lenz – Page 80 – Len Ziehm On Golf

Re-opening of Dye Course underscores progress made at PGA Golf Club

20161116_134317 — Pete Dye’s bunkers were the talk of the day at the re-opening of the Dye Course at PGA Golf Club.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida – The PGA Golf Club is the winter home of the PGA of America’s 28,000 members. It’s also one of just two facilities in America that the PGA operates, the other being Valhalla – the organization’s premier tournament venue in Louisville, Ky.

PGA Golf Club, with its four 18-hole courses plus a six-hole short course and elaborate learning center, is one of the nation’s top golf resorts. That’s why this week’s re-opening of its Dye Course will have an immediate impact on the game nation-wide. Visitors, both from all parts of the U.S. as well as other countries, will soon be arriving here with a new, most attractive playing option.

The Dye, created by legendary architect Pete Dye, was the third course built at PGA Golf Club. It opened in 2000, four years after two Tom Fazio designs – The Wanamaker and The Ryder. The Dye is the only course at the 20-year old resort not designed by a Fazio; Tom’s brother Jim designed the other, St. Lucie Trails.

20161116_134152 — Director of agronomy Dick Gray had fun discovering hidden bunkers during the Dye Course renovation.

Work on The Dye began in May and the re-opening was delayed two weeks after Hurricane Matthew visited the area. Director of agronomy Dick Gray said the course “isn’t perfect’’ yet but it’s more than ready to take players and Gray expects the last remnants of the hurricane will be gone in a month.

To be sure, The Dye needed work. Over years of play it had ceased to look like a Pete Dye-designed golf course. The greens had gotten smaller and some of the bunkers had disappeared, only to be re-discovered during the renovation in which Celebration Bermuda was used to re-grass the fairways and Tifeagle was used for the new putting surfaces. Dye, soon to turn 91 years old, was only minimally involved the restoration project.

“We don’t do anything without Pete taking a look at it first,’’ said Gray, a fellow Indiana native who has known the Hall of Fame designer for nearly 50 years. “We had him out in late April and he’s OK with everything we’ve done. Obviously he was a little distressed by the way it started, but Pete’s back in our corner.’’

20161116_134642 — Revived Dye Course will make PGA members proud.

Dye hasn’t seen the finished product yet but may visit next week when he’s being inducted into the Florida Golf Hall of Fame.

“It’s my guess he’ll be more than satisfied with the way the course now looks and feels,’’ said Gray.

That could well be the case, as the course will look much different than the last time Dye saw it.

“The greens are much bigger, with many more pin placements,’’ said Gray, “but with Pete’s courses it’s like going on a treasure hunt. You go out and find something you didn’t know was there. I couldn’t tell you how many peripheral bunkers we found. It was a restoration project, but it was a reclamation in places, too.’’

The digging most notably revealed six bunkers that had existed behind the No. 9 green, but there were more at Nos. 5, 10, 11 and 18 and Gray suspects more hidden bunkers are still out there.

Reviving The Dye was just the latest step in an upgrading of the resort that started after the number of rounds played fell to what general manager Jimmy Terry called “the lows of three-four years ago.’’

20161116_093035 — No bunkers anywhere look quite like the many Pete Dye designed at PGA Golf Club.

“We saw the challenge and we’re 3 ½ years into a five-year (improvement) plan,’’ said Terry. “We’ve had the absolute support from the PGA of America on what we wanted to do. We started simple, to make sure our golf courses are commensurate with the PGA of America so that its members will be proud to call it their winter home.’’

The first year of upgrades dealt with agronomy, with work done on the greens at St. Lucie Trail. That course, private when the upgrading began, took on its present name, was made semi-private and its pricing structure was changed.

In the second year the focus was on the clubhouse. Work was completed last year, but the tweaking continues. The facility was expanded and memorabilia added, most notably replicas of the trophies presented to the winners of the four major annual championships – the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. It makes for a nice photo opportunity.

20161116_080640_001 — Players at PGA Golf Club can get their picture taken with the four major championship trophies.

The fairways and greens of The Wanamaker were upgraded last year and The Ryder was to get the same treatment right after that.

“Because we had a couple large events scheduled there this fall we didn’t want to take the risk,’’ said Terry. One of the tournaments, the PGA Senior Professional Championship, is on tap on that course this week.

So, work was started on The Dye instead but The Ryder is going to get a facelift, too.

“We’ll do The Ryder Course next year,’’ said Terry. “At the end of the five years we’ll have touched every golf course and the clubhouse. The response from our members has been very positive. Our private club memberships have the highest they’ve ever been and the rounds of golf are back to a level where we’re happy with them.’’

No private golf club in Florida matches up with The Legacy

20160924_205416 — Bob Foisie’s The Legacy offers many activities that other Florida golf clubs don’t.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida – The Legacy may be the most intriguing course in golf-rich Florida.

Located in a community that has five 18-holers in close proximity to each other, The Legacy – the only private course among the five — has been around for 32 years and has hosted local qualifiers for many U.S. Opens and other national tournaments. Its designers carry a highly respected name in course architecture circles and its most progressive 82-year old owner has made upgrades that make his club both special and unique.

Still, The Legacy has maintained a lower profile than the four resort courses that comprise the PGA Golf Club. Many of the club professionals from around the U.S. who have come to this community to play the four layouts at PGA Golf Club don’t know much about The Legacy. There’s an aura of mystery about it for those not living in the immediate area.

Thirty-two years ago the course was called The Reserve and its owner was George Fazio. He holds a unique place in golf history, being the first of many touring pros who have dabbled in course architecture. Fazio did much more than dabble after a playing career that included victories in the 1946 Canadian Open and the 1947 Bing Crosby Pro-Am and a playoff loss to Ben Hogan in the 1950 U.S. Open.

Fazio’s list of course designs includes such well-known American layouts as PGA National, East Lake, Butler National and Jupiter Hills. His financial partners on such golf ventures included legendary comedian/golfer Bob Hope, one of Fazio’s frequent pro-am partners. Fazio paved the way for his nephews, Jim and Tom, to enter the golf architectural business and Fazio Design now spans three generations, since the sons of Tom and Jim have also gotten involved.

20161112_190107 — Owner Bob Foisie and architect Jim Fazio have teamed to make The Legacy something special.

The Legacy holds a unique place in golf history, it being the last course designed by George and the first designed by Jim, who has since created about 30 courses in the United States and a similar number overseas.

“George was a pretty good tour pro. He had a nice playing record,’’ said Chuck Knebels, a well-known club professional in the area, “but he was the first player of that generation to get into architecture. Before him course designers were more engineers, guys who were more visionary about the land rather being a player. George – then Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw – were the first players to take a shot at it. At the end of the day people really needed to get a player’s perspective. It’s hard doing well without being there.’’

Knebels knew George Fazio long before either settled in Florida. They both had roots in Philadelphia, and Fazio helped Knebels – then just 22 years old – land the head professional’s job at Mariner Sands, another Fazio design in the nearby town of Stuart.

“I was just lucky to be associated with someone like that as a kid, because it opened doors,’’ said Knebels, who spent 24 years at Mariner Sands before finishing a successful professional career with a 15-year stint at Hawks Ridge — a highly upscale private club in Atlanta. Now he’s back in Stuart, still involved with Mariner Sands and giving perspective on The Legacy as well.

20160922_080835 — “The Faz” is a statue that pays tribute to the work of George Fazio.

Jim Fazio, though a nephew of George, didn’t really get to know his uncle until he was in his teens.

“I didn’t meet him until I was 15, because he lived in California and was a pro on the tour,’’ said Jim. “I went to work for him when I was 17 at a nine-hole golf course he had in Pennsylvania.’’

As George’s career was winding down due in part to health problems Jim’s was on the upswing. They wound up together working on a property called The Reserve in the early 1980s. The owner had donated a portion of a 2,500-acre property called The Reserve in what was then Fort Pierce, Florida, for the creation of a golf course. The Reserve was the first course built in what is now PGA Village, a part of Port St. Lucie. The first of the resort courses weren’t built there until 1996.

George Fazio lived on the premises for about four years, built the clubhouse, tennis courts and swimming pool, then developed prostate cancer. Jim recalls the course being built for less than $1.5 million and estimates that today its construction would be a $6 million project. After clearing 100 acres of trees, the finished project was much like today’s layout – a challenging 7,023 yards from the back tees.

Building started in March of 1983 and finished in November. An 11-inch rain on the day of the scheduled opening pushed the course’s debut to January 1, 1984, and it wasn’t exactly a smash hit then largely because of its somewhat remote location.

“It was a fun thing to do, but we were ahead of our time,’’ Jim Fazio says now.

20161112_190617 — Miniature golf is just one of the many activities offered to members and guests at The Legacy.

George moved back to a cottage he owned at Jupiter Hills shortly after The Legacy opened and his wife Barbara sold the course to Jack Piatt, of Pittsburgh, after her husband’s death in 1986 at the age of 73.

“With Piatt the course lost some of its pizzazz,’’ said Knebels. “George would attract the higher end amateur golfer and guys of a higher economic stature.’’

Bob Foisie, a successful entrepreneur from Connecticut, was one of the club members when Piatt was the owner. Foisie already owned a course in New Hampshire, saw possibilities with The Reserve and – most important — recognized that the golf industry was changing. He bought the club and one of his first moves was to change its name.

“The Reserve didn’t mean much to me,’’ said Foisie. “A reserve could have been almost anything.’’

20161113_132345 — Members and their guests are in for a treat at The Legacy.

He decided on The Legacy as a tribute to George Fazio and a statue, called The Faz, honors his memory in front of the pro shop.

Over the years the Fazio name became much more well known in golf architecture thanks to the efforts of Jim and Tom and their sons, Tom and Logan.
Jim Fazio has had a hand in every change made to The Legacy but — with Foisie’s guidance — he’s done much more than that at the club. Foisie, who has owned the club for 20 years, also called upon him to create an upscale practice range, a par-3 course that accommodates both walkers and riders and a lighted miniature course.

That’s all in keeping with Foisie’s realization that golf clubs need much more than a good 18-hole course to attract members these days.

“You have to have a golf course, and other things,’’ he said. “When you add ours all up, we have a good 14 different activities.’’

In addition to various dining options, The Legacy’s non-golf attractions include six tennis courts, a swimming pool, facilities for bocce ball and pickle ball, a dog park and dog agility course.

20161112_113950_002 — In addition to golf, bocce ball is just one of 14 activities offered at The Legacy.

HERE AND THERE: Arcadia Bluffs is adding another course, too

20161025_112815 — Dana Fry (right) teamed with fellow architects Ron Whitten and Mike Hurdzan to design 2017 U.S. Open site Erin Hills, but Fry will go it alone in creating the second course at Arcadia Bluffs.

Arcadia Bluffs and Forest Dunes have battled for the status of Michigan’s best public course for several years, so it should come as no surprise that construction of a second course will begin on Nov. 1 at Arcadia. And there’s no better place to begin another round of our “offseason” travel-related golf reports.

Forest Dunes, in Roscommon, had a soft opening for its unique Tom Doak-designed reversible course — a layout that can be played both clockwise and counter clockwise — this season and it’ll be in full swing in 2017 to provide an alternative to the respected Tom Weiskopf-designed main 18-holer.

Arcadia’s second course will be on the unusual side as well. Called the South Course at Arcadia Bluffs, it’ll be located about a mile from the present 18-holer and – unlike its companion layout – it won’t be on the water.

Architect Dana Fry is planning an inland course that will be noted for its huge putting surfaces that will be either square or rectangular-shaped. Planned opening is in the summer of 2018.

In the meantime, Fry will be a busy guy. With Mike Hurdzan and Ron Whitten, he was one of three architects involved in the designing of Erin Hills – the Wisconsin site of the 2017 U.S. Open next June. Fry plans to spend nearly two weeks at Erin Hills before and during the first U.S. Open ever played in Wisconsin. And that’s in addition to the demands of the work required at Arcadia Bluffs and some projects overseas.

Hurricane Matthew update

The damage done by Hurricane Matthew was serious in the golf world, no doubt about it.

Clearly Hilton Head, S.C., got it the worst – especially at Sea Pines Resort where the opening of the new Atlantic Dunes course had to be postponed. Its other two courses – Harbour Town and Heron Point also are closed. The target for the opening of all three is Nov. 21.

TPC Sawgrass, in Ponte Vedra, FL., also suffered extensive damage, though much of it was not initially reported nationally because the famous Stadium Course – site of the PGA Tour’s Players Championship – had been closed for a renovation since the last Players Championship in May.

According to reports from Sawgrass 372 trees fell during the hurricane, 203 on the Stadium Course. The facility was hit with 66 mile-per-hour winds and 14 inches of rain. Tentative re-opening of the Stadium Course is Nov. 15.

Shark Shootout will have a female touch

Greg Norman’s Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout will be played for the 16th straight year at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, FL., from Dec. 8-10 but it will have a new look.

The field will include a woman – LPGA star Lexi Thompson – for the first time since Annika Sorenstam participated in 2006. She’ll be paired with 21-year old rookie star Bryson DeChambeau.

They represent two of the eight first-time participants in the Shootout. Among the others is English veteran and former world No. 1 Luke Donald. Brandt Snedeker and Jason Dufner will defend their title in the event.

Bits and pieces

With our base moving again from the Chicago area to Florida for the winter, it’s time to clean out the notebook items from all parts of country. Here’s the best of the bunch:

TeamIllinois — This team from Cog Hill will comprise Team Illinois in the PGA Junior League national finals.

Cog Hill’s junior league team is among eight to qualify for the Nov. 19-21 national championship at Grayhawk, in Scottsdale, Ariz. The team is captained by Carol Rhoades and coached by Kevin Weeks, both PGA professionals.

PGA Golf Club, the 54-hole flagship facility of the PGA of America located in Port St. Lucie, FL., will hold a Red, White & You charity event on its recently-renovated Wanamaker course on Nov. 13. It’ll benefit the Folds of Honor Foundation and PGA REACH.

Golf TV commentators Johnny Miller and Mark Rolfing will be special guests at the Western Golf Association’s Green Coat Gala on Nov. 4 at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel.

The University of Illinois men’s team, which has remained a national powerhouse in what figured to be a rebuilding season, concludes its fall campaign at the East Lake Cup from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. Coach Mike Small has fielded a team without a senior (two juniors, one sophomore, three freshmen). The Illini won their first three tournaments and climbed to the No. 1-ranking in the Golf Coaches Association poll.

David Feherty will perform at Chicago’s Copernicus Center beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28.

Antioch Golf Club, one of the Chicago area’s longest-standing public 18-holers, is for sale. Asking price for the north suburban layout that was built in the 1920s is $950,000.

The Myrtle Beach Preseason Classic, a 54-hole two-man team event with three formats, has been scheduled for Jan. 30 to Feb. 1. The Heather Glen, Legends Heathland, Kings North, Pine Lakes, Prestwick and Pearl West courses will be used for the event.

Notre Dame’s Warren course has been named the site for the 2019 U.S. Senior Open. It’ll be the first campus course to host the event and only the 16th campus course to host a U.S. Golf Association championship.

For starters, a new name is needed for the rejuvenated Oak Meadows course

20161017_140659 — The letters now missing from the signage signify that Oak Meadows’ days as a golf course are done.

The course reconstruction is done, at least for this fall. Course architect Greg Martin has the new routing for what had been the Oak Meadows golf course in place, the turf is starting to grow in and the Wadsworth Construction equipment is departing the 288-acre property in Addison.

In short, the anticipation is growing – even with cold weather about to curtail another Chicago golf season. In just a few months this chunk of land will be the most talked about course in at least the Chicago area, and it should be. This isn’t just a golf course renovation. It also involves environmentally-driven restorations and wetland creation – and all that doesn’t come cheap.

20161021_130441 — DuPage director of golf Ed Stevenson is anxious to open a new golf course.

Ed Stevenson, director of golf for the DuPage County Forest Preserve District, estimates the cost of those combined projects at $16 million and that doesn’t include the building of a clubhouse, which won’t likely be ready until 2019. Nineteen architects submitted proposals for that aspect of this massive project, four were interviewed and selection of the chosen one is imminent.

Next order of business involves the naming of the new course. One thing is certain: it won’t be called Oak Meadows, which was a deteriorating, flood-plagued layout before its formal closing on July 7, 2015. The Oak Meadows signs were taken down at the conclusion of the construction period.

Stevenson is heading the committee that hopes to come up with the new name in time for a mid-winter announcement. A committee of environmentalists, naturalists, ecologists, landscape architects and golf course personnel are pondering possible names and the best one from the group as a whole will be submitted to the DuPage board for approval.

Frequent flooding on the course initiated discussions for a renovation years ago. Then, in 2009, lightning struck the clubhouse and an ensuing fire destroyed it. That misfortune stimulated more discussion on what should be done at this choice location, which has housed at least one golf course since 1923.

20161021_130655 — Pro shop photos show that Ben Hogan’s 1941 Chicago Open win hasn’t been forgotten.

Originally the course was called Elmhurst Country Club, a private facility that hosted the 1941 Chicago Open – a big tournament won by the legendary Ben Hogan. For about 60 years Elmhurst CC existed beside another private country club, Brookwood. The courses went public in 1986, when the DuPage Forest Preserve District took over and started transforming what was there.

Maple Meadows, which had 27 holes on basically the Brookwood property, operated side-by-side with Oak Meadows before Martin began his renovation. The 18 holes at Oak Meadows and the nine-hole East course at Maple Meadows were eliminated to make way for the new 18-hole course.

20161021_131301 — Tee markers from the first and last holes are all that’s left of the Oak Meadows course.

Solving the flooding problems from Salt Creek was vital in the reconstruction. Two dams were removed and 1.2 miles of the creek were restored throughout the property.

“Salt Creek was a liability, and now it’s the star of the show,’’ said Stevenson, while giving his first sneak preview of the new course toward the conclusion of his 22nd season on the job. “We can hold 20 million more gallons of storm water because the water now goes where we want it to go. We can hold more of it, and the golf course can stay dry longer.’’

Opening of the new course is targeted – most optimistically – for next Memorial Day weekend but play will likely be limited for a while after that first ball is struck. Regulars from the Oak Meadows days will find that the Nos. 1 and 18 holes look familiar. The rest of the course, not so much – if at all.

While numerous trees were removed in the reconstruction process, about 500 native ones were planted. There had been 12 bridges on the property; now there are 10.

The 20 bunkers on the Oak Meadows layout were removed and 54 new ones were built, all with the new high-tech Better Billy Bunker system that was put into use at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National in preparation for the recent Ryder Cup matches. The new bunkers will have white sand, a trademark of PGA Tour courses, and the course was re-grassed with T-1 bentgrass, another upscale feature that was well-received at Valhalla – a PGA Tour-owned championship course in Kentucky – among other high-profile clubs.

One unfortunate part of the transformation was the elimination of an historic hole. The short par-3 sixteenth hole of the Oak Meadows course had the first island green in America. Charles W. Wagstaff, designer of the Elmhurst Country Club course, created it and such holes became popular world-wide over the years. Flooding concerns required the elimination of that hole in the new design.

The revamped practice range will be unique. It’ll have six target greens and a fairway will be cut down the middle. When completed the range can double as a six-hole course to be used in youth programs.

20161021_131618 — In some spots the renovated course that was Oak Meadows looks ready to welcome golfers.

Champions Tour golfer Jeff Sluman is undergoing a lifestyle change

20161020_110157 — Veteran tour player Jeff Sluman (left) talks golf with Steve Cochran at Exmoor’s tournament preview.

For at least two decades Jeff Sluman has been the Chicago area’s premier player on the Champions Tour. He still is, but no longer can he be referred to as “Hinsdale’s Jeff Sluman.’’

Sluman revealed at the Western Golf Association’s preview for the 2018 Constellation Senior Players Championship on Wednesday that he’s no longer a suburbanite. He sold his mansion in Hinsdale. Sluman and wife Linda have moved into Chicago and are adjusting to being empty-nesters. Their only child, daughter Kathryn, has begun her freshman year at Florida State University, Jeff’s alma mater.

“My wife and I get on a plane every two weeks or so to see her,’’ said Sluman. “That’s been difficult, but we’re looking forward to a new chapter in our lives living downtown and seeing the city.’’

Sluman has over $10 million in tournament winnings. Now 59, his biggest win came in the 1988 PGA Championship and he and remains a constant contender on what is now called the PGA Tour Champions. He tied for third in his last tournament and climbed from 21st to 15th in the circuit’s Charles Schwab Cup standings.

While the PGA Tour season ended with the Ryder Cup two weeks ago and its 2016-17 campaign has already begun, the 50-and-over circuit is about to begin its first-ever season-ending playoff series – three events that conclude on Nov. 13 at the Charles Schwab Cup finals in Scottsdale, Ariz.

That’s got Sluman’s attention now, but he’s looking forward to coming to Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park for one of the PGA Tour Champions’ major events. Exmoor, which dates back to 1896, has a well-tested tournament course that was re-designed in 1914 by Donald Ross.

“I couldn’t be happier that we’re going to be playing here in two years,’’ said Sluman during a fireside chat conducted by radio personality Steve Cochran for the benefit of Exmoor members and prospective tournament sponsors. “The course is absolutely magnificent. All our guys will love it.’’

Sluman was also a spokesman for the players during the circuit’s Encompass Championship during its three-year run at North Shore Country Club in Glenview. That tournament left town, and the PGA Tour Champions didn’t play in the Chicago area this year won’t in 2017, either.

The WGA will manage the Constellation Senior Players Championship in 2018, an addition to its usual duties of conducting the BMW Championship on the PGA Tour, the Western Amateur and Western Junior. The Western Amateur has been played at Exmoor three times, most recently in 2012.

Exmoor was one of 11 charter clubs when the WGA was founded in 1899 and – like Sluman’s home club, Hinsdale Golf Club, — it has been a big supporter of the WGA’s Evans Scholars Foundation. Hinsdale has sent 80 caddies to college since 1954. Exmoor has sponsored more the 60 Evans Scholars.

This World Championship golfer has the speed to prove it

20161018_112123 — International athletes couldn’t match Kenosha’s Jamie Young in the World SpeedGolf Championship.

GLENVIEW, Illinois – SpeedGolf, a sport created 14 years ago, combines a player’s golf score with his time covering 18 holes – and Jamie Young is good at it. So good, in fact, that he’s now the world champion.

Young, 52, from Kenosha, WI., won the World SpeedGolf Championship at The Glen Club on Tuesday. He shot rounds of 72 on Monday and 77 on Tuesday while averaging 10 minutes 20 seconds per mile.

Each round consisted of about five miles running and Young’s scores and speed together were good enough to beat 28 other competitors in the Elite Division in an event that drew athletes from 19 states and six countries.

The problem for Young comes in how to deal with the prize money. A $40,000 purse, put up by prominent Chicago golf course creator Mike Keiser, was offered at the World SpeedGolf Championship but Young couldn’t claim the $10,000 first prize because he chose to compete as an amateur.

Young is a golfer first and a runner second. He played college golf at the University of Oklahoma in the 1980s and was introduced to SpeedGolf five years ago when a friend encouraged him to compete in an event in Richmond, Va.

As was the case in the World Championship, there were amateur divisions at Richmond and Young posted a time that beat all the professionals. He received a nice trophy but Ireland’s Rob Hogan pocketed the $10,000 first prize.

“I turned pro after that,’’ said Young, “because there was talk about expanding it into a tour. I did two more tournaments, cashed in both and won about $5,000 but come the spring of 2015 the Richmond tournament was off, one in Portland was in doubt and the World Championship was to be determined.’’

Young went to the U.S. Golf Association to regain his amateur status, which would allow him to play in the big state golf events in Wisconsin again. He did play in last year’s World SpeedGolf Championship at The Glen Club and finished sixth, but he couldn’t touch the $2,500 prize that went with it because he was an amateur again.

Last January the USGA announced a rule change that would allow amateurs to donate their share of money won to charity, so Young made donations to his local Rotary Club and a church group. He’ll do the same with the first place money earned this year but he hasn’t ruled out a return to the pro ranks.

“If they get a tour going I might re-consider,’’ he said. He was one of four amateurs to compete in the Elite Division at The Glen.

In the meantime Young is keeping both his golf and fitness level in top shape in a variety of ways. He plays most of his golf at both Strawberry Creek, a private club with about 200 members that is owned in part by ex-Bears’ center Jay Hilgenberg in Kenosha, as well as a nearby public layout, Spring Valley.

A 1-handicapper at Strawberry Creek, Young has won the club championship four times and his three sons are his main rivals each year. The owner of his own investment company, Young has also competed in the Ironman Triathlon five times and has completed numerous marathons, most notably the big ones contested in Chicago, New York and Boston.

SpeedGolf presents a different challenge than those more traditional endurance sports. Young competes with six clubs in his bag. Each athlete runs by himself, accompanied by timers and scorers, with tee times eight minutes apart.

“My focus is more on breathing, not like a regular golf tournament where you’re feeling the pressure,’’ he said. “This tournament, though, I focused on shooting a good golf score.’’

He did that with an even par round on his first 18 holes and was 5-over in Tuesday’s second round in edging closest rival Wesley Cupp, of Rome, N.Y. Hogan finished fourth in defense of the title he won at The Glen last year.

If speed were the major consideration Young would have done just fine, too. He has played 18 holes at Strawberry Creek in just 56 minutes. He likes early-morning tee times, which allow him to get to his office for a day’s work after playing 18 holes and running four-five miles.

“For me it’s a great way to stay in shape,’’ said Young.

Wesley Cupp, Jamie Young, Mack McLain — Runnerup Wesley Cupp and third-place finisher Mack McLain flank SpeedGolf winner Jamie Young. (Photo by Elizabeth Epstein).

It’s not too early to start planning for the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills

The 117th playing of the U.S. Open is still eight months away, I realize that. Still, it’s not too early to so some planning around it. After all, U.S. Opens don’t come our way very often.

Next year’s will be June 15-18 at Erin Hills, a public-access venue located in a little town northwest of Milwaukee. I’m considering this a “Chicago’’ U.S. Open, though I admit that’s somewhat of a stretch. Erin Hills can be handled as a driving trip – without the need for overnight lodging – from most areas north and west of Chicago. For me it’s less than a two-hour drive from the northern suburbs.

This is a U.S. Open that should be embraced by Chicago golfers because – most unfortunately — there won’t be another one anywhere near our area for a long, long, long time. The next possibility is in 2027, and that’s remote one at best.

The last U.S. Open in the Chicago area was in 2003, when Jim Furyk emerged the champion at Olympia Fields. Prior to that the last Chicago U.S. Open was in 1990 at Medinah – one made historically special by Hale Irwin’s playoff victory over Mike Donald. That was the first U.S. Open title decided in sudden death. A U.S. Open playoff is traditionally over 18 holes on Monday, but the Irwin-Donald battle needed an extra hole before a champion could be crowned.

As for the future, no U.S. Opens are scheduled even remotely close to Chicago except for next year’s at Erin Hills – the first ever to be played in Wisconsin. The announced future sites after that are Shinnecock Hills in New York (2018), Pebble Beach in California (2019), Winged Foot in New York (2020), Torrey Pines in California (2021), The Country Club in Massachusetts (2022), Los Angeles Country Club (2023) and Pinehurst in North Carolina (2024).

The U.S. Golf Association hasn’t confirmed the next two years, but it’s a reasonably safe assumption that Oakmont, in Pennsylvania, will host in 2025 and the tourney will return to Shinnecock in 2026. Well-informed speculators have projected sites through 2030, and none of their possibilities are even remotely near the Midwest.

So, let’s savor what’s coming to Erin Hills. The course hasn’t hosted much in the way of big tournaments, only the 2008 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the 2011 U.S. Amateur. The course hasn’t changed much since that last one, but the USGA still held a media preview last month to show off what the next U.S. Open will be like.

The first thing you notice is the scorecard. The official yardage for Erin Hills at the 2017 U.S. Open is a whopping 7,693 yards. That may make it the longest course in tournament history, though USGA staffers on site weren’t ready to confirm that.

“But don’t be alarmed by that,’’ said USGA managing director Jeff Hall. “This will be the first time we’ve played a par-72 course in the U.S. Open since 1992. Tour players aren’t accustomed to having four par-5s at a U.S. Open but they’ll get that opportunity at Erin Hills.’’

The par-5s are No. 1, which is listed at 560 yards but could play as long as 608; No.7, listed at 607 but could play as short as 576 or as long as 619; No. 14, listed at 594 but could play as long as 650; and No. 18, listed at 637 but could play as long as 675.

Both course superintendent Zach Reineking and the architectural team of Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten were on hand for the preview day. They joined Hall and the media contingent on the tour of the course, which opened in 2006.

Erin Hills was built by Bob Lang, the original owner from 1999 to 2009. Andy Ziegler has been the owner since then. Erin Hills is already a special place but it will be more special after becoming the 52nd course to host a U.S. Open and the sixth public access course to do it, following Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Torrey Pines, New York’s Bethpage Black and Oregon’s Chambers Bay.

A walking-only venue, Erin Hills will be open for public play through Oct. 6, then the public won’t be able to play until after next year’s big event.

Hall said the greens would be in the 13 to 13 ½ range for the Open, slower than the surfaces this year at Oakmont. Hall lauded the “wonderful bentgrass putting surfaces’’ and said they are “much more accustomed to what the players have seen.’’

Some other tidbits on the Erin Hills Open:

Few changes have been made since Erin Hills hosted the U.S. Amateur five years ago. The only notable one is at No. 3, and that wasn’t a major thing.

Reineking said 385 trees have been taken down in recent years and only six are left. None come into play except perhaps the only one at No. 15 – and the future of that tree is in doubt.

The USGA estimates the economic impact of the 2017 U.S. Open on the Milwaukee area at between $120 and $135 million.

Community support has been outstanding. The USGA needed about 5,000 volunteers and received applications from 7,956. More than half of the volunteers were from Wisconsin and 52 were from foreign countries.

Though the planning remains a work in progress, tentative plans call for two spectator parking lots, both free to those using them. Though Erin Hills was built on 652 acres, galleries will be limited to 35,000 each day to assure a more pleasant spectator experience.

The USGA opened its merchandise online shop on Sept. 8 and ticket sales were launched in June. They’re continuing on the USGA website (usga.org). Though tickets are still available for the seven days of tournament week (gates open for practice on Monday, June 12), tickets to the four tournament rounds figure to be gone soon. Those four rounds have been sellouts for the last 29 years.

Lodging, for those who need it, should also be addressed well in advance. Erin Hills has only 37 beds on its property and they’ll be taken by tournament staffers. Hotels in an around Milwaukee may be hard-pressed to fill the needs of U.S. Open visitors.

October provided a variety of meaningful ends to Chicago golf season

I never quite understood this.

October, with its generally milder temperatures and beautiful color changes, is in many ways the best month of the year to play golf. Plus, with school back in session, the courses aren’t as busy as they are from June through August. Still, interest seems to be on the downside with the tournament schedules for both the Illinois PGA and Chicago District Golf Association rapidly winding down and the Western Golf Association’s events completely over.

Even the PGA Tour targets a September climax to its wrap-around season and the LPGA plays out of the United States from mid-September all the way through the end of October.

This year, though, that trend might be changing. Globally, the Ryder Cup carries two days into October and there’s an even more obvious reason for renewed interest in late fall golf. Tiger Woods has scheduled his latest return to tournament golf for the first event of the 2016-17 PGA Tour season – the Safeway Open (formerly Frys.com Open ) at Silverado in Napa, Calif., from Oct. 13-16. Phil Mickelson has entered, too, so that event will perk up golf’s “off-season.’’

Locally things are changing as well.

That’s mainly due to the Illinois PGA, which will conclude Carrie Williams’ first season as executive director with three significant October events. The IPGA has always played the last of its four major championships in October, and this year’s IPGA Players Championship at Eagle Ridge, in Galena, will be played Oct. 3-4.

More often than not the IPGA player of the year is decided at Eagle Ridge, and it certainly will be this time. The IPGA Players doesn’t fit into the schedule of the section’s best player, University of Illinois coach Mike Small. He’s second in the section’s Bernardi Points standings thanks to steady play in his one-tournament-a-month routine.

Small tied for first in the first stroke play event at Crestwicke, in Bloomington, in April. He won a stroke play at Onwentsia, in Lake Forest, in June; was sixth in the Illinois Open in St. Charles in July; and won the IPGA Championship for the 12th time at Olympia Fields in August.

Now he’s all about coaching again, though he did give a glimmer of things to come when he played in the Illinois Senior Open at McHenry Country Club in September. Small just turned 50 and that made him eligble for senior and Champions Tour events.

“I’ll play there a bit more in the future when time and my schedule allows me to,’’ said Small after the announcement of his new six-year contract to continue as the Illini coach was announced. “I still like to compete, and playing is a nice way to clear my head once in a while when I need it. But I’m a coach first and a player second. That’s what it’s been for 15 years and that’s what it’ll be going forward.’’

That leaves the IPGA Players Championship as the tournament where the rest of the club pros will fight it out for player of the year. Medinah teaching pro Travis Johns leads the Bernardi Points race going in – he’s even ahead of Small after finishing in a tie for second at the IPGA Championship. Right on his heels is Curtis Malm, the head professional at White Eagle, in Naperville.

Johns was player of the year in 2010 and 2014 and Malm won in 2012 and 2013. They played with Small in the final threesome at the IPGA Championship and Malm also finished as a joint runner-up at Olympia Fields.

Kyle Bauer, the head pro at Glen View Club, won the first of the year’s majors – the IPGA Match Play Championship at Kemper Lakes in May. He’s fourth in the Bernardi Points race while last year’s player of the year, Mistwood teaching pro Brian Brodell, is seventh. They’ll at least have a better chance at player of the year than the Illinois Open winner. Carlos Sainz Jr. won that title, but he’s a touring pro and thereby ineligible for the section’s top playing accolade.

All the others will be in the mix for the coveted player of the year award at the IPGA Players Championship, but even that one won’t wrap up the section’s big events for the season. The Royal Cup matches, pitting the top 10 Illinois assistant pros against their counterparts from Wisconsin, is on tap for Oct. 7 at Big Foot, in Fontana, Wis. It’s not the Ryder Cup, but still meaningful for those involved in one way or another.

Another deserving climax to Chicago area tournament play will also be provided by the Illinois PGA. Its Senior Players Championship will be played Oct. 17-18 at Old Elm in Highland Park with just the top 30 in the IPGA senior season’s point race eligible. That event will likely determine the section’s senior player of the year, though Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb has a comfortable lead with only Mistwood’s John Platt a threat to catch him.

Sobb has been senior player of the year six times in the last nine years, winning back-to-back in 2007-08, again in 2010-11 and still again in 2014-15. He’ll be going after an unprecedented three-peat this October.

And then there’s the World SpeedGolf Championship, which will be played for the second time at The Glen, in Glenview, on Oct. 18-19. It’ll be interesting as well.

All those scenarios aside, the most impressive local tournament showing of the year won’t be matched in the October events. At least not in my book.

In fact the best tournament showing by a local player, professional or amateur, in my nearly 50 years covering golf in these parts was by Northbrook’s Nick Hardy in the Illinois State Amateur at St. Charles Country Club. Getting ready for his junior year at the University of Illinois, Hardy covered the 72 holes in 28 under par and won by 10 strokes. I don’t expect to ever see such a dominant performance at the local level ever again – but then, who knows?

TRAVEL NOTEBOOK: Hurricane Matthew delays Atlantic Dunes opening

Atlantic Dunes at Sea Pines — This is what Atlantic Dunes’ 15th hole looked like before Hurricane Matthew hit the Sea Pines Resort.

Davis Love III had barely finished savoring his team’s victory in the Ryder Cup when the U.S. captain had another event to celebrate. His Atlantic Dunes course was to open a day later at South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island. That opening, though, never happened.

Hurricane Matthew caused damage from Florida to South Carolina, but none were more adversely affected than the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head. Many residents couldn’t return to their homes and some of those who could were still without power nearly a week after Matthew battered the Island with 88 mile-per-hour winds and a storm surge upwards of 12 feet.

The status of all the Hilton Head golf courses remained very much in limbo, with no dates set for their re-openings. The much-anticipated opening of Atlantic Dunes is also in doubt. Love’s design firm had completed a complete renovation of the Ocean Course — the first 18-holer built on Hilton Head.

When it’s available the re-design will provide a more seaside ambience to Sea Pines. Atlantic Dunes will also be a nice complement to Sea Pines’ other courses – the Harbour Town Golf Links, jointly designed by Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus, and Dye’s Heron Point.

unnamed-3 — Collins Group Realty provided this aerial view of Sea Pines after Hurricane Matthew struck the area.

NU coach Fletcher claims top Women’s Western award

20161006_165357 — WWGA president Kim Schriver (left) presents Woman of Distinction Award to Emily Fletcher.

Emily Fletcher may not have been the best known of the 22 winners of the Women’s Western Golf Association’s Woman of Distinction Award, but she certainly was a popular choice at the group’s annual meeting and luncheon on Thursday at Indian Hill Club in Winnetka.

Fletcher received two standing ovations while accepting an award that was first presented to Patty Berg in 1994. Some of the other winners included legendary players Louise Suggs, Nancy Lopez, Kathy Whitworth, Betty Jameson and Mickey Wright.

WWGA president Kim Schriver presented the award to Fletcher, marking a new era for the winner’s list. Her career in golf isn’t like any of the others. Fletcher was a 30-year assistant professional at the Glen View Club who then built the Northwestern women’s program into a powerhouse after taking on a new professional challenge in 2008.

Fletcher was a college player who was one of the first to go through the pioneer golf management program at Ferris State University in Michigan. She thanked Ed Oldfield Sr., the long-time head professional at Glen View, for her entry into the club professional ranks and Pat Goss, director of golf at Northwestern, for convincing her to give college coaching a try.

Along the way Fletcher served for nine years as the swing coach and sometimes caddie for Jenny Lidback, a touring pro who notched 20 top-10 finishes on the Ladies PGA Tour and won a major title – the 1995 duMaurier Classic. Fletcher also beat breast cancer, a disease which had taken the life of her mother, while coaching at Northwestern.

Oldfield, who now lives in Arizona; Goss and Lidback all were on hand at Indian Hill for Fletcher’s awards presentation that concluded with her choking up after her second standing ovation.

On the coaching end her Lady Wildcats have won three of the last four Big Ten Conference titles and she was the league’s coach-of-the-year four times in the last six years.

Given the rich history of the WWGA, receiving the organization’s top award is a lifetime achievement that’s hard to match. The WWGA was founded in 1901 and will conduct its 117th Women’s Western Amateur at River Forest Country Club in 2017. That’s another big reason why the Chicago area can look ahead to its most exciting season of tournament play next year. The Women’s Western Amateur has been played at Chicago courses 44 times, but not since 2001 when Exmoor, in Highland Park, hosted.

Dubuque Golf & Country Club, in Iowa, will host the 90th Western Junior tournament next year. The WWGA also conducted one of the LPGA’s majors – the Women’s Western Open, from 1930 through 1967 – and the Women’s Western Senior from 1979 through 2007.

Author: lenz