Author: lenz

Zero Friction’s new golf cart is a big hit at the PGA Show

Zero Friction president John Iacono introduced a three-in-one golf bag at the PGA Merchandise Show.

ORLANDO, FL. – The biggest show in golf wrapped up on Friday at the Orange County Convention Center, and the 69th PGA Merchandise Show was a bit different than the previous 68 stagings. The pandemic forced cancelation of the show in 2021 and the two-year hiatus took its toll

Normally the show has about 1,000 brands showing their products for three days at the OCCC. This year there were only about 600. The event’s Demo Day — an outdoor attraction at Orange County National the day before the OCCC opens its doors — had only a sparse crowd this time, in part because of cold, rainy weather.

While most all of the major equipment manufacturers were absent, the show was by no means a downer.  Zero Friction, the Oak Brook Terrace-based company that was a big hit at the show two years ago, didn’t miss a beat with the big companies gone.

“I was extremely disappointed to not see the large brands, the ones who consider themselves to be the leaders of the industry, to take this opportunity to back out,’’ said John Iacono, the Zero Friction president.  “I don’t think you’re a leader of much of anything if you’re not on the front lines. Here it’s the rest of the industry – the small brands like ours. Everybody had difficulties keeping their businesses going during the pandemic. The bigger brands, who profited heavily in this industry, didn’t take time to have a smaller presence here, and I feel that’s sad. It’s a sore eye for the golf industry when the leaders aren’t leading at all.’’

How the show, which has been closed to the public but still drew 40,000 industry members annually, will change in 2023 remains to be seen but Iacono is optimistic about his own company’s growth.

Zero Friction started as a manufacturer of wooden tees in 2006 and expanded to other golf products in 2012.  Both its line of tees and gloves were recipients of Industry Honors by the International Network of Golf at the 2020 show, and since then the company opened sales offices in Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City and London added its own distribution center in Melrose Park.

With many of its products produced overseas, a quality control director based in Indonesia was added to the staff. The gloves are now sold in 26 countries, and Iacono believes that the newest model of tees will be a big hit.  This model has a divot repair tool built in.

“A tee product that can be used to repair a green that can be put in every player’s hand – that’s a must have,’’ said Iacono.

The company’s newest product, the Wheel Pro golf bag, was one of the biggest hits of this year’s show.  It’s a three-in-one bag.  It starts as a push bag.  If you want to walk and carry, you pop the wheels off. If you want to ride you stick it in your cart.  That’s one versatile golf bag, and it carries a retail price of $349.

In May Iacono plans to introduce a completely recycled golf ball called the Eagle Z. The covers of old golf balls will be scraped off, recycled and put on the cores of the old balls. Ball prices figure to be soaring because of problems obtaining surlyn, a key ingredient.

“The pandemic gave us an opportunity to structure differently for long-term growth,’’ said Iacono.  “We’ll grow as long as we produce interesting new products that show technological advancement and are priced fairly.’’

LPGA’s first full-field event will carry on without Annika

Last week’s cold weather hampered Nelly Korda (right) in the LPGA’s Tournament of Champions but warmer temperatures are expected this week at Boca Rio.

 

BOCA RATON, FL. — The first full field event of the LPGA’s 2022 season tees off on Thursday at Boca Rio Golf Club.  It’ll have 120 players, but not Annika Sorenstam.

Sorenstam, who won 72 tournaments on the LPGA tour before taking 13 years off from golf competition, is still tinkering with a comeback but her next tournament won’t be for a while. She was a big reason why the LPGA’s season-opening Tournament of Champions was a big hit.

Despite cold, sometimes rainy, weather the gallery turned out in bigger than usual numbers to see Sorenstam compete at Lake Nona, her home course.  She did well, but is taking a break now.

“I won’t play next week.  It’s the PGA (Merchandise) Show (in Orlando), and we have a fun week coming up,’’ she said.  “We have a busy week with meetings with sponsors.’’

“Next week’’ is also the Gainbridge Championship. Sorenstam will leave that one up to Danielle Kang, who took a three-shot victory in the LPGA portion of the Tournament of Champions on Sunday, and her  main rivals of the previous four days – Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Canadian Brooke Henderson and the Korda sisters – Nelly and Jessica.

Nelly is the defending champion in the Gainbridge, having won last year when the event was played at Lake Nona. Kang won the T of C,  finishing at 16-under-par for 72 holes and earned $225,000.

“I shot 4-under on a cold day and 3-under (in the third round) – probably the best I’ve ever played in the cold,’’ she said.  Last year Kang lost the Tournament of Champions title to Korda’s sister Jessica in a playoff at Tranquilo, another course in the Orlando area.

Kang, a 29-year old Californian, won for the sixth time on the LPGA tour but her biggest win was her first. She won the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, one of the circuit’s majors, at Olympia Fields.

Sorenstam has a couple tournaments coming up, one in February and a senior event in March. She lost a playoff to former major league pitcher Derek Lowe in the celebrity division of the T of C.  Lowe got the win by making a 25-foot birdie putt on the first hole of sudden death but Sorenstam took the whole four-day test in stride.

“I’m not sure what I expected, but I’m super pleased with the great pairings I had all week,’’ said Sorenstam.  “If this tournament was played at any other course I probably wouldn’t be playing, but this is why I came here in the first place.  The support is fantastic, I love this golf course and I’m a proud member for sure.’’

Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom won the Gainbridge title when the event was played at Boca Rio in 2020, and she’ll also be in the field this week. She finished 17th in the Tournament of Champions.

Nelly Korda led the T of C after 54 holes but shot 75 on Sunday to finish in a tie for fourth.

“I was freezing,’’ she said.  “I always get colder than it actually is.  That’s why I always stay away from tournaments that are always in the cold.’’

Korda lives in Bradenton, FL., and it’s rarely as cold in the Sunshine State as it was last week. Lexi Thompson, who is from Delray Beach, FL., will make her season debut at Boca Rio.  She didn’t qualify for the T of C field. Australian Karrie Webb is also in the field.  A former major champion, she will return to the LPGA circuit for the first time in two years. The Gainbridge field includes 16 of the top 25 in the world rankings.

The sponsor exemptions are also interesting.  Taylor Collins, a teaching professional at nearby Coral Ridge Country Club in Ft. Lauderdale, was the first woman to win the South Florida PGA Section title in 42 years and Nishtha Madan, a promising player from India, will be making her LPGA debut.  She will compete on the Symetra Tour in 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LPGA’s T of C turned into the `Annika Show’

LAKE NONA, FL. – Annika Sorenstam didn’t win on Sunday but – as the only woman in a 50-player group of celebrities that included famous sport stars like Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Brian Urlacher, Jeremy Roenick, John Smoltz, Sterling Sharp and Tom Glavin, the 51-year old golf legend did just fine. No doubt she was the star of the show at the first event of the LPGA season

She beat all of those big names in her group at the LPGA Tournament of Champions, but lost the celebrity title to Derek Lowe – a major-league pitcher for 17 seasons.  He earned $100,000 by winning their one-hole playoff after Sorenstam forced extra holes with a clutch par on the last hole of regulation play.

“To play against Annika Sorenstam, how many people can say that – and in a playoff and prevail?’’ said Lowe.  “She’s a special person.  She means a lot to Lake Nona (the host club) and to all of golf.’’

Sorenstam, who won 17 tournaments on the LPGA tour before taking 13 years off from golf competition, is still tinkering with a comeback.

“I won’t play next week.  It’s the PGA (Merchandise) Show (in Orlando), and we have a fun week coming up,’’ she said.  “We have a busy week with meetings with sponsors.’’

“Next week’’ is also the LPGA’s first full-field event of 2022 – the Gainbridge Championship in Boca Raton, FL. She’ll leave that one up to Danielle Kang, who took a three-shot victory in the LPGA portion of the Tournament of Champions on Sunday, and her rivals of the previous four days – Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Canadian Brooke Henderson and the Korda sisters – Nelly and Jessica.

Kang shot a 68 Sunday on the same 6,617-yard layout that the men played on.  She finished at 16-under-par for 72 holes and earned $225,000.

“I shot 4-under on a cold day and 3-under yesterday – probably the best I’ve ever played in the cold,’’ she said.  Last year Kang lost the Tournament of Champions title to Korda’s sister Jessica in a playoff at Tranquilo, another course in the Orlando area.

Kang, a 29-year old Californian, won for the sixth time on the LPGA tour but her biggest win was her first. She won the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, one of the circuit’s majors, at Olympia Fields.

As good as Kang was, the star of the show was Sorenstam, who was paired with the top LPGA players throughout the four rounds.  The women’s competition was at stroke play, the celebs played in Modified Stableford point system.

“I’m not sure what I expected, but I’m super pleased with the great pairings I had all week,’’ said Sorenstam.  “If this tournament was played at any other course I probably wouldn’t be playing, but this is why I came here in the first place.  The support is fantastic, I love this golf course and I’m a proud member for sure.’’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annika, Nelly bring an interesting finish to the LPGA’s T of C

Annika Sorenstam, with husband Mike McGee on the bag, is showing — at age 51 — that she can play with the LPGA’s best players in the circuit’s Tournament of Champions.

LAKE NONA, FL. – The Ladies PGA Tour, like the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, opens each season with a Tournament of Champions.  The women do it a little differently, though. They hold a celebrity event in conjunction with theirs, and Saturday’s third round had an even more unusual twist.

Paired in the final group was the legendary Annika Sorenstam, winner of 72 LPGA titles, and current world No. 1 Nelly Korda.  Both could win titles in today’s final round.

The 22-year old Korda, whose older sister Jessica is the defending champion, owns a one-stroke lead over Danielle Kang and Gaby Lopez among the 29 LPGA members.  Sorenstam, who had been out of tournament golf for 13 years until making a mini-comeback last year, has a two-point lead in the celebrity division.

Sorenstam, a member of the Lake Nona club that is hosting the tournament, is 51 and the only woman in a 50-player field of celebrities that include former Chicago sports heroes Jeremy Roenick, Brian Urlacher, Jon Lester and A.J. Pierzynski. Because the LPGA players are competing at stroke play and the celebrities are using a Stableford point system, it’s  to difficult to compare their performances.

Last year Sorenstam, on a whim, entered an LPGA tournament and made the cut.  Then she was a run-away winner of the U.S. Women’s Senior Open. When she headed the field in the Tournament of Champions, limited to players who have won LPGA titles in the last two years, a comeback story seemed in the offing.

Sorenstam didn’t exactly quell those rumors this week.

“I’m thinking how much golf I’m going to play after this event,’’ she said. “I’m not really sure.’’

She is raising a family now, and that’s just one factor.

“There’s really a fine balance, especially when you play with the best,’’ she said.  “You see the level of players you’re playing against and you realize you’re not there anymore.  My mindset isn’t the way it used to be.’’

She remains a drawing card, however.  In previous years the celebrity competitors drew as much attention as the LPGA competitors in the Tournament of Champions.  On Saturday, in chilly weather that included some rain, that wasn’t the case.  The LPGA regulars and the celebrities were mixed together and the bigger than usual roving galleries supported all the women, but especially Sorenstam and the Korda sisters.

“(Sorenstam) has so much game.  It was cool to see,’’ said Nelly Korda.  “She shot 1- or 2-under on the back nine.  She’s not hitting it as far off the tee, but her woods and iron game is so good.’’

 

 

Malpede, Morrison announce their retirements

The 69th PGA Merchandise Show is coming up this week in Orlando, FL., and that’s generally a big week for club professionals nation-wide who use the big event at the Orange County Convention Center to begin preparations for another season.

It won’t be quite the same this year for two of Chicago’s longest-standing club leaders. Both Bob Malpede and Brian Morrison retired once the calendar turned to 2022.  Malpede, who will attend the show to renew acquaintances, finished a 16-year run  in a dual role – general manager and head golf professional – at White Deer Run, in Vernon Hills.

Morrison, who spent 21 seasons at Olympia Fields and was the storied club’s director of golf, is now living in Florida.  The 2003 U.S. Open, 2015 U.S. Amateur and 2020 BMW Championship were all held at Olympia during Morrison’s tenure there. Douglas Farrell has moved up from head professional to become Olympia’s new director of golf.

Malpede isn’t ready to end residence in Illinois, where his golf roots are deep.  He got started in the business at Pistakee Bay, in McHenry, when his father owned the club. He formally entered the professional ranks in 1972 at Glen Flora, in Waukegan, and also did time as an assistant pro at Knollwood, in Lake Forest, and Bel-Air and Riviera, in California.

After landing his first head pro job at Columbine, in Colorado,  Malpede returned to Illinois where he got the golf operations started at two new clubs.  He was the first head pro at both Stonebridge, in Aurora, and Stonewall Orchard, in Grayslake, and remains a managing partner at Stonewall. He’ll remain on staff at White Deer Run as pro emeritus.

Another club has announced a change in head pros.  Stonebridge has named Steve Gillie to the job.  He had been a teaching pro at Boulder Ridge, in Lake in the Hills.

NEW WGA CHAIRMAN:  Joe Desch is the new chairman of the Western Golf Association.  The Cincinnati resident succeeds Kevin Buggy, of Park Ridge Country Club, in the leadership role.

Desch, along with four of his brothers, attended college on an WGA Evans’ Scholarships.  Desch attended Miami of Ohio after working as a caddie as a youth.

“It’s exciting, and very humbling, being an (Evans Scholars) alumni and having a chance to do this,’’ said Desch, who has lofty goals for the organization that has raised money for college scholarships for caddies since 1930. Over 1,000 students are now attending colleges on Evans Scholarships. He’s been on the WGA board of directors since 2021.

“Now the goal is to have 1,500 Evans Scholars by 2030,’’ said Desch. “We’re moving to a more nationwide organization and trying to be much more than a Midwest scholarship.  We also want more diversity – women and kids of color among our caddies as well as at our staff headquarters.’’

 

HERE AND THERE – Naperville Country Club, celebrating its 100-year anniversary, has broken ground on a $2.7 million clubhouse renovation….Luke Donald, the former Northwestern star and world No. 1, has struggled with back problems in recent years but he made the cut in his first 2022 start at the Sony Open of Hawaii on Sunday.  He tied for 27th, his best finish of the PGA Tour’s 2021-22 wrap-around season.….Neither Chicago club manufacturer, Wilson or Tour Edge, will be represented at the PGA Merchandise Show but Zero Friction, of Oakbrook Terrace, will have a prominent role.  It has created the official tee and indoor hitting range for the show and will also introduce its new push-cart golf bag and TheraTech golf glove.

 

PGA Show, LPGA tourneys give Florida the real start to golf season

Madelene Sagstrom (left) and the Korda sisters — Nelly (left) and Jessica — will be prime time players when the LPGA opens its season with three tournaments in Florida.

Dismiss the fact that the PGA Tour has played tournaments in Hawaii the last two weeks. The 2022 golf season really starts this week. That’s when the golf spotlight shifts to Florida and will stay there for a while.

The PGA Merchandise Show returns after taking a year off because of pandemic concerns and the LPGA – after concluding 2021 with two stops in the Sunshine State – gets back in action with its first three tournaments of the new year in Florida.

The PGA Tour returns to the mainland with the Farmers Insurance Open in California and PGA Tour Champions has its Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, but those events don’t match the glut of activity the women are planning around the Merchandise Show.

First event is this week’s LPGA’s 2022 debut, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.  In addition to the new title sponsor the tourney has a new venue, Lake Nona on the outskirts of Orlando.    It’ll be a four-day 72-hole battle of players who have won on the circuit in the last two years and there’ll be a celebrity competition mixed in.  Play begins on Thursday.

As soon as the last putt drops at Lake Nona on Sunday the scene shifts to nearby Orange County National for a scaled down version of the Demo Day that traditionally preceded the big show at the Orange County Convention Center.  Most the major club manufacturers won’t be at the show this time, but there’ll be an array of golf-related companies on hand. It won’t be quite the traditional New Year’s celebration when golf diehards gather, but it’ll be as close to a return to normalcy as we can get for now.

It won’t be easy for the LPGA’s tournament offerings to match last year’s, either.

The 2021 season started with Jessica Korda winning the Tournament of Champions and her sister Nelly winning the first regular season event, the Gainbridge Championship then played at Lake Nona. That was only the second time sisters won back-to-back events on the LPGA Tour, the first being in 2000 when Lake Nona member Annika Sorenstam and her sister Charlotta  pulled off the feat.

This year’s T of C has a new site and a $1.5 million purse for the 72-hole no-cut tournament.  The field includes six of the top 10 in the women’s world rankings and also features Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, who calls Lake Nona “my member course’’ because she practices there throughout the season; and Michelle Wie West.

This year the Gainbridge moves back to Boca Rio, in Boca Raton, with Nelly going in as the defending champion in a 120-player field with $2 million in prize money on the line from Jan. 27-30.  She’s coming off a spectacular year and the Gainbridge win started it all.  It came in late February of 2021 and was her fourth professional win but the first with her parents, both Florida residents, on hand.

Nelly went on to win four more titles in 2021 including the Olympic gold medal  en route to claiming the No. 1 world ranking.  Her sister will be the defending champion at the Tournament of Champions.

Though Nelly is the defender at Boca Rio, Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom feels like one, too.  She won the 2020 Gainbridge tournament there.  It was her first win as a pro.

“I’m biased about this place,’’ said Sagstrom, who now lives in Orlando and will also be in the field at Lake Nona. “On Friday (of her win in 2020) I shot 62 – my lowest round by three shots.’’

Adding to that, she did it with the father of her boyfriend working as an emergency caddie when her usual bag-toter couldn’t get to the tournament on time. Her game slipped a bit after the tour shut down play a month later.

“Before the pandemic I was on a role, but then we were out for five months and I lost my rhythm for a while,’’ she said, “but I did finish second in a major (T2 at British Open) and got it back.’’

The Gainbridge field also includes Delray Beach resident Lexi Thompson, who will be making her 2022 debut.  She didn’t qualify for the Tournament of Champions.  The field also includes Brooke Henderson, the popular Canadian player; New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Korea’s Inbee Park, who is coming off a lengthy layoff from competition.

After that the LPGA concludes its run of Florida tourney to start the season at the Feb. 3-5 Drive On Championship at the Crown Colony course  Ft. Myers.

 

 

This author made the ultimate American golf trip

 

If you’re a golfer you’ve got to envy Tom Coyne. Lots of author types – me included to some extent – have been more than willing to write about their golf travels in some form or another. Coyne has done it much better than most. He’s a globe-trotting golfer with lots of stories to tell.

Coyne wrote two books based on his visits to hundreds of courses overseas.  There were called “A Course Called Ireland’’ and “A Course Called Scotland.’’ An Philadelphia-based writer, I found it odd  that he attacked courses overseas before exploring the great American golf scene closer to home, but he made up for that with his just-released “A Course Called America’’ (Avid Reader Press).

This is the most readable in-depth book on golf travel that I’ve ever encountered.   Coyne’s passion for golf is obvious, and he’s gone the extra mile – or many miles – to do the job right.

His plan was to play courses in all 50 states, and he did that over a series of trips that took him to 295 courses.  He played 5,182 holes over 301 rounds and covered (mostly walking) 1,748,777 yards.  In every stop he provides historical tidbits while mixing in his own encounters with a wide range of people along the way. It’s by no means limited to an analysis of the courses he visited. That approach has been tried by many golf fanatics before him and doesn’t make for very interesting reading.

Coyne tells his stories in 383 pages and then wraps it up by listing all the courses he played and naming his top 10 in several categories. Naturally I want to take issue with him on some of that, though I’ve played only 19 of the 80 he cited for special mention. Coyne’s a better golfer than I ever was, but resort golf is my thing, too, so I’m happy to note that I played seven of his top 10 in that category. His favorite resort destination was Gamble Sands, in Washington.  I’ll have to find a way to get to that one.

We did agree on Nos. 2-4 – Oregon’s Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails and Wisconsin’s Mammoth Dunes. We also both liked Florida’s Streamsong Red, Michigan’s Black course on The Loop layout and Arcadia Bluffs and Mississippi’s Old Waverly.

We’re both fans of short courses, and he had a surprise third pick in that category – Evanston’s Canal Shores. We shared enthusiasm for The Cradle, in North Carolina; Palm Beach Par Three, in Florida; and Top of the Rock, in Missouri.

As far as Best Golf States are concerned, we have big differences.  Coyne doesn’t include Florida or Illinois in his top 10.  New York is Coyne’s No. 1 – really??? – and Minnesota is No. 10 – he’s got to be kidding!

Anyway, a fun read that is full of interesting background information. It’ll challenge the knowledge of even the most avid golf historians.

 

 

 

Aviv’s oxygen therapy could become a big boost for golfers

With golf carts dominating street parking lots The Villages is clearly a hotbed for the sport and an ideal place to introduce an innovative new method designed to make players better.

THE VILLAGES, Florida – Golf is huge in The Villages, a fast-growing vibrant over-55 adult community in Central Florida.  That’s obvious.  Golf carts are everywhere, and not just at the courses.

Golf carts of all sizes and colors fill the area’s parking lots as well as those at the 12 championship and 40 executive courses and the three golf academies. Not all the golf carts are driven by golfers, either, but they are entrenched in The Villages’ lifestyle.

This year, though, the most significant offering for golfers might not involve the courses or the golf carts.  The Aviv Golf Performance Program was introduced four months ago, and it involves much more than hitting quality golf shots. It’s for people who are very serious about their long-range health as well as their golf improvement.

The program’s time requirements are demanding, and its $56,500 price for a 12-week program includes a personalized medical team and sophisticated equipment but doesn’t include lodging or meals.  You need to be on site because the program is built around Aviv’s proprietary hyperbaric oxygen therapy protocol, and its treatments run two hours a day, five days a week. More than anything the therapy treatments set the Aviv program apart from other golf performance offerings, but there’s more to it than that.

Aviv Clinics also include a personal protocol of neuro-cognitive therapy, physiological training and nutritional coaching in addition to golf coaching.  As far as the U.S. goes, the Aviv program is offered only in The Villages. The program, based off 12 years of research done by Dr. Shai Efrati in Israel, was taken to Dubai just after its arrival in Florida. That’s where golf specific instruction was incorporated.

Here’s one of the dives, where the hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments are administered.

More facilities are scheduled to be added in 2023, but the golf component at those has not been determined.

“Our target population is healthy individuals in the 40-45 range who started seeing a slip in their golf games,’’ said Aaron Tribby, Aviv’s head of physical performance in Florida.  “But we see a lot of other clients who have other problems.  The youngest we’ve had here is 20, the oldest 95.’’

Victims of strokes and brain injuries have benefitted from the hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments, and they’re also designed to reverse biological aging. Dave Globig, the chief executive officer of the Aviv Clinics in The Villages, and physician Mohammed Elamir both thought the program sounded too good to be true when they were invited to see it in operation in Israel but they became believers.

“At first I was very skeptical,’’ said Globig, who had worked in the health care industry for 25 years. “But I was intrigued.  Our program is still very cutting edge, and taking it is almost a full-time job. Most of our clients are battling the aging process.  They’re afraid of dementia, of losing their physical capacity.  That’s why they come to us. For aging people, what’s their No. 1 sport? Golf.’’

Elamir, the son of a neurologist, was a general practitioner looking for new opportunities.  He found the Aviv program a help in his father’s recovery from a small stroke and now oversees the oxygen therapy aspect.

Aviv’s logo — and a depiction of the brain — adorns the welcoming area at the clinic in The Villages.

Smokers are not allowed in that program, and the inclusion of golf was not taken lightly.

Aviv made a major commitment to the sport as sponsor of November’s Aviv Dubai Championships, which concluded the season for what is now called the DP World Tour. (That’s the rebranded name for what had been the European PGA Tour). DP World had been Aviv’s business partner in Dubai and got Aviv its first title sponsorship in golf.

Aviv’s golf program begins with a week of testing that includes blood work, nutrition, a cognitive and genetic evaluation, brain scan and physiology and strength exams. Then the hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions begin for each client, and they’re supplemented by appointments with 50-60 staffers specializing in other areas of need.

Each client has a personalized treatment program. Golf sessions are included in that, and the golf professionals meet with Aviv staffers on a regular basis to analyze the needs and progress of each client.

With pandemic protocols in place Dr. Mohammed Elamir explains how the Aviv Golf Performance Program works in conjunction with the medical components.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and many of the other treatment programs, are conducted at the Central Florida Aviv clinic – a floor in the Center for Advanced Healthcare, It’s a complex that includes the Brownwood Hotel & Spa, a Wolfgang Puck restaurant and offices for other  providers in the healthcare field.

The oxygen therapy is administered in “dives’’ – rooms that have chambers (also called suites) for about 12 clients.  In the two-hour sessions the clients receive oxygen for 20 minutes, then are off for five minutes, and that routine is repeated until the two hours are up.  Clients wear oxygen masks (not the masks worn by so many to combat Covid in these pandemic times)  and they engage in cognitive exercises on a tablet during the process. Elamir says they only experience a popping of the ears for the first 10 minutes. Then he likens the experience to taking a ride in a small airplane.

The reward is stem cell, blood vessel and neurological growth that optimizes brain performance and improves overall health. Aviv’s leadership claims that – in conjunction with the other treatments and coaching – will translate into better golf scores as well as better overall health.

Cognitive benefits are said to be improved hand/eye coordination, increased focus and attention and better mental clarity and patience. Physical benefits are enhanced swing quality, faster recovery after a round and improved strength, mobility and stability.

“One of the biggest challenges we have in health care is that it’s so fragmented,’’ said Globig.  “Can you find a similar program (for golf development)? I’m sure you could, but they won’t have the clinical elements involved, and the foundation to go with it.’’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medinah announcement might be highlight of 2021 Chicago golf season

That horrible pandemic made 2021 a difficult year for everybody, but it was somewhat less so for those in the Chicago area golf industry. The courses were busy, the big events were back on schedule and an extraordinarily large number of facilities took on expansion projects.

The biggest was at Heritage Oaks, the Northbrook Park District’s facility formerly called Sportsman’s. It got a remake of its 27 holes and a new clubhouse, a $12.75 million project with the clubhouse costing $6 million. The facility was closed throughout 2020, but everything was up and running in August of 2021.

Another overhaul, at The Preserve at Oak Meadows in Addison, was brought to an end with the building of a new $12.6 million clubhouse that opened in early August. The work on its 18-hole course, owned by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and long beset by flooding issues, required a $16 million renovation that was completed three years earlier.

The Preserve had been in operation since 1923 (as Elmhurst Country Club), and Heritage Oaks dated back to 1931 (as Sky Harbor Golf Club ). The revival of these two longstanding facilities were a big deal, but not as impressive cost-wise as a project that Medinah Country Club announced in the waning days of December.

A membership vote approved a $23.5 million renovation of the club’s famous No. 3 course, a layout that opened in 1923 and has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup. Work won’t start on the renovation until the fall of 2022 and the new version won’t re-open until sometime in 2024 but, golf-wise, it’ll be the talk of the town for a few years at least.

The club wants to have the new version in top shape for the 2026 President’s Cup matches. That’ll be the next of Medinah’s high-profile events.  The work will be done by OCM, an Australian design firm headed by former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and partners Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead.

While Medinah No. 3 has long been one of the world’s most famous courses, its new version will look much different. It’ll have three new holes, with a five-hole short course and enlarged putting green also part of the renovation plans.

William Kuehn, the Medinah president, said the renovation wasn’t taken on just because the President’s Cup is coming.

“The plan encapsulates a continuing vision to provide compelling tournament play and a world-class golf experience for members, guests and the professional tournament player,’’ said Kuehn.

Michael Scimo, a former club president and the club’s chairman for the President’s Cup, said Medinah “has an option for another tour event.’’ That includes the possibility of a U.S. Open returning to the Chicago area. That event was last held at Medinah in 1990 and the event hasn’t been at a Chicago course since Olympia Fields hosted in 2003.

Medinah had more to celebrate in 2021 than the massive plans for its showcase course.  Tee-K Kelly, a Medinah member, won the Illinois Open and also earned conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour, which offers a direct pathway to the PGA Tour for its best players in the 2022 season.

BEFORE 2021 is gone there were some other big memories made within the Chicago golf world:

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy earned his PGA Tour card thanks to his solid play over the last two years on the Korn Ferry circuit, and he immediately proved he can compete on the premier circuit when he made the cut in three of his first four tournaments as a PGA member.

Highwood’s Patrick Flavin had a huge week in the PGA’s Bermuda Open, winning $99,125 for a tie for 17th finish after making the starting field through Monday qualifying.

Batavia-based equipment manufacturer Tour Edge made a huge signing in adding Bernhard Langer to its roster of PGA Tour Champions staffers.  Langer went on to win the Charles Schwab Cup, and Tour Edge got a late-season boost when John Daly, with 13 Tour Edge clubs in his bag, teamed up with his son to the win the PNC Championship.

Winnetka’s Elizabeth Szokol, in her second season as Illinois’ lone LPGA Tour player, made a huge climb on the money list from her rookie campaign.  Thanks largely to a third-place finish (worth $198,617) in the Founders Cup, Szokol topped the $500,000 mark for the season.

The Western Golf Association announced it’s bringing the BMW Championship back to Chicago area.  It’ll be played at Olympia Fields in 2023. The WGA also landed a new sponsor for its Korn Ferry event. Formerly the Evans Scholars Invitational, it’ll be known as the NV5 Invitational Presented by First Midwest Bank when it is held in May at The Glen Club in Glenview.

While Mistwood’s Andy Mickelson won the Illinois PGA Championship, the section’s players of the year were Skokie’s Garrett Chaussard in the regular division and Blackberry Oaks’ Roy Biancalana in the senior division. Nick Tenuta, of Mount Prospect, and Mark Small, of Frankfort, were the Players of the Year in the Chicago District Golf Association season.

University of Illinois alum Tristyn Nowlin won the Illinois Women’s Open at Mistwood after finishing second in both the IWO and Women’s Western Amateur at the Romeoville Course in 2018.

The Preserve at Oak Meadows and Heritage Oaks aren’t the only places to  get new clubhouses in 2021.  Fox Run,  in Elk Grove, just opened a new one, too, and more are in the planning stages at Glencoe Golf Club, Heritage Bluffs,  in Channahon, and Settler’s Hill, in Geneva. The Bridges at Poplar Creek, in Hoffman Estates, also just opened its new indoor-outdoor practice range so the building boom appears to be ongoing.

In summing up 2021 it should be noted world-wide climax came not too far away.  After two decades of frustration in the Ryder Cup matches the U.S. team posted a record 19-9 victory when the biennial competition was held at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits in October.

 

 

New additions open at Poplar Creek, Fox Run courses

The Bridges of Poplar Creek has opened its new covered and heated practice area.

While most area golf courses are in the process of closing for the season, a couple are just kicking into high gear thanks to the completion of some major construction work.

The Bridges of Poplar Creek, an 18-holer in Hoffman Estates, has opened its new Toptracer Range. It features 10 covered, heated hitting bays. While a Grand Opening won’t be held until March director of golf Brian Bechtold has set a six-day-a-week operating schedule.

It’ll be open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-8 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.  Fee is $25 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, $40 per hour Wednesdays and Fridays and $50 per hour on Saturdays and Sundays.  A maximum of six golfers per bay is permitted. Reservations can be made seven days in advance and food and beverage service is available.

The 140-foot long facility, built at a cost of $750,000, is a Hoffman Estates Park District property.  It has two sets of heaters and was built adjacent to the first tee and driving range.

Bechtold said the original target date for opening the facility was in June but it had to be continually pushed back for a variety pandemic-related issues.

Fox Run, an 18-hole facility in Elk Grove, opens its new sports bar on Friday, Dec. 17.  It has a full service restaurant, 22 televisions and three simulators with fees of $45 on weekends and $40 on weekdays.

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC – Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event was moved up a week on the circuit’s 2022 calendar to June 27 through July 3, making it opposite the Fourth of  July Weekend, and that’s not all.

In recent years the JDC chartered a jet to take its players directly to the following week’s British Open. The earlier spot in the schedule makes that unnecessary, as players will have more time to get to the year’s final major championship, but more will have the opportunity to play in the British next year by doing well at TPC Deere Run in downstate Silvis.

The top JDC finisher among the top five finishers not previously qualified for the British Open were given a spot in the field in previous years.  In 2022 that opportunity will be awarded to three players from the top 10. No such exemptions were offered in 2021 due to pandemic concerns but Jordan Spieth (2013) and Bryson DeChambeau (2017) with recipients in the past.

JDC executive director Clair Peterson also announced the charity payoff from last year’s 50th anniversary playing of the tournament.  It raised $12,568,038 for 470 local charities in the Quad Cities area.

CDGA – Chicago golf organizing groups rarely announce the following year’s event schedule until the spring, but the Chicago District Golf Association broke with tradition and unveiled an 86-event schedule complete with the sites  for 2022.  There are 55 on the championship slate and 31 on the social side.

Key dates and sites are July 19-21 for the 91st Illinois State Amateur, to be played at Westmoreland in Wilmette, and June 27-30 for the 102nd Chicago District Amateur, to be played at Glen Flora in Waukegan.

The CDGA is also coming out with a commemorative yardage book, this one a coffee table version produced by PuttView Books of Delaware, listing its Dream Eighteen holes. Olympia Fields, with its Nos. 2 and 6 chosen, is the only course with more than one hole honored in the voting by CDGA members.

HERE AND THERE: The Eskimo Open, the annual cold weather tournament for golf diehards, is coming up on Jan. 2 at Cog Hill, in Palos Park….Tony Anderson, a Chicago Golf Club member, has been nominated for a second three-year term on the U.S. Golf Association’s Executive Board.  The election is Feb. 19 at the USGA’s annual meeting in California….Tristyn Nowlin, a stalwart on the University of Illinois women’s teams and the reigning Illinois Women’s Open champion, missed getting her LPGA playing privileges by two strokes in last week’s finals of the circuit’s qualifying tournament in Dothan, Ala….Inverness Golf Club is getting a grounds makeover with the addition of resort-like facilities. Paddle and pickleball courts, indoor golf simulators, a sports par and casual dining room are under construction at the private club….Eagle Ridge Resort, in Galena, is in the process of moving its Stonedrift Spa – located in the clubhouse for nearly 20 years – to a stand-alone location.  The move will increase the spa’s size from 3,500 square feet to over 8,000 and Abi Porter, formerly of Elms Hotel in Missouri, will manage the new facility.