Men: Tips 7,036/73.9/131; Gold 6,510/71.3/126; White 5,903/68.6/118; Red 5,025/64.6/112.
Women: Gold 6,510;77.4/132; White 5,903/74.0/128; Red 5,025/69.2/117.
Green fee: Preview play in November is $150 with a replay rate of $100. In December the prices drop to $125 for preview play and $85 for a replay.
Caddie service: Limited for now.
Walker friendly: Yes.
Fairways: Zoysia.
Greens: Bentgrass.
Rough: Buffalo grass is dominant, and getting in it can mean big trouble.
THE REVIEW
Starter: Golf-wise big things have been happening in the Missouri Ozarks and the opening of Ozarks National is the most recent. Payne’s Valley, a Tiger Woods design, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019 next to Ozarks National. Coore/Crenshaw, though, is one of the most respected architectural teams in the world and any of their creations merits attention. This one opens to public preview play on Nov. 1, and it’ll continue through Dec. 15 before the course is closed for the winter months.
Play because: Though it’s not official yet Ozarks National is expected to be one of the courses used in the Legends of Golf event on PGA Tour Champions next April, replacing neighbor Buffalo Ridge Springs. Grand Opening festivities at Ozarks National are planned to coincide with the Legends of Golf event. It’ll be one of the most talked about courses of 2019.
Takeaway: The course is in a gorgeous setting with beautiful vistas and not much water. It has an unusually diverse collection of holes, and they’ll keep your attention throughout. Though the course is ready for play many more things are still to be done. A spacious clubhouse is expected to be ready sometime next spring and a 15-acre practice range, a putting course and two additional practice greens will also be added eventually.
Ratings (1 to 10 scale, 10 being highest)
Food/beverage: 8
Pro shop: 8.
Clubhouse: 9 (This is on the clubhouse at Mountain Top, the Gary Player-designed 13-hole par-3 course that is being used for Ozarks National guests until a new clubhouse is completed in the spring).
Course difficulty: 8, but choice of tees is critical. From the tips it’s definitely a championship-style course.
Pace of play: 10 (But, then, our group of two foursomes had the course all to ourselves).
Overall score: 9.2
THE COURSE SCORECARD
Best Par 3: No. 12, 254/213/175/133.
Rarely will a par-3 be the No. 2 handicap hole on any course, but this one merits it. It’ll takes its place among the best long par-3s in the country. The small, uphill green is protected by a ravine on the left and trees on the right. There’s very little room for error here.
Best Par 4: No. 5, 352/306/248/161.
I love this hole. It is a true short par-4, one that’s reachable for all levels of players if they use the proper tee. There are tougher par-4s on the layout but this one perfectly fits what this course is all about – a fun but still meaningful challenge that you’ll remember once the round is over.
Best Par 5: No. 9, 597/549/516/453.
The course’s No. 1 handicap hole comes right after somewhat of a breather at the par-3 eighth in the rotation. That dramatic transition may accentuate the difficulty of the longer hole. Still, this winding hole is the longest on the course – definitely a three-shotter.
No, that’s not the real Elvis, but the king’s memory lives on in his tribute suite at Gulf Hills Resort.
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi – Not all the golf destinations that we visit are just about golf. Gulf Hills Resort is a prime example.
Knowing our interest in history as well as golf, one of our tour guides suggested we hit this 91-year old resort on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that was founded as a golfing hot spot in the late 1920s. We found it much more than that.
We came from having never heard of the place to learning that it was initially a hideout for gangster Al Capone and later a retreat for prominent entertainers like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Fats Domino, Judy Garland and Gypsy Rose Lee.
Presley, especially, has left an impact here. There’s a classy tribute to him in the Gulf Hills Hotel’s “Love Me Tender, Love Me Suites’’ that are almost always rented out even when the golf course and rest of the resort is quiet. We’ll be getting into that later and, rest assured, Elvis hasn’t completely left this building Only the Gulf Hills swimming pool and golf course remained after a 1971 fire. The present hotel was constructed using the same frame structure of the original building.
For us, though, there had to be a golf component to Gulf Hills Resort, and there is. It also helped that there were some prominent Chicago people involved over the course of its colorful history.
Branigar Brothers, Chicago-based developers, began work on the resort in 1925. As initial owners they envisioned “an upscale winter resort with one of the most beautiful golf courses in the Southeast, a yacht basin, riding stables, clubhouse and a handful of homes built close to the water.’’
The Branigars delivered on that, and their offspring would later carry on, as Branigar Organization, in the creation of Illinois golf resorts Eagle Ridge, in Galena, and Indian Lakes, in Bloomingdale.
Just the Branigars weren’t enough to fulfill the creation of Gulf Hills, however. According to local historians the resort’s hotel was financed by laundered money from Capone and Chicago mob figures. It’s undergoing maintenance work in this photo, but Golf Digest magazine once called Gulf Hill’s signature hole — the par-3 17th — one of the five most beautiful and challenging holes in the Southeast.
The golf course was designed by Jack Daray, who was then in the midst of a six-year stint as head professional at Olympia Fields Country Club – the tournament-tested multi-course private club in Chicago’s south suburbs. Daray, like several other club professionals in that era, spent winters teaching in Mississippi. Daray’s winter base was at nearby Biloxi Country Club.
Daray’s design at Gulf Hills was immediately well received, and the No. 17 hole – an uphill par-3 – was quickly cited by Golf Digest as “one of the five most beautiful and challenging holes in the entire Southeast Region.’’
One of the first American golf professionals to get involved in course architecture, Daray also designed three Chicago area courses – two 18-holers at White Pines in Bensenville and another at Coyote Run in Flossmoor. Colorful signage and tee markers make for a pleasant atmosphere for Gulf Hills golfers.
Root & Hollister, also a Chicago connection, did the building of the 1,300-acres course at Gulf Hills using 170 men, 20 mule teams, road graders, tractors and a 30-ton dredge. It was completed in less than two years. Even with that course just completed there was already plans for a second 18-holer to be built at the resort. Those plans never materialized, however.
The first event played on the Daray course was on Christmas Day, 1926, when Walter Hagen – then in the midst of his five-year run as winner of the PGA Championship – joined three club pros in an exhibition match. Tragically, it was also on a Christmas Day, in 1971, that a fire destroyed most of the place. Basically all that was left was the swimming pool, golf course and structural frame of what had been the hotel. The rebuilding process has been slow and ongoing.
Golf was at the forefront of activities at Gulf Hills in its early years and visitors from the Chicago were commonplace while the resort underwent numerous ownership changes. In 1949 it was transformed into a Dude Ranch, and that’s when the celebrities started pouring in. The wall at Ocean Spring’s Cultural Center calls attention to the many of celebrity visitors to Gulf Hills. You’ll need to double click on the page to read the captions.
Presley made Gulf Hills his summer home from 1951-57 when he was building his career with appearances on the Louisiana Hayride radio show. During that time he was a regular on the piano at the resort’s Pink Pony Lounge. Mary Ann Mobley, Miss America of 1959, and her actor-husband Gary Collins had their honeymoon at Gulf Hills. Jayne Mansfield was on her way to the resort when she was killed in a horrid traffic accident in 1967. The apparent heir to Monroe as America’s sex symbol, Mansfield was only 34 years old.
Even during the Dude Ranch days golf was more than a basic amenity at Gulf Hills. The resort’s professional staff included Johnny Pott, a mainstay on the PGA Tour, and Mary Mills, an LPGA regular. John Revolta, a PGA champion in his days as Evanston Golf Club’s head professional, also did some winter teaching at Gulf Hills.
Fast forward to today, Gulf Hills isn’t nearly as busy a place as it was in its heyday but we found it a pleasant place to hang out. Other than the re-routing of several holes and the installation of cart paths, the golf course is much the way Daray designed it.
What Gulf Hills is best known for now, however, is the Love Me Tender, Love Me Suites. Though Presley’s connection with Gulf Hills was well known, Donna Brown wasn’t enthusiastic about reviving those memories when she was named general manager in 2000. A local family, which wishes to remain anonymous, had purchased the fading hotel and golf course and begun efforts to revive it.
“Six months after I took the job I had to call them and tell them I made a mistake,’’ recalled Brown. She had received too many inquiries from hotel guests of the past who had fond memories of the Dude Ranch days. From the beds to the memorabilia Gulf Hill’s four-room Elvis Presley tribute suite is something special.
A decision was made to create “a tribute, something we thought he (Presley) would like,’’ said Brown. This four-bedroom suite was not to be anything like Graceland, Presley’s home in Memphis. It’s become an ongoing project with authentic antique pieces and furniture brought in to capture the life and times in Presley’s heyday.
Presley’s attachment to Gulf Hills wasn’t taken lightly. Though he didn’t make use of the golf course, Presley learned horseback-riding and water-skiing while staying at Gulf Hills and also met his first girlfriend, Biloxi resident June Juanico, there. They were engaged for four years before she broke off the relationship, and they remained friends and until his death in 1977.
The tribute suite project was briefly derailed when Hurricane Katrina decimated the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005 but the suite is in constant demand now. It goes for $1,000 a night, though Brown has accepted less if something else is booked in connection with its use. That’s taken the form of wedding receptions, corporate board retreats, golf groups and business-after-hours events. Here’s how the guests at the Love Me Tender, Love Me Suites do their dining these days.
The `Million Dollar Hole’ — No. 14 at Slick Rock — is Horseshoe Bay’s most photographed hole. HORSESHOE BAY, Texas – This is good news for all of golf. Major new construction, renovations and upgrades aren’t just being done in the Missouri Ozarks. Not by a long shot. Other golf destinations – especially in Texas – are taking on expensive projects as well.
Granted all the projects undertaken by the visionary Johnnie Morris in Missouri – latest are just-opened Ozarks National and the under-construction Tiger Woods design, Payne’s Valley — are the most eye-catching, but Horseshoe Bay Resort in the Texas Lake & Hill Country is making some noise, too. So is Barton Creek, a Texas resort less than an hour’s drive from Horseshoe Bay.
The big spending at Barton Creek is mainly on its lodging options. Horseshoe Bay is upgrading most everything and the results figure to be rewarding. They’ve already elevated the resort’s profile.
Did you know that the last two Masters champions – Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed — are members at Horseshoe Bay Resort, which is located near the bigger town of Marble Falls. Anthony Holder, the resort’s director of golf, mentioned that only in passing – and after being asked a basic fact-finding question about membership. Lake LBJ will be a factor on two holes when the Apple Rock renovation is completed.
Most any place else a connection with two such prominent players would be put out front and center by a club blessed to having them as members, but in this Texas Lake & Hill Country golf is different.
Horseshoe Bay has operated since 1971 with three courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. He’s the late father of today’s prominent architects Robert Trent Jones Jr. — the name attached to Alabama’s popular golf trail – and Rees Jones, who gained the moniker of “the Open Doctor’’ for his frequent callups to get courses ready to host major championships.
Jack Nicklaus designed the fourth course at Horseshoe Bay. It opened in 2012 as a private club that is rarely made available to resort guests. Nicklaus’ course is called Summit Rock. The three Jones designs are Slick Rock, Ram Rock and Apple Rock and Ram and Apple are operated together under the title of Cap Rock.
There’s a lot of Rocks, to be sure, and nobody could quite explain why. What was explained in detail by Holder and director of agronomy Ken Gorzycki was the ambitious plans the resort ownership has for the future. That future isn’t far away, either. Holder said the golf aspects of an overall $70 million renovation should be completed by July of 2019. Rock walls are an attractive feature at Horseshoe Bay — especially on the Ram Rock course.
“Our goal is to be the No. 1 golf resort in the state of Texas, and eventually expanding that to the nation,’’ said Holder. “With that comes the updating of your facilities, making sure we can deliver. Our ownership has put a wad of money into all the touching points.’’
Holder grew up in Dallas before spending 14 years at prominent California destinations Mission Hills, Indian Wells and PGA West. He’s been at Horseshoe Bay just a year but is already caught up in the enthusiasm for what’s been happening there.
Horseshoe Bay has basically had just two owners. Norman Hurd and his cousin, Wayne, got the resort started in 1971. Morris D. Jaffe has been the owner since the mid-1990s and he more recently has gotten an investment partner, IBC Bank. That enabled all the upgrades to be tackled in relatively short order. How is this view of the No. 18 green of the Apple Rock course for a memorable visual?
Slick Rock, which opened in 1971, is the most user-friendly and most heavily played of the courses. It also has the resort’s most famous hole – the par-4 14th which plays anywhere from 236 to 361 yards. This eye-catcher is called “the Million Dollar Hole’’ because of the elaborate 35-yard waterfall that greets players at the tee. They have to clear the waterfall with their drives, then get to see the attraction up close when they drive past it to their approach shots.
The renovation of Slick Rock was completed in the spring of 2016. The renovation of Ram Rock, the second course to open at the resort in 1981, was a $3 million project and required the most work. It was completed in May of 2018.
“It was our least-desired golf course because it was so hard, the greens were small and it was heavily bunkered,’’ said Gorzycki. “It was considered as the hardest golf course in the state, and we made changes to make it more playable for higher handicap players. Those changes have been extremely well received.’’ Boulders are incorporated into the design of many of the holes at Horseshoe Bay.
The Bermuda grass on the greens was replaced by 007 bentgrass and diamond zoysia collars were installed around the greens to keep Bermuda from creeping into the bentgrass. The practice was part of all three renovations. So was the extension of cart paths.
Because of the invasion of the Bermuda on the greens at both Ram Rock and Apple Rock had been shrinking dramatically.
“A lot of greens had no hole locations left,’’ said Gorzycki.
While the greens were being expanded the bunkers were restored to the size and appearance that Jones had originally created. To make sure of that Robert Trent Jones Jr. – son of the original architect – was involved in the renovation. Director of agronomy Ken Gorzycki (left) and director of golf Anthony Holder are in the forefront of the work being done at Horseshoe Bay.
“He helped us with the process to maintain the integrity of his Dad’s designs,’’ said Gorzycki. Austin design consultant Mark Voss was also involved in that process.
Jones Sr. was an architect well ahead of his time. His work at Horseshoe Bay is a testament to that.
Apple Rock, the prettiest of the Jones courses, opened in 1986 and has the best water views. Lake LBJ will impact the layout at the 11th and 12th holes. The in-process renovation, a $2.5 million project, is to be completed by May 1.
Like Ram Rock, the putting surfaces were extended. When the renovation began the course had less than 65,000 square feet of greens. When it re-opens it’ll have up to 87,000 – which is slightly more than Ram Rock’s 84,000.
When Apple Rock opened it was selected the No. 1 new resort course in the nation by Golf Digest. That came in the heart of the golf boom, so the accomplishment was particularly noteworthy because many courses were under consideration. (Summit was similarly honored, but the boom had subsided by then and only two or three other courses were considered for the honor).
As part of the renovation work the bunkers included new drainage and the overall sand area became 40 percent less than what it had been.
Horseshoe Bay also has the most impressive 18-hole Whitewater Putting Course, which surrounds the 360 Sports Bar. Whitewater is all grass and is set apart from other such courses around the country in that the scorecards givs measurements to each hole in yards, not feet. The whole course is 1,712 yards so obviously some putts are really long ones.
“The ownership sees the potential of this area and wanted to sink its teeth into it, to see how far it can go,’’ said Holder. “Not a lot of properties can offer the array of amenities that we can. This opportunity has a lot of upside, and they have seen a return on their investment so far.’’
The recent financial support has also led to the building of two clubhouses. It’s not all done yet, but the end is near. The clubhouses need just a few more months and Apple Rock is the last course to get renovated. The work there is scheduled to be done by May 1, 2019.
When all is said and done Apple Rock and Ram Rock will share a new clubhouse, pool, cabana, pro shop, pavilion and indoor-outdoor addition to their practice range. A new clubhouse will also be built at Summit Rock. Hotel room upgrades have already been completed. Numerous fountains spice up the atmosphere at the Horseshoe Bay courses.
The Illinois PGA changes its president every two years, and the most recent changing of the guard on Nov. 19 was much different than all the previous ones.
When Jim Miller took over the reins from Mark Labiak the section gained an unusual new leader. Rarely has the IPGA had a president from a club outside of the Chicago area. Miller is in his 14th season as head professional at Bloomington Country Club, which is located in central Illinois.
And that’s not all. Miller is also continuing a family tradition. His father Hal was the IPGA president from 1982-83, when he was in the midst of a long and successful run at Evanston Golf Club in Skokie.
The Miller & Miller scenario begins at Evanston, where Hal entered the golf business as a caddie. He later worked there on the practice range and as a starter before becoming an assistant professional under the legendary player and teacher John Revolta in 1960.
Hal spent seven seasons as a Revolta assistant, then became the head professional in 1966 following Revolta’s retirement. Hal was the head man there for 35 years before retiring on Dec. 31, 2001. Now 82, he’s an honorary member of the club that he served in one capacity or another for about 50 years. Selected into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame in 2007, he also remains involved with the IPGA as a regular rules official at its tournaments.
A Glenview resident, Hal and wife Kathleen were the parents of five children, all of whom worked at Evanston in one capacity or another while growing up. Jim is the only one who followed Hal into the golf industry.
Jim, 52, graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1990, then spent three years as an assistant at Sunset Ridge, in Northfield, and another at Indian Hill, in Winnetka, before Hal had an opening on his staff at Evanston. Jim eventually succeeded Hal as the club’s head professional and held that job for five years.
His move to Bloomington came in 2005 and was made largely for family reasons.
“When I got married I had promised my wife (Julia) that I wouldn’t be gone as much as my Dad was when I was growing up,’’ he said. “I had been working 13-hour days because that was the expectation created from Hal. That was the standard he had set. By that time we had four children under the age of nine. My wife reminded me of the promise I had made and said she expected me to keep it.’’
Jim did. When as opening developed at Bloomington he applied, was hired and has found a good job fit. Their four children are Parker, now 21; Katie, now 19; Ashley, now 17; and Bailey, now 14.
Bloomington, which has 330 golf members, was agreeable to Jim’s need for more family time. A good enough player to qualify for two PGA Club Professional Championships and become the runner-up in the 1995 IPGA Match Play Championship, Miller is focused on a broader range of duties now.
“When I first got to Bloomington the pace was slower and the demands not quite as high (as he had at Evanston),’’ he said, “but I brought that with me, and Bloomington has gotten more like the Chicago clubs.’’
Bloomington has always been a prominent tournament site. In addition to welcoming the Illinois Open in 1980, the club has hosted eight Illinois State Amateurs including last year’s version — more than any other club. Bloomington has also hosted the Illinois State Women’s Amateur five times.
Miller inadvertently played a role in hurting Bloomington’s chances to bring an Illinois Open back downstate. He was the IPGA’s tournament chairman when the decision was made to alter the format of the event in hopes of expanding the field and increasing the entries. The Glen Club, in Glenview, became the permanent site for the finals and a nearby club was needed as the alternate site each year. Bloomington was too far away to fit the bill, but Miller is happy with the format change made in the section’s premier event.
An IPGA director for three years while at Evanston, Miller dropped off the board when he made the move to Bloomington but he returned in 2009 and was elected an officer in 2015, when he ran for the secretary’s position. That started his progression to the presidency. He was secretary in 2015-16 and vice president in 2017-18. Now he takes on the responsibility of leading an organization with about 800 members.
The IPGA presidency is much different than when his father was in charge. The IPGA had an executive director (Ken Boyce) at that time but no long-term headquarters and only two assistants for Boyce. Now executive director Carrie Williams heads a staff that has at least three times that number when summer interns are factored in and a long-term base at The Glen Club.
“There are some similarities to when I was president,’’ said Hal, “but there’s a lot of facets the president is involved in. When I was president there weren’t so many things.’’
Jim sees one big issue ahead.
“It’s diversity and inclusion,’’ he said. “I know that affects us (the IPGA) for sure, but it’s industry-wide. The sheer lack of women and minorities in our industry is staggering and it’s our mission to find out why and how we can change it.’’
That’s not his only chore, of course.
“My goal is just to increase new member services, be it through education, tournaments, outreach programs,’’ he said. “I also want to make sure the section financially is in a good position. We’ll try to make our jobs better for all our members.’’
Early morning dew only adds to the beauty of the No. 1 hole at Contraband Bayou. LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana – Casino courses Contraband Bayou and The Country Club at Golden Nugget tend to get the most attention when visiting golfers come to this popular golf spot near the Texas line. That’s not always the case, however.
A couple other courses well known to the casino crowd are making major upgrades. Gray Plantation has opened its new indoor academy – one of the very few in Louisiana – and another with a fancy name is about to take on a major new look.
The National Golf Club of Louisiana, the municipal course for Lake Charles neighbor Westlake, expects to break ground on a new clubhouse. The significance of that addition to the premises is already had an impact. Housing construction around the course is booming and 600 new homes are expected to be built in that area.
There’s no denying the importance of what golf courses mean to the operators of the L’Auberge and Golden Nugget casinos, however. The courses at both could be welcoming the PGA Tour Champions in 2020. If negotiations on that materialize that’ll be a really big deal for the economy in Lake Charles. Drivers make constant use of the long I-10 bridge that is also a focal point for casino golfers.
It’s no secret that golf courses and casinos fit together quite well. Casinos need more gambling patrons and offering the option of quality golf is a way to get them there. A quality course, meanwhile, is also an enticement for golfers willing to travel, and casinos across the United States offer plenty of those. Las Vegas, with its abundance of casinos with courses, is the best example that the golf/casino collaboration works.
All the good casino golf isn’t in Las Vega, though. Lake Charles is certainly no Las Vegas but the casino with courses formula works there, too.
The Golden Nugget and L’Auberge casinos are within walking distance of each other. Both have 18-hole courses on their premises.
“As everybody knows, the golf business now is tough to make money at,’’ said John Hurt, director of golf at The Country Club at the Golden Nugget. “But, with the casino, our owners don’t necessarily look at our numbers. They give us credit for the people we bring in to the casino that come because of the golf course. They make money across the street at the casino because of this amenity. Amenities are what sets casinos apart. Golf is an amenity which brings people in.’’ The L’Auberge Casino Resort (above) and Golden Nugget have made good use of golf courses.
Tillman Fertitta owns the Golden Nuggets casinos and hotels as well as the Landry’s restaurant chain. In 2017 he purchased the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets for a reported $2.2 billion.
Fertitta was quick to make his presence felt at The Country Club at the Golden Nugget when it opened five years ago. Hurt had expected the clubhouse music to be kept at a level so it wouldn’t impact golfers. Fertitta disagreed.
“We’re not as stuffy as a private club. We have music,’’ said Hurt. “Our owner tells us to kick up the music. He wants a party atmosphere.’’
So, the sounds of music are part of the golfing ambiance at this Golden Nugget. And even bigger things could be coming. Director of golf Jonathan Jester shows up the new indoor academy at Gray Plantation.
Hurt said there’s “better than a 50-50 chance’’ that the Golden Nugget and Contraband Bayou will co-host a PGA Tour Champions event in the near future.
“We’ve met with some PGA people a couple times and they really want to do it,’’ said Hurt. “It all boils down to sponsor money. They definitely want to play here and they have an open week that year in either March or April.’’
Scott Davey, golf operations manager at Contraband Bayou, isn’t as optimistic as Hurt but admits that meetings have been held.
“Nugget said they’d donate their golf course and I’m sure we would, too,’’ said Davey. “They don’t have a driving range, and we do. I don’t know how that dynamic would work out but they want to get a tournament here.’’
Landing a PGA Tour Champions event would be big breakthrough for the courses – and casinos – impacted.
Contraband Bayou, a Tom Fazio design, opened 12 years ago and has served its casino well.
“There’s not a drive for revenue here,’’ said Davey. “It’s for the high rollers to come and play. It’s a well-maintained course, and the service level is high. Ours isn’t your typical Fazio. Our course has to be playable for all levels of players. The greens are flat and the fairways are wide open. It’s built for 4-hour 15-minute rounds – so the players can get back to the casino. What do golfers like to do? They like to gamble, so our course is a great tool to get people here.’’
Like Contraband Bayou, Golden Nugget draws heavily from the Houston area. Todd Eckinrode designed that course with gamblers in mind as well. It has wide fairways, rough that’s not very thick and a course that’s of moderate length overall.
“The main thing is the playability,’’ said Hurt. “The majority of our play is from groups of 12 to 20 players. They’re having fun at night gambling and drinking and staying up late. They don’t want to be beat up by a hard golf course.’’ The National Golf Club of Louisiana, a municipal layout in Westlake, has its share of challenging holes
The Chicago District Golf Association has honored Players of the Year since 1993 and the Senior Player of the Year has been designated since 1995. Those so honored have earned a cherished place in golf history, and some have taken the honor to even greater heights.
Joel Hirsch was the first CDGA superstar, winning the first two Player of the Year awards in 1993 and 1994, and he was also the first to win the Senior Player of the Year honors three times (1996, 1998 and 2001). Hirsch’s accomplishments gave way to Dave Ryan, who won Senior honors seven times between 2009 and 2016, and no golfer has topped the four Player of the Year awards accumulated by Todd Mitchell (2006, 2008, 2013 and 2016).
This year’s honorees are special, as well. One picked up his coveted honor without winning tournament that offered Player of the Year points during the 2018 season and the other rose to prominence after having serious doubts that he’d even be able to play this season.
Let’s meet this terrific twosome:
PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Trent Wallace, Joliet.
For three years Wallace has been playing in the shadow of three of the all-time great amateurs in the history of Chicago golf. Doug Ghim (2014), Nick Hardy (2015) and Patrick Flavin (2017) were the best in those years and have continued to do big things both locally and nationally. That made the award all the more special for Wallace, who is a senior at Illinois State.
“It’s a great honor to be in the same category of great players, especially those who have won recently,’’ said Wallace. “I had always been a streaky player, but this season I was in contention every week. My forte is to grind.’’
Grind it out, he did. Though he didn’t have a victory Wallace piled up points by tying fourth in the Illinois State Amateur (his third straight top-five finish in that event), finishing as the runner-up in the CDGA Amateur and tying for seventh in the Illinois Open.
In the CDGA Amateur Wallace lost the title to ISU teammate David Perkins, of East Peoria, in a match that went 23 holes. As a college player Wallace was medalist in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in his freshman and sophomore seasons. He also helped the Redbirds win the Wisconsin Badgers Invitational this fall.
“My coach (Ray Kralis) said it was the best win in school history,’’ said Wallace. “Coach Ray was the only Division I coach to offer me a scholarship. I jumped at it, and I’ve never looked back. Every year the program has gotten better, and this year we’re in line to do something special.’’
When the ISU season is over that’ll also be the end of Wallace’s days as an amateur golfer.
“I haven’t been able to get into the Western Amateur for whatever reason, and if I can’t get into events like that I don’t see staying an amateur doing me any good,’’ he said. “The State Amateur is a nice tournament, but I’ve got bigger and better things to worry about. I’m looking forward to turning pro.’’
Wallace started playing golf when he was 3 years old and developed through the junior programs at the Inwood public course in Joliet before playing high school golf for Joliet West. Now he’s ready to take his game beyond the Illinois borders.
He plans to head for Florida, where his father lives, after his college eligibility is over and try the mini-tours, Web.com Tour qualifying school and the PGA Latinoamerica Tour.
SENIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Tim Sheppard, East Peoria.
Sheppard didn’t let understandable frustration get the better of him. That’s why he is the CDGA Senior Player of the Year.
Sheppard had been the CDGA’s Central Illinois Player of the Year in 2002. That award was discontinued after being handed out from 1995 through 2013, and Sheppard had a great chance to win the overall Senior honor in 2016.
“I had a good year, but Dave passed me because he won the U.S. Senior Amateur,’’ said Sheppard. “Dave beat me only once in 2016, and I’ve been wanting to win a CDGA event for some time. That put added pressure on me.’’
Sheppard had another problem as well. He started feeling pain in his left elbow in June of 2017, and that severely limited his tournament play. He underwent surgery, but that didn’t solve the problem. He switched doctors and had a stem cell injection in November of 2017. That helped somewhat when the 2018 schedule started.
“I didn’t play for two weeks, and then the pain was tolerable,’’ he said. “But then the pain started going into my hand. I changed my golf swing. In 2015 and 2016 I was playing the best golf of my life, then this nerve issue put a halt to my playing for almost a year.’’
More surgery was scheduled, then postponed. Sheppard still sees it in his future, but he did get his game in order for a late-season run that landed him his Player of the Year award.
In September he won the Illinois State Senior Amateur – his first individual title in a state/CDGA event. In October he teamed with Tom Kearfott to win the CDGA Senior Amateur Four-Ball for the second time.
Sheppard also reached the semifinals of the CDGA Senior Amateur and qualified the match play portion of the U.S. Senior Amateur.
Now 57, Sheppard owns an insurance agency in Peoria, Married to Michelle and the father of two children, Sheppard plays out of Lick Creek in Pekin. He didn’t play college golf and his main sport was softball until he was 34 years old. He didn’t get into serious golf competitions until his mid-thirties.
Let’s make this perfectly clear from the outset. This is not a farewell/retirement column. It’s a reflection on my first 50 years covering golf in the Chicago area and beyond. It’s been a great run that I envision continuing for many years to come.
I consider the start coming at the 1968 Western Open during my first post-college job for the Hammond (Ind.) Times – now The Times of Northwest Indiana. The Western was played at Olympia Fields that year with Jack Nicklaus winning the title.
Covering PGA Tour events was much different then than it is now. Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and the top players would sit around a table in a small room designated for the press, drink a beer, smoke a cigarette and basically chew the fat with no more than a half-dozen writers.
Things changed quickly after that. The following year I started my 41-year career at the Chicago Sun-Times. I covered many other sports there – most notably the Northwestern teams for 11 years, pro soccer for 26 years and Wolves and Blackhawks hockey for the final 16 – but golf was always a fixture on my schedule.
The methods for creating and transmitting my reports changed dramatically over the years. First it was dictation via phone from the tournament site to the office. Then we carried both typewriters and telecopiers to the events and faxed the stories in. Eventually fax machines gave way to Radio Shack computers, which were very slow-moving.
Note-taking by hand was the initial method for interviewing. Now there’s digital recorders and transcripts of interviews are even provided at the bigger tournaments. Stories are sent via email and writers can even double as photographers, taking pictures with cellphones and then transmitting them via laptops.
My first big golf event at the Sun-Times was the 1972 Western Open at Sunset Ridge. It was interesting to return to that club this fall for the Western Amateur. There were no other stops at that club in between, so revisiting was special.
Much to my delight, the Daily Herald asked me to be its golf columnist immediately after I retired from the Sun-Times in June of 2010. I completed my ninth season with the Daily Herald this year and have also written for more years than that for both the Chicago District Golfer and Chicagoland Golf. Mix in some spot assignments for other publications, websites and tournament programs, and that’s a little of words and time spent devoted to birdies and bogeys, titles won and lost, course openings and closings and – even occasionally – some controversies.
Based on the research available, I can claim to be the longstanding Chicago golf scribe. Charles Bartlett, the legendary Chicago Tribune golf writer, was on the beat from 1936 to 1967. That’s 31 years. I was arriving on the scene as Bartlett was retiring, and I never met him but I’ll bet we could have shared some great stories.
The best performance by a local player in my era has been – by far – Nick Hardy’s 28 under par 260 in the 2016 Illinois State Amateur at St. Charles. The most exciting finish came in a 1991 LPGA event presented by my then-employer. Martha Nause rallied in the final four holes of an event called the Chicago Sun-Times Shootout at Oak Brook Golf Club, finishing birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle to win by one stroke. The eagle came off a hole-out from 100 yards on her final shot.
While the local scene was always close to my heart I have witnessed first-hand 28 U.S. Opens, 11 Masters, 19 PGA Championships, four U.S. Women’s Opens and the last 34 Western Opens. My debuts at both the U.S. Open and Masters were unforgettable. Johnny Miller’s record 63 on a rainy final day at Oakmont gave him the 1973 U.S. Open. The last of Nicklaus’ six wins in the Masters came in 1986, my first visit to Augusta National, and his charge on the back nine on Sunday was electrifying. I’ve never experienced anything like it, before or since.
Seeing all those great moments up close and personal unfortunately didn’t help my own game. My handicap has never been below 16 but my career low 18-hole round (81) came in this, my 74th year, and – thanks to a strong helping wind and steep downhill terrain leading into the green – I also drove a par-4 hole for the first time in at least 20 years. Maybe I’m just getting better with age – at least I hope so.
Golf has changed a lot in my last 50 years. The top stars are playing for much more money and aren’t as accessible or outgoing as they once were. The number of courses has dropped slightly. More women are playing, and youth programs are taking off big-time.
In short, the story of golf is an ongoing one, and I’m blessed to be able to report on it.
TPC Myrtle Beach will be just one of the top courses awaiting players in the Short Par 4 Fall Classic. The Myrtle Beach Fall Classic had been a four-year success in the South Carolina golf mecca, but the fifth staging – which starts on Sunday and runs through Thursday, Nov. 15 – has turned into an event that’s both bigger and better.
Landing Short Par 4 — a golf-inspired subscription service that ships hand curated, top quality branded golf apparel, footwear and accessories directly to golfers – as a title sponsor was a big reason. Short Par 4 is in the first of a three-year agreement for the event, now known as the Short Par 4 Fall Classic.
The immediate result was a record entry of 432 players from 38 states for the 72-hole two-person team event. Organizers hadn’t initially planned on that many players and increased the field size by 70 players while the entries were piling in.
“It’s quickly emerged as one of our most popular events,’’ said Scott Tomasello, tournament director for Golf Tourism Solutions, the company that runs the event. “Players love the two-person team format, which strikes a perfect balance by creating a competitive tournament and a relaxing atmosphere.’’
The course lineup was a plus as well. Five of the 16 courses to be used in the event have been ranked among America’s Top 100. They include such long-time favorites as the Dye and Fazio layouts at Barefoot Resort, Glen Dornoch, TPC Myrtle Beach, True Blue, Heritage Club and Thistle. It’s hard to imagine a course with better waterfront views than Florida’s Sailfish Point.
WELL WORTH A LOOK: As most of you know I’m not one who gets carried away by course rankings provided by the golf industry publications. However, Sailfish Point (ranked fourth among residential courses in South Florida and 53rd nation-wide by Golfweek) seems to me underrated.
A Jack Nicklaus Signature Course, Sailfish Point opened in 1981 and the Golden Bear supervised a renovation in 2007 so the design is obviously of high quality.
More to the point, Sailfish has views that are hard to match on virtually every hole. That’s understandable given its location. The private club is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the St. Lucie Inlet. It’s hard to imagine any Florida course having the water views that Sailfish Point has. It’s also important to note that the water is primarily for the enjoyment of viewers, not to swallow up errantly-hit golf balls.
Sailfish Point, officially in Stuart, is part of a 532-acre gated oceanfront community on Hutchinson Island. It has plenty of other amenities, most notably a full service marina, but its golf course is something special.
The newly-named Mistwood Golf Dome now offers state-of-the-art Toptracer Technology.
MISTWOOD EXPANDS AGAIN: Though the Mistwood Golf Club course just closed for the season in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville, owner Jim McWethy continued to expand his golf interests.
McWethy announced major changes in what had been known as McQ’s Golf Dome in nearby Bolingbrook. McWethy renamed the facility the Mistwood Golf Dome, the dining area is now McWethy’s Sports Bar and – most notably – the facility is now equipped with TopGolf’s Toptracer Range Technology.
Toptracer is a state-of-the-art technology that tracks the flight of a golf ball, displays its path in video and analyzes every shot hit. Mistwood is the first U.S. indoor facility to install it. Users can enjoy virtual golf on the world’s best courses, interactive games and its stat-tracing options.
TopGolf, meanwhile, is planning to open a new facility in Schaumburg.
A NEW WAY TO GET AROUND: Medinah Country Club is now using a food truck purchased from the Texas Rangers to transport meals to all parts of the property. (Photo by Rory Spears)
BITS AND PIECES: The Innisbrook Resort, in Palm Harbour, FL., will re-open its South course on Nov. 30 with new greens matching those previously installed at Innisbrook’s Copperhead and North courses. Copperhead hosts the PGA Tour’s annual Valspar Championship in March.
Chambers Bay, the public venue in Washington state which hosted the 2015 U.S. Open, closed last month for renovation work on its greens. The course is scheduled to re-open in March with Poa annua putting surfaces. It has already been awarded the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship in 2021.
Miami, Fla., is on the brink of losing its only municipal course. Voters have supported the creation of Miami Freedom Park on the site of the present International Links Melreese Country Club. Miami Freedom Park, a commercial development backed by soccer great David Beckham, includes a 25,000-seat soccer stadium that’s to be home to a Major Soccer League team and a hotel.
Cog Hill, the 72-hole complex in Lemont, IL., will field a team for the third straight year in the PGA Junior League’s national championships. The finals, expanded from eight to 12 teams, will be played Nov. 16-17 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Junior League had a record 51,000 boys and girls participating on nearly 4,000 teams this year.
Chicago Golf Club member Tony Anderson has been named to the U.S. Golf Association’s Executive Committee and Medinah teaching professional Terry Russell is now the District 6 director for the PGA of America. He’ll represent the Illinois Wisconsin and Indiana sections of the PGA at the national board level.
Mike Scully, who had been Medinah’s director of golf during the 2012 Ryder Cup matches played there, has taken a general manager’s post at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga. Scully left Medinah to become director of golf operations at Desert Mountain in Arizona before taking the Reynolds Lake Oconee position. Chambers Bay’s course is closed now, but it’ll re-open in March with all new greens.
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – This is no secret. Michigan has been a golf hot spot for, well – almost forever. The state has over 850 public courses, more than any other state in the nation.
Grand Rapids is part of the state’s golf mix. The city in the western part of the state has a population of just under 200,000. It has its share of golf courses well worth playing, but there’s much more in Grand Rapids.
Beer, for instance.
There are about 40 breweries in the immediate area of Grand Rapids and over 80 show up on the well-mapped Beer City Ale Trail. That’s why Grand Rapids has earned the designation of Beer City USA in a nation-wide poll and USA Today’s readers have also honored Grand Rapids as Best Beer Town as well as for having the Best Beer Scene.
You could go there for the golf and stay or the beer – or vice versa. Either way you’d come out all right.
Let’s hold off for a while on the golf part. After all, October is the month for Octoberfests. Most every community in and around Grand Rapids honors that tradition in one way or another. Golf can wait.
An Englishman opened the first brewery in Grand Rapids in 1836, and the Grand Rapids Brewing Company – the oldest of those still in existence – dates back to 1893.
Brewery Vivant has the most interesting location. It’s housed in a refurbished funeral home.
Founders is the most prominent brewery in Grand Rapids now. It puts on a most informative in-house tour for those interested in more than just how a beer tastes, and Founders for the last six years has run ArtPrize – an art competition that results in the winners getting their designs on the beer cans that Founders produces.
Golf packages play in important promotional role for golf communities and resorts. Well, some of the hotels in Grand Rapids have a takeoff on that. They offer Beer Tour packages. Pub crawls are regular attractions and beer trolleys run most every day. That’s a good thing for those who opt to sample more than than they should.
Beer-drinkers’ hot spots are numerous and varied, but two of the best are The Knickerbocker, known for its pinwheel appetizers as well as its beer offerings, and City Built Brewing Company, which has a unique selection of beers to go with its Puerto Rico-inspired food menu.
As for the golf, the courses aren’t nearly as well-seasoned as the breweries, but they have their charm, too.
One of the best is Pilgrim’s Run, located in the outlying town of Pierson. It has an interesting history. The Chicago-based Van Kampen family bought land for the course and had family members and friends design the holes. That was a start before Mike DeVries, a well-respected architect from Traverse City, Mich., stepped in.
DeVries worked with more nationally-known designers Tom Doak and Tom Fazio before tackling Pilgrim’s Run. Teaming with superintendent Kris Schumacker, DeVries routed the course and constructed in the greens. Since its opening as an 18-holer in 1998 Pilgrim’s Run has been one of Michigan’s most popular public courses.
Most notable hole is the short par-4 18th – one of the best finishing holes in the state. A great risk-reward hole with water protecting the green, No. 18 can play anywhere from 221 to 358 yards. It’s a thought-provoking, fun way to finish a round on a course that can play as long as 7,093 yards.
DeVries’ design credits also include The Mines, Greywalls and the Kingsley Club in Michigan. The Mines is also in the Grand Rapids area with a history worth noting. Sweeping elevation changes and undulating greens are major characteristics of The Mines and location-wise the course is near the downtown area, where the bulk of the beer-drinking hangouts are located.
The Mines was built about 150 feet above gypsum mines that had been utilized as early as the 1860s and throughout the 1900s. Some features of The Mines were incorporated into the construction of the course. The No. 8 hole is located where a natural sand pit was used for the mining operation. Directional signs were also made with wooden timbers from the mining process.
Another unusual feature of The Mines was that it has back-to-back par-3 holes at Nos. 7 and 8. The course is a par-70 with two tough par-5s, the longest being the 607-yard fifth. The only problem with this layout is its blind shots. There’s a few too many of them.
The Golf Club at Thornapple Pointe isn’t bad, either. Clearly the locals like this Bill Newcomb design that opened in 1997. It’s located along the Thornapple River on Interstate 96 near the Gerald R. Ford International Airport.
Newcomb’s stature in Michigan golf course architecture started earlier than DeVries.’ Newcomb, who attended the University of Michigan, was a nationally-ranked amateur golfer with wins in both the Michigan Amateur and Indiana Open and a competitive appearance in the Masters.
If a 30-mile drive from downtown Grand Rapids isn’t too taxing, there’s another good track — the Arnold Palmer-designed Ravines in Saugatuck. Ravines has only three sets of tees but lots of forced carries. The most eye-catching features are the tall pines that dramatize the longest hole – the 626-yard 14th – and the Orchestra Pit at the par-3 17th. There’s a deep dropoff in front of the green at No.17, which accentuates the putting surface as a stage and gives the hole its name.
Playing those courses might give you a thirst to try more of the area golf layouts, but in Grand Rapids it might be more enticing to find more beer drinkers’ hot spots instead – and there’s plenty of them around.
After years of campaigning the former stars of the LPGA finally had two major championships to play in this year. The USGA staged its inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club in July and the Senior LPGA Championship was played for the second time at Indiana’s French Lick Resort in October.
All is not rosy for those former female stars who have reached their 45th birthday, however. The Legends Tour, which was virtually their only source for tournaments and other golf-related business opportunities, is in a state of flux following Jane Blalock’s decision to step away as the circuit’s chief executive officer.
While the PGA Tour long ago embraced its older players with the creation of what is now PGA Tour Champions, the LPGA – other than declaring The Legends its “official’’ senior tour — didn’t do the same for its older stars. That was left up to Blalock.
She rounded up 25 charter members to form the Women’s Senior Golf Association. It grew into The Legends Tour, which has 120 members. This year the circuit had an eight-tournament schedule, which included the two majors.
Blalock, 73, was one of the LPGA’s top stars prior to her retirement as a player in 1987. She made a record 299 consecutive cuts and notched 34 professional wins, 27 of them on the LPGA circuit. She was named to The Legends Hall of Fame in 2014, continued to play in its Honors Division events and downplayed her decision to drop the CEO title.
“We moved things around a little bit,’’ she said. “I made the decision that, as opposed to remaining as CEO, my company (JBC Golf) would continue to do the marketing and all the business parts of the tour. The only thing that has changed is my title.’’
There’s a little more to it than that, however. President Gail Graham and vice president Allison Finney also resigned their board positions. Christa Johnson will serve as interim president until an election is held in the next two months.
Blalock conceded that she was not altogether happy with her board members or the LPGA.
“I got frustrated. Outside of the title, the board doesn’t do much,’’ said Blalock. “The board focused on minutiae rather than growing the tour. Now I can focus on getting more events rather than the politics.’’
While the 2019 schedule has not been announced Blalock said a tournament in Minneapolis has been added, the existing tournaments will continue and a pro-am has been added to the ANA Inspiration event.
Legends players will also participate in another event with the Symetra Tour — a new tournament in Janesville, Wis. Some of the tour’s top players urged the creation of more tournaments during the Senior LPGA Championship at French Lick.
`We don’t want to play every week, but if we had six tournaments and four pro-ams that would be perfect,’’ said Juli Inkster.
England’s Trish Johnson has campaigned overseas for the creation of a British Senior Women’s Open.
“If we could get one, that would be great,’’ she said, “but who knows when? I’m sure it will happen eventually.’’
Blalock believes that 12 events – be they three-day tournaments combined with some smaller ones and pro-ams – would be ideal. The 36-hole Legends events with up to 40 players typically have purses between $200,000 and $250,000 with the winner’s take being $25,000 or $30,000. Blalock would like an increase to $350,000 with 50 players competing. The winner would receive $40,000 and all the players would have a payday, as there are no cuts on The Legends Tour.
`We’d like to give the players the opportunity to make enough (money) so they don’t need to have other jobs,’’ said Blalock. “We also need others (notably the players using their own contacts) to get us tournaments. I’ve been the only one who has done that.’’
She’s hopeful the enthusiasm created by this year’s two majors will build momentum for the creation of more tournaments. As for The Legends’ relationship with the LPGA, though, Blalock said the creation of a senior championship hasn’t created much of a change.
“And it should have,’’ she said. The LPGA, though, didn’t take that stance. The circuit declined to have any of its personnel quoted in this piece. Speaking for the LPGA, a high-ranking LPGA official said the second Senior LPGA Championship was an indication that the older players were not being ignored. He also pointed out that the events in which Legends players are part of Symetra Tour stops have been beneficial to both circuits.
The bottom line apparently is that women’s sports continue to be challenged to find the financial support that their male counterparts enjoy. The LPGA doesn’t have the resources that the PGA Tour does, and that’s why PGA Tour Champions is thriving while The Legends are hopeful of building off this year’s successes.
