend on a different course starting on Friday.

French Lick Resort, in southern Indiana, hosted both the Big Ten men’s and women’s championships the last two years with the men competing on the newer, more difficult Pete Dye Course and the women on the history-rich Donald Ross Course. This time the tourneys won’t be held on the same weekend, so the women’s event is being moved to the Dye layout and will run through Sunday.

Illinois, runner-up in last year’s NCAA tournament and ranked No. 8 nationally this season, goes after its sixth straight title in the men’s tournament on the same course May 2-4. The Illini may have a tough time defending after finishing second behind league rival Iowa in last weekend’s Boilermaker Invitational at Purdue.

Individuals on both the Illinois and Northwestern men’s teams picked up major honors last week. Illinois’ Thomas Detry was named to the 10-man European team for the Palmer Cup matches – a Ryder Cup style team event for collegians. He’s the third Illini golfer selected, following Scott Langley (2010) and Thomas Pieters (2011). NU’s Jack Perry was named among five finalists for the Byron Nelson Award, which goes to the top player in the Golf Coaches Assn. of America.

NU coach Pat Goss also announced the signing of a major recruit. The Wildcats landed Sam Triplett, son of veteran touring pro Kirk Triplett. In addition to frequently working as his father’s caddie, Sam was the Ping Junior Match Play champion in 2012 and led Brophy Prep to the Arizona state high school championship in 2011. He’ll arrive in Evanston in the fall.

Two teams shoot 65 in IPGA opener

Bad weather cancelled the first tournament on the Illinois PGA schedule, but Monday’s Pro-Pro event at Chicago’s Harborside International was plenty competitive.

Chris Ioriatti, of Mistwood in Romeoville, and Frank Hohenadel of Midlothian posted a 7-under-par 65 to share honors with the downstate team of T.A. Hazlep of Lakeside, in Bloomington, and J.T. Thompson, of Deer Park in Ogelsby. Both teams played on Harborside’s Starboard course. The Port layout was also used in the event.

The two champion twosomes edged five two-man teams that posted 66. One of them featured two-time IPGA player-of-the-year Curtis Malm, who was playing in his first event representing White Eagle in Naperville. He had been an assistant at St. Charles Country Club before changing jobs in the offseason. Malm’s partner was Tim Dunn, of Naperbrook in Naperville.

Here and there

The Encompass Championship, the only pro tour event scheduled this season in the Chicago area, has selected four new charity beneficiaries for its June 16-22 Champions Tour stop at North Shore Country Club in Glenview – the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, Junior Achievement of Illinois, First Tee of Greater Chicago and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Illinois.

Cog Hill, in Lemont, will host Chicago’s largest outdoor demo day of the season from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday. All the major equipment companies will display their products and free range balls will be available for visitors who wish to test clubs.

First Tee will hold an open house at one of its new locations, at Harborside International, from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday.

Palatine Hills held dedication ceremonies for its new clubhouse on Tuesday.

One of Chicago’s longest-standing recreational events, the 38th Pine Hollow Open, will be played Saturday at Downers Grove Golf Club.

Mistwood, the Romeoville home of the Illinois Women’s Open tourney, opens on Friday. This will be the course’s first full season since the completion of its two-year renovation.

Winter damage is creating a difficult spring at Chicago golf courses

Chicago golfers beware. In most years virtually all Chicago courses are in full swing by the time the Masters tournament tees off in April. This year that wasn’t the case, and that’s not all.

The Midwest Golf Course Superintendents Assn. is conducting a survey of its courses this week and executive director Luke Cella doesn’t expect the results to be encouraging.

“We estimate that 80 percent of the courses in the area have suffered some turf loss, some significant,’’ said Cella. “The area, like much of the country, experienced a record cold winter. As spring slowly churns its way out we are finding turf that did not survive. It won’t be uncommon for this damage to be apparent while superintendents and their staffs begin the recovery process.’’

Cella says that winter ice caused the problems easily visible on the courses that have opened, particularly those that have Poa annua on the greens. Those with bentgrass fared better.

“This ice lasted for more than 60 days – a length of time that was too long for Poa annua to survive,’’ said Cella. “Even though the plants are dormant in the winter, they still need oxygen to survive. When ice encases the plant for extended periods of time there’s a buildup of deadly gasses that suffocate the plant. Even courses that employed the use of covers on their greens experienced ice buildup underneath the covers. Those (courses where workers) went out to break the ice and remove it from the putting surfaces experienced damage, too.’’

The problems encompass both public and private courses. Temporary greens were in evidence at some of the courses while others delayed their openings. At least two of the most prominent – one public, one private – aren’t even open yet. Mistwood, the Romeoville home of the Illinois Women’s Open, won’t open until April 25. North Shore, the Glenview home of Chicago’s only pro tour stop of the year, has set a May 1 opening. That private facility will host the Champions Tour’s Encompass Championship beginning June 16.

According to a report issued to member clubs in the Chicago District Golf Association’s Illinois Turfgrass program last month, some courses are as much as a month behind in their preparations and most won’t be in optimal playing shape until June.

Conway Farms names Slowinski

The offseason has led to some major changes in the club professional ranks. The biggest has Matt Slowinski, the long-time assistant at Glen Oak in Glen Ellyn, moving to Conway Farms in Lake Forest as the head man. Slowinski won two of the Illinois PGA’s major tournaments while at Glen Oak and was the section’s Assistants Player of the Year in 2013.

Harlan Chemers, who had been Conway’s head professional, will join Wildcat Golf Academy founders Pat Goss and Jeff Mory in the expansion of that highly-successfully junior program. A move to The Glen Club in Glenview has allowed them to take students beyond the junior level.

In other pro changes Josh Pius, a former North Shore assistant, is the head man at Inverness; Reagan Davis is in charge at Eagle Ridge, in Galena; and Mike Hainline has taken over at Ravisloe, in Homewood.

Here and there

A major change in the superintendents ranks has Scott Pavalko leaving Cog Hill, in Lemont, for Bob O’Link, the all-male club in Highland Park. Chris Flick came from Ohio to replace Pavalko at Cog Hill. Other superintendent changes have Michael Paciga moving from an assistant at Biltmore in Barrington to the head job at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove; Jeremy Duncan going from assistant at Cantigny in Wheaton to head man at Fox Run in Elk Grove; Brian Stout being promoted to the head job at Edgewood Valley in LaGrange; and Mike Mumper landing the head job at Villa Olivia in Bartlett.

The first event on the Illinois PGA schedule, Monday’s Pro-Assistants Championship at Naperville Country Club, was cancelled. The IPGA has a Pro-Pro event on tap at Chicago’s Harborside International next Monday. The Chicago District Golf Assn. opens its season with its first Better Ball of Pairs event next Tuesday at The Glen Club.

The Golfers on Golf radio show will unveil the first of 21 weekly broadcasts at 9 a.m. on Sunday. It’ll be carried on WSBC (1240-AM) and WCFJ (1470-AM) with Rory Spears, Ed Stevenson, Bill Berger and Mike Munro again co-hosting.

Donald is best bet among local players at the Masters

The 80th playing of the Masters tournament, beginning on Thursday at Georgia’s Augusta National, won’t be like any previous stagings of golf’s first major championship of the year.

This one won’t have Tiger Woods, back surgery a week ago forcing his withdrawal, and the landmark Eisenhower Tree left of the No. 17 fairway is gone, the victim of a February ice storm. The start of Masters festivities was different, too.

Augusta National opened its gates on pre-Masters Sunday for the first time to host a youth Drive, Chip and Pitch competition, but then had to close the gates for the first time since 2003 on Monday because of a heavy rainfall.

The Masters, more than any of golf’s four major tournaments, has a tradition of high-profile champions but that could change this week with Woods out and defending champion Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson all winless in 2014.

Slow starts for those stars could be encouraging for Luke Donald, Kevin Streelman, D.A. Points and Steve Stricker – the players with Illinois connections in the field – but none have done much recently to suggest they’ll contend this week.

Northwestern alum Donald, once the game’s No. 1-ranked player, could be the best bet of the locals. He had two top-10s on the Florida swing of the PGA Tour and a tie for 24th in the Shell Houston Open on Sunday.

Wheaton resident Kevin Streelman, adjusting to life as a parent after the birth of daughter Sophia on Dec. 26, missed his first cut of the season at Houston and hasn’t cracked the top 20 in his nine appearances since starting the season with a tie for third in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January.

Illinois alum Points has had a terrible year, missing the cut in his last three starts and finishing no better than a tie for 28th in his 10 tournaments in 2014. Another ex-Illini, Steve Stricker played in only his third tournament of the season at Houston. He tied for 24th with his focus not entirely on golf. A Madison, Wis., resident, he ducked out of Houston after his Saturday round to watch Wisconsin play in the Final Four that night, then got back in time to finish the tournament on Sunday.

The possibility of a Masters rookie winning is the best story-line going into this year’s championship and none would make for a better one than Kevin Stadler. He and his father Craig form the first father-son combination to play in the same Masters.

Craig won the Champions Tour’s Encompass Championship at North Shore Country Club in Glenview last June but has played in only three events this year. He won his Masters in 1982. Qualified only as a past champion, Craig claims this — his 38th Masters — will be his last appearance at Augusta National. He’s been waiting for Kevin to qualify, and it finally happened when he won the Waste Management Open a few miles from his Scottsdale, Ariz., home in February. It came in his 239th career start on the PGA Tour.

“He’s getting a little too old (60) to compete (at Augusta),’’ said Kevin. “He’s told me that for about five years. He loves going back, but that course seems to be a little too tough for him these days. It’ll be great to spend some time with him on the course when I never, ever play golf with him.’’

The last Masters rookie to win the title was Fuzzy Zoeller 35 years ago. Prior to that the last rookie winner was Gene Sarazen in 1935 – the second year the tournament was contested. That year the tourney had 23 rookies, not surprising for a tourney that young. Horton Smith, then the head pro at Oak Park Country Club, won the first tournament (when it was known as the Augusta National Invitational) in 1934 and also took the third in 1936. The only competitor still alive from the first Masters is Errie Ball, long-time head pro at Oak Park Country Club and the first director of golf at Butler National in Oak Brook. Ball, now 103 years old, is still teaching golf in Stuart, FL.

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Georgia’s Summer Grove course could be called Jemsek South

NEWNAN, Ga. – It’s no secret that the Jemseks are the first family of golf in Chicago. In fact, it’s been that way for a long time.

It all started when Joe Jemsek purchased St. Andrews, in West Chicago in the 1930s. He later bought Cog Hill, in Lemont, and expanded it from 36 to its present 72 holes. The Jemseks are now three generations deep in Chicago golf. For years the family operated Glenwoodie, in Glenwood, and – in addition to Cog Hill and St. Andrews – the Jemseks also operate Pine Meadow, in Mundelein.

But the family’s golf involvement isn’t limited to the Chicago area. Though it’s not widely known, the Jemseks also have a course in Georgia – and it’s one that in some ways has more family involvement than the Chicago layouts.

Frank, Joe’s son, and his wife Pat considered building a course in Florida as a possible retirement retreat in the late 1990s. Negotiations on a location there fell through, but another opportunity – in the Atlanta, Ga., suburb of Newnan – materialized on land near the home of long-time family friend Rocky Roquemore, a Georgia course architect.
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Another Joe Jemsek, the original Joe’s grandfather and Frank’s son, took on this project.

“I used to play on that property,’’ then-budding course architect Joe T. Jemsek said, “and I was in college in Boca (Raton, FL) then. It was a great site.’’

He was playing on the golf team at Lynn University while working towards a business degree and the project, now known as Summer Grove Golf Club, provided a chance to get involved in course design. Joining forces with Jeff Burton, Roquemore’s partner, Jemsek lived on and off the construction site for about 18 months.

MAHLE — The affable John Mahle has been checking in golfers at Summer Grove since the course opened in 1999.

Summer Grove opened in November of 1999 with a par-72 course that has five tee placements and measures 6,954 yards from the tips. The signature holes play around a big lake and the most fun holes are four short par-4s. From the tournament tees the course has a 73.4 rating and 132 slope.

“My first design was a pretty fun experience,’’ said Jemsek, who also worked as an intern for Joe Lee, designer of Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course, when he was in college. Summer Grove was immediately well received. Golf Digest magazine named it among its Top Ten Best New Affordable Courses in 2000.

After Jemsek finished his work his sister Katherine moved to Newnan and was Summer Grove’s general manager for 18 months. She’s now the president at Cog Hill and Joe has his own course architecture business, Jemsek Golf Services, which operates out of a Chicago office.

CLUBHOUSE — Summer Grove’s clubhouse blends in well with an upscale golf community.

Only Summer Grove carries Joe’s name as a designer but he’s worked on courses worldwide — 90 of them in 29 countries. He spent seven years working with the famed Dye family of designers – father Pete and wife Alice in Indiana, Perry in Denver and P.C. in Ohio – before opting to go off on his own.

He’s specialized in renovations, generally doing about two a year. Among the best known are Windermere in Florida and Glen Lake in Alabama. He also has done some work in course management.

Presently Jemsek is doing a renovation of Caujaral Club in Colombia and recently broke ground on a new practice range at a 36-hole facility in suburban New Orleans.

18TH TEE — The elevated tee at No. 18 sets up a scenic finishing hole.

The work at Summer Grove, though, isn’t done. The Jemseks sold the upscale public layout to the Canongate group, which operates some nearby private courses, in August, 2005 and then reacquired the layout in February, 2013. Joe and Katherine were on the site for three months in the spring of 2013 to “re-launch’’ the golf course. It’s now a semi-public facility with about 100 members.

Summer Grove has a much different look than it did when the Jemseks first took over the 250-acre property and built a course that wanders through native dogwoods and pine trees, preserved wetlands and wildlife habitats. There’s now 2,350 homes in the general area of Summer Grove.

Women’s events will trigger busiest year for French Lick

By Len Ziehm

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Golf’s newest Hall of Fame has been slow in developing since Dave Harner, director of golf at French Lick Resort, announced plans for the LPGA Legends Hall of Fame last September.

The facility, to be located off the lobby of the West Baden Springs Hotel in this little southern Indiana town, is still vacant though Harner has no doubts that the Hall will be a major attraction when the Legends Championship returns to French Lick’s Pete Dye Course from Aug. 15-17.

VALLEYINDOOR — The indoor facility at Valley Links is French Lick’s teaching facility when the weather prevents outdoor play.

“We’d like to do a timeline on women’s golf at French Lick,’’ said Harner, who has been gathering memorabilia for the Hall. “I’ve bought a lot of pictures from the 1959 and 1960 LPGA Championships and we’ve invited all the ladies to send memorabilia. Sandra Hayne sent a pair of golf shoes, Kathy Whitworth sent a putter and Donna Caponi a trophy.’’

French Lick’s history, though, is extraordinary on the women’s side and needs more in its Hall of Fame exhibit. The resort is well-stocked with art of the early 1900s and one, still unidentified, woman is prominent from the days when French Lick was one of the country’s most prominent vacation hotspots.

“We’ve got eight-10 pictures from around 1907 to 1915, a time when you didn’t see many women in golf, and this same lady is in every one of them,’’ said Harner, who would like to find out who this mystery woman is.

In subsequent years French Lick was an LPGA tournament site. It hosted a tour event in 1958 and the LPGA Championships of 1959 and 1960 before a tumbling economy eventually put the resort on the brink of closing. Louise Suggs won the tour stop in ‘58 and Betsy Rawls and Mickey Wright won the LPGA Championships. They were the first inductees into the Legends Hall last year along with Jan Stephenson and Whitworth, the ceremonies coming in conjunction with the Legends Championship won by Lorie Kane.

The first Hall selections were obvious, though there were no big tournaments at French Lick for over four decades. Women still made use of the French Lick fairways, though.

Springs Valley, the town’s high school, was known for its basketball teams thanks to the talents of Larry Bird. It didn’t have a girls golf team, but three of the town’s residents – Libby and Kelly Akers and Angie Mills – earned Division I college scholarships in the 1980s. Libby is now Libby Pancake, and the wife of Tony Pancake – the head pro at Crooked Stick, Indiana’s prominent tournament venue near Indianapolis.

Libby played at Arizona State, Kelly at Southern Methodist and Mills at Indiana. They’ll also be part of the Legends Hall’s timeline, but there’s some suspense about who will be in the next class of inductees.

MYSTERY LADE — Who is this woman? She’s pictured frequently on French Lick courses from 1907-15, and director of golf Dave Harner would like to know who she is.

“It’ll be decided by the Legends board and us, and there’s been no discussion yet,’’ said Harner. “There are so many deserving women. Jane Blalock started the Legends Tour; she would be a natural. Nancy Lopez does more for women’s golf today even though she’s not playing on the LPGA Tour. Then there’s Rosie Jones, Joanne Carner, Carol Mann, Sandra Palmer.’’

The list of candidates goes on. In the meantime, the Legends’ second visit to French Lick will immediately follow the Alice Dye Invitational. The Dye course will also be used for the Big Ten women’s tournament for the first time on April 25-27. The last two years it was played on the Donald Ross Course.

French Lick originally had two 18-holers, the Donald Ross (or Hills) course and the Valley Links, as well as the one of the nation’s first par-3 courses. The Valley was closed in 2005 to make way for a casino and was rebuilt as a nine-holer honoring legendary designer Tom Bendelow and the teaching academy.

The featured layout is now the Dye Course, which has hosted the Professional Players National Championship and will welcome the Big Ten men’s tournament again this spring (May 2-4). It’ll also get French Lick’s first U.S. Golf Assn. national event when the USGA Men’s Team Championship comes from Sept. 30-Oct. 2.

“We’re excited to get that one and hope the USGA sees fit to use us again,’’ said Harner.

Chances are it will, as French Lick will get even more attention in 2015 when the Senior PGA Championship is played there.

The Ross Course will host the Indiana Southern Open, one of the four annual majors for the Indiana PGA, and the Monday qualifying round for the Web.com Tour’s United Leasing Championship, which will be played at Victoria National. French Lick will also host an Evans Scholars fundraiser for the Western Golf Assn.

In the meantime golf instruction manager Mike Kerby and head professional Adam Marshall got the Academy program going for another season after the winter’s 30 inches of snowfall had melted. They toiled at the Valley Links indoor facility during the cold weather with Kerby additionally operating a club-fitting facility. He’s been teaching at French Lick since 1987.

Moving outdoors, they offer a unique program on a practice facility honored two years running by Golf Range Magazine.

“We feel our Academy is unique because most academies are structured,’’ said Kerby. “You arrive at 8 a.m., work on the range, have lunch and then go play. Here we try to build the Academy to suit (our students’ time frame because there’s so many other things to do. We’re regimented to the point where we’ll cover certain things, but we’re not scheduled so tightly where –if we get behind a few minutes – it’ll throw everything off.’’

Kerby has a maximum student to teacher ratio of 4 to 1 for three-day, three-night stays that feature five hours of instruction per day, unlimited golf on the Valley Links and Donald Ross courses and unlimited range and practice facility usage. Students can take a break from the instruction sessions whenever they want and can play their rounds before or after their instruction sessions.

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Getting No. 1 seed gives U.S. boost for International Crown

By Len Ziehm

There’s a drawback to designating one prime superstar in a sport. That policy can work to the detriment of others, and that’s what happened this week, when Tiger Woods announced he wouldn’t play in this year’s Masters. In this case the victim was the LPGA, which had its own big news to unveil at its first major championship of the season.

Woods’ announcement, while definitely newsworthy, was by no means a surprise. He’s been damaged goods most of this season and his decision to undergo back surgery instead of trying to tough it out at Augusta National simply showed common sense.

IC14 Trophy 20140314-2220-3 — This trophy will be on the line at the first International Crown.

The golf media – particularly The Golf Channel – tends to overload on all things Tiger and that wasn’t a good thing this time. Over in Rancho Mirage, Calif., the LPGA made some significant announcements just as Woods revealed his Masters pullout. The result was that the women’s announcements sadly got lost in the shuffle because of this latest example of Tiger-mania.

For one thing, the LPGA also lost one of its top stars for awhile. Suzann Peterssen, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, withdrew from the Kraft Nabisco Championship that begins on Thursday. Like Woods, she has had lingering back problems. Peterssen was also a late withdrawal at last week’s Kia Classic.

Of a more long-term nature, the LPGA also unveiled major particulars on its new International Crown – by far the most significant new event in golf this year. The biennial global team event will make its debut July 24-27 at Cave’s Valley in Owings Mills, Md., and be held for the second time at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, IL., in 2016.

The first International Crown took shape when the stunning 20-pound, 23-inch trophy was unveiled, three Ambassador Sponsors were revealed and ticket sales began on the event’s website – www.LPGAInternationalCrown.com.

Named as Ambassador Sponsors were Hana Financial Group., Pandora Jewelry and Rolex. The trophy was designed and hand-crafted by Tiffany & Co. and required 165 hours of labor during its creation. Grounds tickets were priced at $99 for the week and $25 per day with youngsters under 17 admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult. All that came out in California to start off Kraft Nabisco week.

The latest Crown particulars came after the eight qualifying nations were revealed several months ago and the four players on each team were finalized via the world rankings after the Kia Classic concluded. Pettersen’s absence could well impact this week’s Kraft Nabisco tourney but it will have no bearing on the first International Crown. Even with Pettersen’s lofty ranking Norway didn’t make it into the eight qualifying nations so she has no team to play for in the competition.

Going strictly off the world rankings, the first International Crown figures to be a duel competition between the U.S. and South Korea with the U.S. Definitely going in with more momentum. When the qualifying format was announced in January, 2013, South Korea’s top four players were 44 points better than the U.S. foursome. The final rankings, though, found the U.S. with the 32 points to South Korea’s 33. That means the U.S. will be the top-seeded team at Cave’s Valley.

The U.S. foursome is Stacy Lewis (No. 3 in the world), Paula Creamer (8), Lexi Thompson (9) and Christie Kerr (12). South Korea has world No. 1 Inbee Park, So Yeon Ryu (6), Na Yeon Choi (11) and I.K. Kim (15). Japan, the No. 3 seed, is way back with 131 world ranking points. Its top player is Mika Miyazato, at No. 27.

In pool play the U.S. will face Thailand, Spain and Australia while South Korea will battle Japan, Sweden and Chinese Taipei. That will start the unique competition, which will conclude with singles matches on Sunday, so seeding could be important. The South Koreans, though, don’t feel bad about losing the No. 1 spot in the final weeks leading in.

“We finished as the No. 2 seed,’’ said South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi. “We feel a little less pressure than before. The USA has a lot of pressure now, but it’s all fun for each country.’’

Lewis said improved play by the U.S. after the format was announced is encouraging.

“I’ve been beating my head against the wall for the last year and half and nobody would write about it,’’ said Lewis. “I’ve been saying that American golf is in a really good place….It’s nice to get that No. 1 seed to prove to people that we’re here, and we’re competing.’’

Ex-Kemper pro wants to take Kinderlou Forest to a new level

VALDOSTA, Ga. – Bob Spence is about to hit the 60-year mark as a golf professional. Now his focus is on Kinderlou Forest, a stunning 18-holer just 16 miles from the Florida state line, but Chicago golfers should remember him well.

Spence, who turned pro in 1954 – a few months after graduating from high school, was the first director of golf at Kemper Lakes. The late Jim Kemper hired him in 1978 to direct the opening of the Long Grove course designed by Dick Nugent and Ken Killian. Kemper Lakes was an instant hit. It was the first public course to host a PGA Championship in 1989, a year in which Payne Stewart was crowned the champion.

Kemper also hosted a tournament on the Champions Tour for several years and was the site of a U.S. Women’s Amateur, the Grand Slam of Golf and 24 straight Illinois PGA Championships before an ownership change led to the facility going private.

Spence moved on, too. Prior to the Kemper experience he spent six years as an off-and-on PGA Tour player. Afterwards he established himself as a teacher, working with –among others — the famed Bob Toski, and an expert on course operations.

He enjoyed all those things, but found out that he loved course architecture more than anything else. Spence hooked up with Davis Love III to create Love Golf Designs in 1994. Kinderlou Forest, now celebrating its 10th anniversary for owner John Langdale, was one of the first of the 20 courses that Spence built on Love’s behalf. It is most likely the best.

“We continued until the economy went bad,’’ said Spence. “Now (Love Golf Designs) is on hold, but Davis had a major desire to get into golf course architecture later in his career. I wouldn’t be surprised if the company started up again.’’

Love, of course, was the 1997 PGA champion and the losing U.S. captain in the dramatic Ryder Cup matches played at Medinah last September. He’s resumed his playing career and is also the host for the McGladrey Classic, a PGA Tour event played on his home course in Sea Island, Ga.

Kinderlou Forest has had a great first 10 seasons. Spence has declared it “better than Kemper Lakes’’ and isn’t so sure it isn’t the best course in Georgia – even though that state is home to legendary Augusta National, where the Masters tournament is played every April.

“There’s a lot of similarities between here and Kemper Lakes,’’ said Spence. “Both are great golf courses. Kemper Lakes has a lot of water and length. Kinderlou Forest doesn’t have as much water, but has variety in length and look on every hole.’’

Spence won’t designate a signature hole at Kinderlou, believing all 18 are special. The most striking visually, though, is the par-5 fourth, which features a large, deep cavern. You can play over it or around it. Either way, you don’t forget it.

The cavern, created when soil was needed to build a highway fronting the course, also extends in front of the tee at the par-3 fifth hole.

The lack of houses on the property is another similarity between Kemper Lakes and Kinderlou. So is the personality of the owners. Langdale and his family have long been prominent in various business and political endeavors in south Georgia, just as Jim Kemper was prominent in the insurance world in Chicago.

“Jim Kemper was one of the most special people I’ve ever known,’’ said Spence. “He became a fatherly figure to me, helping my life in any way he could. Mr. Langdale is the same way. He wanted a showplace for Lowndes County. He wanted to give back, just like Jim Kemper did at Kemper Lakes. I’ve been very fortunate to work with special people.’’

As was the case at Kemper Lakes, Spence moved on to other projects after Kinderlou Forest was up and running. Langdale brought him back six months ago to take Kinderlou Forest to a new level.

The first 10 years certainly weren’t bad. About 200 homes were built on the 4,000-acre property and the course, built on 600 of those acres, has already hosted a pro tour event (the Web. com Tour’s South Georgia Classic will be played there for the eighth time in April).

Kinderlou Forest, though, stands somewhat alone on the outskirts of Valdosta, a city of 54,000 and home to Valdosta State University and its 13,000 students. The weather makes golf an option year-around and overall living is affordable.

“We’re in the process of building it into a community, possibly a retirement community,’’ said Spence. “We’re trying to get people to come in here, and if they do they’ll want to stay.’’

Two Chicago area club professionals, Phil Benson and J. Anderson, have already brought groups from Chicago to check out what Kinderlou Forest has to offer.

As good as it is, Kinderlou Forest — at 7,474 yards from the tips –is no course for retirees, so a second — much shorter layout — will be needed. A lodge is also a consideration, though Kinderlou has townhome villas available for golfing guests and plenty of hotels are nearby. But space for more homes is abundant.

“If Kinderlou goes as planned we have to have a lot of people coming from out of state, and a lot coming to retire,’’ said Spence. “It’s a great place to live. We’re building an atmosphere that you’d rather be here than anywhere else.’’

IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Kiawah remains in the forefront after landing 2021 PGA

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – With so many golf facilities struggling these days, Roger Warren’s report on the popular Kiawah Resort is eye-catching to say the least.

“We had the best year in the history of the resort last year,’’ said Warren who left the Chicago area for Kiawah in 2003 and has been the resort’s president since 2005. “There was a halo effect from (hosting the 2012) PGA Championship, but we experienced four years of double digit growth from 2009 on.’’

Why is that?

“I know it flies in the face of what’s happening in the rest of the game, but there’s a segment in this country that’s doing just fine – and that’s my customer,’’ said Warren. “They continue to come here. This is a beautiful island, and there’s a lot to do here.’’

This five-course facility near Charleston, S.C., doesn’t need a commercial after already hosting an historic Ryder Cup (in 1991) and a major – the PGA, won by Rory McIlroy. Its Pete Dye-designed Ocean Course has witnessed it all, and it’s due to witness another big one. The PGA of America has announced that the PGA Championship will return to Kiawah for its 103rd playing in 2021.

“From a golf perspective, at the Ocean Course there’s not much higher you can go,’’ said Warren. “Now there’s a need to repeat. We’re looking at another opportunity for a PGA Championship. The Ryder Cup has never gone back to the same location in the U.S., so – while we’d love to have it back – I don’t think that will happen.’’

The return of the PGA seems reasonable but it’ll be awhile.

“We think we’ll get another PGA, but it’s booked through 2019,’’ said Warren, “and we’d prefer not to do it in 2020. In 2012 (Kiawah’s last PGA) we were in competition with a domestic Ryder Cup at Medinah and the Summer Olympics. When you do a major sports event in that climate it’s difficult to get major corporate support. We’d prefer not to do it in 2020 because there’s a domestic Ryder Cup at Hazeltine (in Minnesota) and the Olympics again.’’

A year later, though, things would be much more enticing.

“In 2021 that’d be the 30th anniversary of our Ryder Cup, and it’d be nice to play on that history, what those ’91 matches meant to it,’’ said Warren.

If not a PGA, then what?

kiawahjoy — The Kiawah clubhouse provides a dramatic backdrop to the finishing hole at the Ocean Course.

“At the Ocean Course you almost don’t do anything else,’’ said Warren, “but we’d do a Presidents Cup. That’s a team event that would be fun.’’

Kiawah’s bottom line, though, isn’t getting another big event on its most prestigious course.

“It’s a major championship golf course, but anybody can play it,’’ said Warren. “It’s hard, but still so much fun from the right set of tees. We’ll continue to make it a great experience for the people who play it.’’

Kiawah is much more than the Ocean Course. The other layouts will get special attention over the next few years. Osprey Point will get a makeover this year, Cougar Point in 2015 and Oak Point the year after that.

“We’ll probably build another hotel in West Beach, too,’’ said Warren. “Our challenge is to keep going, but it’s fun.’’

Things were much different when Warren arrived in 2003. A Western Illinois University graduate who grew up in the downstate Illinois community of Galesburg, Warren started in golf working three summers at Village Links, Glen Ellyn’s 27-hole facility. His main job was as a high school teacher and basketball and golf coach, first at Dundee Crown and then at Illinois Math and Science Academy.

He didn’t enter golf full-time until he was 38, when he took the head professional’s job at Village Links in 1986. He moved on to Seven Bridges in Woodridge , IL., when that facility opened in 1991 and remained there until going to Kiawah.

“I came here because I wanted the opportunity to do five courses, rather than one,’’ he said. “It was a career growth thing for me. You’re in a new region of the country, with new grasses. Then I was here about 18 months and the guy in (the president’s job) left and they asked me do it as an interim.’’

Gator — Alligators at the Turtle Point course measured in the eight-foot range.

Not long after that the interim tag was lifted and Warren was promoted to president of the resort. He presided over the opening of its Sanctuary Hotel in August of 2004. At the same time he was climbing the ranks of the PGA of America hierarchy. He served as that organization’s president in 2005-06.

“I had to learn the hotel and villa business and 12-13 restaurants also became my responsibility,’’ he said. “It all came together at the same time. I was one busy person, but it’s all been great.’’

The PGA duties were all voluntary, but they kept him away from Kiawah for 132 nights. That’s not unusual for the men who have held that job since then.

“Some have been out 170-180 days. I couldn’t do that,’’ said Warren. “If I had to do that job now I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t give up the time.’’

But he did then, and Kiawah has thrived.

“When I first got here people didn’t know much about Kiawah,’’ said Warren. “I came here in 1992 for a PGA meeting in Charleston, then I came again for another meeting. I never thought about traveling this way (from Chicago). We’d go to Florida or Arizona, not here. But it’s amazing that we’ve gotten a lot of people from Ohio and Illinois who are here now as guests or (home) owners.’’

Warren arrived at Kiawah after the Ryder Cup effort in 1991, but he has great memories of the event in his capacities with the PGA. He was captain of the U.S. team in the Junior Ryder Cup competition during the last staging at Medinah.

“Of all thing things I was blessed to do with the PGA, the Junior Ryder Cup was one of the finest,’’ he said. “We had a great group of kids, and they’re all playing at major colleges now.’’

Medinah’s Ryder Cup, though, got Warren thinking about changes to improve the epic competition.

“As a past president we’re almost over the line on what the Ryder Cup is now,’’ he said. “They had 50,000 people there, and it was the first time I went to a Ryder Cup and felt I just couldn’t see anything. For that kind of event people would pay more to see more and you wouldn’t have to have 50,000 there, I’m hoping as we move forward we can make an adjustment. It’s the greatest golf event in the world. We ought to make sure people who go there have a great experience.’’

Author: lenz