PALM HARBOR, Florida – The Masters, the year’s first major golf championship, is just a month away and the Chicago’s top two PGA Tour players haven’t qualified as yet. This week’s stop — the Valspar Championship on Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead course –figures to give both Luke Donald and Kevin Streelman a boost, however. Neither are…
Author: lenz
Palm Beach has a par-3 course that is unlike any other
PALM BEACH, Florida – I’ve always believed that the Nickol Knoll course in my former backyard is the best par-3 course in Illinois. As for the best par-3 in the entire United States I had given the nine-holer at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, Mo., a slight edge over Three-tops, at Treetops Resort in Gaylord,…
`The Elegant Mouse’ should be required reading for golf fanatics
Who is the smallest player to compete successfully on the PGA Tour? My guess is that it was Bob Toski. He stood 5-foot-7 and his fighting weight in his playing days was just 118 pounds. There may have been shorter players, but none lighter. Now 90, Toski’s stature in golf is that of a giant….
PGA Tour’s Florida Swing won’t be the same without Doral, Palmer
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida – The Florida Swing of the PGA Tour season, which tees off on Thursday at PGA National, has changed dramatically from a year ago. One tournament, known since 2011 as the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, left its home of 55 years at Trump National Doral’s Blue Course in Miami and moved…
Our revealing inside look at the best in women’s college golf
PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida — We received a great inside look at women’s college golf when we volunteered to host a player participating in the Central District Invitational on the St. Lucie Trail course here. What an eye-opening experience it was! Michigan State University hosted the tournament, and the players on all 14 participating schools…
Chicago Golf Show’s arrival also reveals The Glen’s return as an Illinois Open site
The Chicago Golf Show is always a tantalizing event, in that a mid-winter walk through the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont is an early forerunner to golf courses opening in the spring. This year that’s not quite the case, as many courses have taken advantage of unusually warm winter weather to already announce their openings…
IT ZIEHMS TO ME: Couples, Daly are off to encouraging starts
BOCA RATON, Florida — You don’t see this very often any more. Fred Couples is healthy for a change, and John Daly is not only belting his tee shots further than last year, his drives are straighter, too. Those two items are what matter most going into the start of Florida’s turn to host the…
Allianz tourney draws big numbers for PGA Champions opener
BOCA RATON, Florida – This week’s first full-field event on the PGA Champions circuit couldn’t come at a better place. The Old Course at Broken Sound, home to the Allianz Championship, is one of the best courses on the 50-and-over circuit. In its 11th season, the Allianz has been the Champions’ season-opening event every year…
Drivers were the most interesting feature at the PGA Merchandise Show
ORLANDO, FL. — Be it clubs, balls, training devices or apparel, the PGA Merchandise Show always has something to intrigue every type of golfer. The 64th staging of this biggest show in golf ended its four-day run on Friday at the Orange County Convention Center with 40,000 industry members from all 50 states and 19…
Palmer Design Company shows off Shingle Creek’s new course — near Bay Hill
ORLANDO, Florida – The late Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club is just a 15-minute drive from Shingle Creek Golf Club, an 18-holer connected to the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and in Palmer’s final days his design company was in the process of renovating the nearby layout. That renovation is now completed and the course has…