RevelationGolf has done lots of good things since Elk Grove resident Donna Strum created the program in 2005. Strum, a therapeutic recreation specialist, quit a job at a hospital to work with children and adults with physical disabilities, breast cancer survivors and at-risk youth.

It wasn’t until two years later, Strum and her assistant, Kathy Williams, took the program to military veterans, that RevelationGolf really took off. By 2008 there were weekly golf clinics held at various locations. Williams is an LPGA Class A teaching professional, a former Evans Scholar and head women’s golf coach at the University of Minnesota.

“Now the military veterans program is 90 percent of what we do,’’ said Strum. “The need is so great. Our programs are used as part of healing and recovery.’’

Golf, obviously, has proven to be a tool to cope with both physical disabilities as well as those suffering from such things as post traumatic stress disorder. The RevelationGolf program works, and its slogan, “a new beginning to a great game,’’ is most appropriate.

Strum says RevelationGolf gives 1,200 lessons a year to 350 “unique individuals.’’

And, it’s not just men who need help. Women and the children of the veterans have benefitted as well and Illinois PGA members have been involved from the outset. Strum, working with medical personnel, administers her program for both the Illinois PGA and Project Hope, the national version organized by the PGA of America.

Strum and her medical staffers put interested Illinois PGA members through a four-hour training session before they are allowed to work with the veterans. The first two hours are classroom work in which the different physical disabilities and the emotional side effects are discussed. Then the professionals get an hour of simulations, hitting shots from various stations under conditions that their students are facing, before getting introduced to the veterans themselves.

Some of the participants have the use of only one hand. Some have tremors. Some are visually impaired. Some are using prosthetic legs. The golf professionals are given a taste of what it’s like to be in that state.

Don Habjan, the head professional at Makray Memorial in Barrington, took his training with RevelationGolf in the fall of 2005 and has been working as a teacher since that time. Patrick Lynch, the head professional at Cantigny in Wheaton, and Cog Hill’s Carol Rhoades, the IPGA Professional of the Year in 2017, have also been long-time instructors in the veterans’ program.

Also prominent among the instructors are Brandon Evans, head professional at Village Greens in Woodridge; Jennifer Ferrell, head professional at Glendale Lakes in Glendale Heights; Matt Tullar, assistant head professional at Cantigny; Mason Wall, of the Todd Sones Golf School at White Deer Run in Vernon Hills; and independent teaching professionals Cory Ferrell and Louise Davis.

“We use a medical model for everything that we do,’’ said Strum, “and there are usually at least two teachers at every event along with one or two therapists.’’

Clinics and related events were held at 16 locations across the Chicago area in 2017, and not just at golf facilities. RevelationGolf has put on its events at dozens of hospitals and worked with a wide variety of charitable organizations.

One of the key locations is the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center at Great Lakes Naval Base in North Chicago. The PTSD veterans there were treated to sessions on a weekly basis in 2017. They were held on a bi-weekly basis before that.

Susanne Brown, a recreational therapist at that facility, could attest to the value of RevelationGolf.

“So many of our PTSD veterans suffer from persistent thoughts and memories that plague them throughout their day’’ she said. “In participation (in RevelationGolf), they have shared their ability to release those thoughts, even if only for the time they are golfing. Participating in golf, they turned their focus instead on the game and their skill. That gave them momentary release and freedom….It is exhilarating to watch them as the stress and tension fade from their bodies and their faces.’’

Women going through crises at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago were treated to the RevelationGolf programs for the first time this year – 15 participated — and the three Veterans Golf Days – held at Cog Hill, the nearby Chicago District Golf Association’s Sunshine Course in Lemont and Willow Glen in North Chicago drew a record 80 veterans. Those special days were expanded to include a dinner as well.

The RevelationGolf program doesn’t run in just the warm weather months, either. Links & Tees, in Addison, hosts clinics on Tuesdays and the Buffalo Grove Dome does the same on Wednesdays during the winter months.

A date has also been set for RevelationGolf’s 13th annual fundraiser. It’ll be held on June 11 at Rolling Green Country Club in Arlington Heights.

I’m excited, and most appreciative. Last night three of my pieces from 2017 were cited in the 24th annual International Network of Golf Media Awards presentation, which climaxed the first day of the 65th PGA Merchandise Show at the Orange County Convention Center.

My Daily Herald piece, “Koepka wins first major,’’ was the winner in the Competition Writing category. It told the story of Brooks Koepka’s victory in the U.S. Open at Erin Hills last June.

I also received Outstanding Achiever mentions for two pieces, one for Travel Writing and the other in the Competition Writing category. The Travel piece, “Simply Grand,’’ appeared in the Daily Herald and spotlighted Wisconsin’s Grand Geneva Resort. (This piece also was published in Chicagoland Golf). It was the second year in which I’ve been cited in the Travel Writing category.

The other mention was for “Make It a Double,’’ which ran in the Chicago District Golfer. It was a report on Patrick Flavin’s victories in the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open.

Damon Hack, of The Golf Channel, was emcee for the event and a couple of my Wisconsin buddies – Chuck Garbedian (Radio Show) and Gary Van Sickle (Profile Writing) – were winners in other categories. Tony Leodora won for the third straight year in the TV Show division.

PGA National Resort & Spa, home of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic, is up for sale.

The resort, which includes five courses in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., fetched $170 million when it was acquired by Walton Street Capital of Chicago in 2006 from a Florida investor, according to a report in the Palm Beach Post. Another $89 million was spent on renovations since that purchase, according to that report.

Now PGA National is apparently on the market again, according to a website set up by the resort’s broker. PGA National includes 339 hotel rooms, a 40,000 square-foot spa and 42,000 square feet of meeting space in addition to the golf courses.

Best known of the courses is the Champion, which hosted the 1983 Ryder Cup, 1987 PGA Championship and the Senior PGA Championship from 1982-2000. It’s been the home of the Honda Classic since 2007 and features one of the toughest three-hole stretches in golf — Nos. 15-17, which has been dubbed The Bear Trap following a redesign by Jack Nicklaus.

Rickie Fowler is scheduled to defend his title in the Honda Classic from Feb. 22-25 and the resort has agreed to host that tournament through 2021.

AN EARLY WOMEN’S OPEN: For the first time since 2001 the U.S. Women’s Open will start in May, ahead of the U.S. Open. In the U.S. Golf Association’s 2018 scheduled, announced this week, the 73rd annual championship will be played May 31-June 3 at Shoal Creek in Alabama. It is the key part of a reorganization of the USGA’s championship schedule.

Shoal Creek, another Nicklaus design, will host its third USGA championship, having previously hosted the 1986 U.S. Amateur and 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur. It’s also been a PGA Championship site.

DORMIE GOING PRIVATE: The Dormie Club, a Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw design in Pinehurst, N.C., was well-received immediately after its 2010 opening. Now it’ll be undergoing some major changes.

A Nebraska-based investment company purchased the club and will add it to its Dormie Network – a group of destination clubs that includes Briggs Ranch in Texas, ArborLinks in Nebraska and Ballyhack in Virginia. The Pinehurst location will get a new clubhouse, halfway house and on-site lodging and gradually revert back to its original status as a private course. The plan is to have an invitation-only membership by 2020.

REE JONES BREAKTHROUGH: The renowned architect of nearly 230 golf courses now has his first one in Mexico. Danzante Bay opened last month along the Sea of Cortez as part of the Villa del Palmar Resort.

Eleven holes were available last year and the new seven, Nos. 7 through 8, cover different terrains that include beaches, cliffs and canyons.

KEMPER LANDS TOBACCO ROAD: Northbrook-based KemperSports is always adding courses to its portfolio, but one of the latest is especially noteworthy. Kemper will now provide consulting services at Tobacco Road, one of the premier courses in North Carolina.

In other developments, Kemper has been named to manage Diamante Country Club in Arkansas and The Club at Grandezza in Florida and will be involved in a $5.1 million renovation project at Forest Creek in Texas.

ALL ABOUT WHISKEY: Glen Garden Country Club, the Texas course where legends Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan got their start as caddies, is now situated on the grounds of Whiskey Ranch – the only whiskey distillery on a full-functioning 18-hole course.

Glen Garden had been closed for three years, after Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co. purchased the property. The company has since built five buildings on the property and re-configured the course with plans to open it for charity and private events.

TOPGOLF GOES INTERNATIONAL: Chicago was one of the first areas to get a Topgolf location, and now there are 37 spread across the world. The company has recently opened venues in Canada, Mexico and Australia and will open another in Dubai in 2019.

I was just sad to learn of the passing of Dick Nugent, the long-time Chicago golf course architect, on New Year’s Day. I don’t know more details, but Nugent was 87 — a very nice man and and one of the most prolific architects in the Chicago area.
A University of Illinois graduate — he also played football for the Illini — Nugent started his architectural career working for the legendary designer Robert Bruce Harris. He later hooked up with fellow architect Ken Killian, and they handled the design work for Kemper Lakes.
While Kemper Lakes was his best-known work, Nugent created over 90 courses in 12 states. Among his other noteworthy ones was the Dunes Club in New Buffalo, Mich. — the only 9-hole course to be ranked in Golf Digest’s Top 100.
Many of his designs came after he and Killian split up their partnership in 1983.
In addition to Kemper Lakes Nugent’s credits include some of the Chicago area’s best public layouts — both courses at Harborside International, George Dunne National, Golf Club of Illinois, Foxford Hills, Heritage Bluffs and Buffalo Grove.
He was also involved in projects at Deerpath, Big Run, Twin Orchard, Midlothian, Fox Lake , Glencoe, Glendale Lakes, Sunset Valley, Poplar Creek, Bull Valley and Ivanhoe.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – This is what I was told.

Jack Nicklaus designed the Legend Course at The Club at Ibis for an opening in 1991. More than 20 years passed, and club members asked Nicklaus to come back and check it out again. He did, and his immediate comment was `What was I thinking?’

In his early years in course architecture Nicklaus’ designs were frequently considered too penal. This was apparently one of them. The tournament player side of Nicklaus was more reflected in his course designs back then. He liked his courses to be challenging.

Having not played the original Legend, it was difficult for me to imagine what it had looked like before the current re-design was unveiled this month. (Nicklaus hit the ceremonial first tee shot on Dec. 13 and the course opened for play a week later).

According to a long-time nearby resident – a non-member who happens to be a scratch player, the new version “is more accepting to all types of players and conditions. It’s playability instead of brutality. Bravo!’’

From my perspective as a first-time visitor I can’t imagine the Legend beating up any players. The fairways are extremely wide. The number of bunkers isn’t excessive, and those in the new design frame the landing areas quite well. The greens, already in excellent condition, are well contoured but provide fun for any player, be it a high or low handicapper, man or woman.

In short, this is a most enjoyable place to play. The course can welcome back big tournaments (it plays 7,442 yards from the tips) if the membership so chooses as well as stimulate beginning players (the front set of tees provides a course of only 4,492 yards.

The Club at Ibis is in the heart of Nicklaus country. In fact, it may be the center of it design-wise. Two of Nicklaus’ sons have also designed courses on the property, which is part of a gated community that requires those who live in its 1,900 residences to be members. Jack Nicklaus II, now the president of Nicklaus Design, created the immediately friendly Heritage Course, which also opened in 1991. Steve Nicklaus designed the Tradition Course, a links-style layout that opened in 2001.

Nicklaus’ renovated Legend has a particularly scenic par-3 at No. 5 but a more memorable one at No. 13. This one has an island green, fountain in the water fronting the green and a path of artificial turf leading into the putting surface from behind the green. With those features there’s no denying it ‘s the course’s signature hole.

Jack Nicklaus, the one of Golden Bear fame, has been a resident of nearby North Palm Beach since the 1970s. His Bear’s Club, in Jupiter, has been a haven for established PGA Tour players since Nicklaus and his wife Barbara founded the club in 1999. Nicklaus also handled a 2014 redesign of the Champion Course at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens – just four miles from The Club at Ibis. The home of the PGA Tour’s annual Honda Classic, PGA National’s Champion Course features one of the sport’s most treacherous three-hole stretches from Nos. 15-17. It’s been declared, appropriately enough, “The Bear Trap.’’

As established as the Nicklauses are in south Florida, this year has been an extraordinary one for the clan. In November, a month before the opening of the Legend at The Club at Ibis, the patriarch of the clan oversaw the opening of the Banyan Cay Resort & Golf – another members-only club in West Palm Beach.

This one is significant because it was the 300th course that Nicklaus created. Other designers have created more. Tom Bendelow designed over 600 in a 35-year career that started in the 1890s. Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed over 500 and Donald Ross over 400. None, of course, could rival the playing record that Nicklaus had to complement his architectural resume.

The Legend Course at the Club at Ibis may be Nicklaus’ most recent design but certainly won’t be his last. He and his staff of designers has 410 courses open for play in 39 states and 41 countries, and 57 more are under development in 19 different countries.

Over my nearly 50 years writing about golf I’ve played a wide range of Nicklaus courses, some high profile and some not. My favorite is one of the latter – The Club at Porto Cima, a private club in Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks that opened in 2000.

Nicklaus was apparently quite proud of it, as the club’s website attributes this comment from him about the course: “On a scale of one to 10 this is as close to a 10 if there ever was a 10.’’

It’ll be hard to top that accolade, but Nicklaus has done so many quality courses that are special in their own way and to their own set of players. The Legend will stand up quite well to all of them.

I have a new favorite golf hero, and his name isn’t Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth or even Tiger Woods.

Did you ever hear of Ralph Kennedy? Not many have. Kennedy died in 1961 at the age of 79. His claim to golfing fame didn’t come in winning big tournaments. It came from just playing. I doubt any golfer had the same love of the game that Kennedy had.

Kennedy took up golf in 1910, when he was 28 years old. Between his first tee shot at New York’s Van Cortlandt Park – the first public course in the United States – and his last recorded round in 1953 Kennedy played over 8,500 rounds on 3,165 different courses.

New Jersey-based golf writer John Sabino uncovered all the scorecards that Kennedy had donated to the U.S. Golf Association prior to his death and – very much to his credit — took it upon himself to tell Kennedy’s story.

Sabino’s report surfaced in his recently released book, “Golf’s Iron Horse,’’ which was published by New York’s Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. Sabino likened Kennedy’s feat with the 2,130 consecutive baseball games that Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees during his 17 big league seasons. Gehrig and Kennedy lived about six blocks apart during Gehrig’s baseball prime.

According to Sabino Kennedy’s total rounds of about 8,500 are the equivalent of a golfer teeing it up every day for 23 straight years. Kennedy averaged 75 new courses a year from his first round on July 9, 1911, until his last one on Sept. 27, 1953. They were all walking rounds, too, as power carts hadn’t arrived during Kennedy’s days on the links.

That’s not what most impresses me, however. Piling up rounds isn’t all that difficult. Lots of golfers play the same course over and over on an almost daily basis and Joe Kirkwood, a competitor in the early days of the pro golf tour, may have even played more total rounds than Kennedy. Kirkwood just didn’t document his rounds. He was more interested in tournament play and his trick shot exhibitions.

Instead, I’m most in awe of Kennedy’s penchant for travel to get to all his courses. I’ve done pretty well on that end, thanks to being blessed with jobs writing on golf for nearly 50 years. Never more than just an avid recreational player, I’ve played in 26 states and many have come in the last 10 years when my focus has been on Travel Destinations rather than tournament coverage.

My estimated courses played since my first one at age 11 in 1955 is about 600. They include a vast majority of the 400-plus courses listed in the Chicago District Golf Association membership area and 21 courses listed on Golf Digest’s Top 100.

Kennedy, by comparison, spread his rounds around the 48 of the states in the United States when he was playing. He also played courses in nine Canadian provinces and about another dozen countries. His course count total was determined off scorecards signed by him as well as a representative of each club played. On one day he played courses in four different states. On another he played four courses in the same day. Many times he played a round with just a 3- or 4-iron to reduce the physical demands required to carry a bag of clubs.

My greatest golf stunts pale by comparison — two 45-hole days in the early 1980s arranged to promote the Chicago Park District’s five nine-hole courses. I’m no Ralph Kennedy, that’s for sure.

In one area, though, I’m sure I beat out Kennedy. A vast major of my rounds have been over 18 holes. Kennedy couldn’t say that. Many of the courses in his count were nine-holers and some were even less than that.

No course was too insignificant or far away for Kennedy. He played in all sorts of weather on urban, rural, desert, mountain, parkland, moorland, links and heather courses. But, his courses also included cream of the crop venues like Augusta National, Cypress Point, Muirfield and Pine Valley.

So, how did Kennedy do it? Well, he had a wife who liked to play, too. Mary Alice Kennedy played over 600 different courses and they had no children. That opened up more time for playing and traveling.

Kennedy also had a job that encouraged his golf “hobby.’’ He was a traveling salesman for a major pencil company. He was apparently good at his job, too, as he was a founding member of New York’s Winged Foot – long one of America’s premier private clubs.

Sabino takes an unusual approach to telling Kennedy’s story. He focuses more on the climate of the changing times than he does on golf shots. When Kennedy entered college at Amherst the reigning U.S. Open champion was Harry Vardon and when he died Arnold Palmer held the Masters crown. In between the country was going through two world wars and plenty of other changes.

The game of golf changed a lot in that period, too. When Kennedy was born America had 38 states and no golf courses. America’s first 18-holer wasn’t built until Chicago Golf Club unveiled its prize layout in 1892.

In the early days of American golf many of the early courses had half-par holes, a different sized ball was used, there were no rakes in the bunkers and the stymie was a key part of the game.

Many of the courses that Kennedy played no longer exist including the last one, nine-hole Hamilton Inn Golf Club in New York. That round came the same year that golf was televised nationally for the first time at George S. May’s World Championship event at Tam O’Shanter in suburban Chicago.

The Illinois PGA has few members to rival Katie Pius. In fact, there really aren’t any with the background that this assistant professional at Biltmore Country Club in North Barrington has.

Gender-wise the Illinois Section is noteworthy in having, in Carrie Williams, one of the three women to hold executive director posts in the PGA of America’s 41 sections. And, this year Carol Rhoades became the first woman to be named the section’s professional of the year in 62 years. Numerically, though, the IPGA includes just 31 women among its approximately 800 members and apprentices.

Playing-wise, of those select 31 Pius is the best of them all by a long shot and she has even held her own against the men in several Illinois PGA Championships.

Earlier this year Pius was named to the athletic Hall of Fame at her college alma mater, Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C. Then Katie Dick, she played on four teams that won the NCAA Division III national championship and she was the individual champion at that level in her junior season.

In 2005, her first year at the school, the National Golf Coaches Association named her its Freshman of the Year. A four-time first team All-American, she was part of Methodist’s astonishing string of 13 consecutive national championships from 2000 to 2012.

“I don’t know why I decided to go there, but I did luck out,’’ she said. “I just wanted to go to a small school, and I hadn’t played much junior golf growing up. I wasn’t in the AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) stuff.’’

Growing up in a small town on the outskirts of Youngstown, Ohio, didn’t keep Dick from achieving her goal of becoming a golf professional. She decided to attend Methodist Monarch because she would be able to play golf at a school that offered a PGA internship program. When she graduated in 2008 she had both her PGA Class A card and a degree in business.

Most players with her collegiate success would be tempted to give professional tournament golf a try, but not Dick. She still loves to compete but is doing it as the only woman in otherwise all-male fields in the IPGA tournaments.

“I just didn’t have the practice mentality,’’ she said, “plus, on the Futures (now Symetra) Tour you couldn’t make a living. I have tried the U.S. Open qualifiers because they’re a one-day thing, but playing tournament golf would be such a different life.’’

The life she has now is just fine, thank you. She is married to Josh Pius, the head professional at Inverness, and they became parents of daughter Betty who turns 2 in December. In being Lake Zurich residents, both have short drives to their respective clubs.

“I never thought I’d marry a golf pro,’’ said Katie, “but it’s worked out for us. We both get Mondays off. I don’t know that we’d ever work together, but I do understand the long hours he has to put in at times.’’

Josh had a similar collegiate experience as Katie. He attended Michigan’s Ferris State, which was a pioneer institution in creating programs for those who wanted to enter the golf industry.

As part of her college studies she spent two summers doing internships, one of which was at the famed Jim McLean Golf School at Doral Resort in Florida. She also interned at Lakeshore Country Club in Glencoe before beginning her run of assistant jobs at three of Chicago’s most established private clubs.

First came three years at Westmoreland, in Wilmette , then two at Bryn Mawr, in Lincolnwood, and she just completed her fourth year at Biltmore working under the direction of veteran head pro Doug Bauman. Katie handled teaching duties and had guided the ladies programs at Biltmore until motherhood led to her cutting back her workload.

“I want to focus on being a mom,’’ she said, “but I don’t want to lose touch with golf.’’

Through job and lifestyle changes she’s been able to do that. She survived the cut playing with the men in the last two Illinois PGA Championships, tying for 49th place at Olympia Fields in 2016 and tying for 35th at Medinah this year. She’s also had a handful of good showings in the stroke play events and competes in the Illinois Women’s Open. Still, Pius downplays the unique place she has on the Illinois tournament side.

“I’ve never won, so there’s no reason,’’ she said. “I haven’t done anything too special around here.’’

On that she’s selling herself a bit short. In the last four decades the only other woman to make a significant impact in the major IPGA events was Michele Drinkard in the 1980s. She eventually left club work and is now a successful college coach at the Division I level.

When it comes to analyzing the latest in golf equipment I tend to defer to Jason Bruno, my Florida golf website partner who is a scratch player. I’m clearly not.

Bruno, the creator of the LinksNation website, and I had a catch-up round this week – our first since I returned from the Chicago area in September. We played at PGA Golf Club’s Dye Course along with Rick Hetzel, the president of InstaGolf LLC.

The company, based in Hetzel’s hometown of Cape Girardeau, Mo., specializes in golf accessories. Its products, sold predominantly on line, include shoes, putters, towels and rain gear. His offerings are certainly fair game for me to analyze as well. You don’t have to be a scratch player to analyze them.

I quickly became interested in all of Hetzel’s products, but divot tools in particular. There are so many of these — from so many manufacturers — on the market. Hetzel himself has four different models. The one that intrigued me the most was his SPIDERPro. If you have a bad back, this one is for you.

You don’t need to bend down to repair a divot if you have a SPIDERPro. It fits into your golf bag like an extra club. If one of your shots does damage to a putting surface you pull out the SPIDERPro, unscrew the top, poke the stainless steel legs on the exposed end into the divot and watch it disappear. Hetzel’s divot tools come in more standard looks as well, and he reports that all have been well-received by golf course operators.

With cold weather bringing the Chicago golf season to a close, the top players need to travel to find competition – and that’s what the PGA Junior League team from Cog Hill in Lemont is doing again.

Cog Hill’s team, captained by Kevin Weeks and coached by Clayton Pendergraft, earned a return to this week’s eight-team national finals at Grayhawk, in Scottsdale, Ariz., through regional eliminations.

Three days of match play competition to determine the national champion begin on Friday for all-star teams from eight states. Cog Hill represents Illinois, with the other teams coming from New Jersey, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, California, New Hampshire and Ohio.

The PGA Junior League program began in 1995 and has grown steadily. This year there were 42,000 youngsters and 3,400 teams participating nation-wide.

LPGA-bound?

Samantha Troyanovich, who won the 2012 Illinois Women’s Open title, could give the Chicago area a rare player on the Ladies PGA Tour if she can survive the third stage of Qualifying School scheduled for Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Troyanovich, who played out of Mistwood — the IWO’s home site in Romeoville — when she won her title, has been playing primarily on the LPGA’s Symetra Tour since turning professional. She survived the first two stages of this year’s Q-School, each of which had nearly 200 players. She tied for 38th in the first stage in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and tied for 68th in the second stage in Venice, Fla.

Berwyn’s Nicole Jeray has been the only Chicago product to maintain a presence on the LPGA circuit in the last two decades.

They’re the best

Both the Illinois PGA and Chicago District Golf Association have determined their players of the year for 2017.

The IPGA had a tight race between Jim Billiter, head pro at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer, and Adam Schumacher, assistant pro at Indian Hill in Winnetka. Schumacher won the last two of the section’s major tourneys – the IPGA Championship and IPGA Players – but Billiter was more consistent in the big events. He won the IPGA Match Play title, was fifth in the IPGA Championship and tied for 13th in both the Illinois Open and Players.

Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb was the IPGA’s senior player of the year. He won the award for the fourth straight year and the eighth time in the last 11.

On the amateur side Highwood’s Patrick Flavin, a senior at Miami of Ohio, dominated the CDGA’s standings after becoming the first player in 37 years to win both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open in the same year. Terry Werner, of Schererville, Ind., was the CDGA’s senior player of the year.

Scheduling dilemmas

While the full tournament schedule for next season isn’t available, there’s some unfortunate conflicts already.

The John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event, is on the same July dates as the PGA Champions’ Constellation Senior Players Championship at Exmoor in Highland Park and the first-ever U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club.

And that’s not all. An LPGA major event– the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes – is scheduled opposite the top amateur tournament — the Women’s Western Amateur – in June.

Here and there

Three Chicago area men – John Green of Cary, Michael Lerner of Barrington and Michael Balkin of Winnetka – have purchased a public course in the Florida Panhandle. The course, St. James Bay in Carrabelle, was a 2003 design by Joe Lee, whose many creations nation-wide include the Dubsdread course at Cog Hill.

Jacquelyn Endsley, who has working experience at KemperSports and Chicago’s Harborside International, has been named championship director of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The Wisconsin native had also been championship manager of the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open.

Illinois men’s coach Mike Small has signed two Illinois players –Luke Armbrust of St. Francis in Wheaton and Tommy Kuhl of downstate Morton – to national letters of intent.

Organizers of both the Constellation Senior Players Championship at Exmoor and the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club have issued their first call for tournament volunteers.

Ed Stevenson’s name doesn’t appear on the leaderboard in any Illinois PGA tournaments. Only very rarely has he even played in them. Still, Stevenson is considered by all as the consummate PGA professional.

That was underscored recently when Stevenson was promoted to a lofty position beyond his duties as director of golf at The Preserve at Oak Meadows facility in Addison, which just underwent a massive renovation. Stevenson remains as Oak Meadows’ director of golf, but he is also the executive director of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County now.

That means Stevenson will oversee not only the District’s three golf facilities but also its myriad of other properties. The District owns 13 percent of the land in DuPage County and manages 26,000 acres. In addition to the golf courses that includes 62 forest preserves, 145 miles of trails and five education centers.

Stevenson, 45, has worked full-time for the District since 2004 and has been its director of golf course operations since 2011. Last November, while playing a lead role in the Oak Meadows renovation, he also took on the added duties of interim executive director and now the interim tag has been removed. Board president Joe Cantore explained why.

“Ed is a tenured member of our leadership team, and in his time overseeing our business enterprises he has demonstrated a keen ability to think creatively, manage big projects, reduce expenses and grow relationships. He has proven he has the necessary skills to lead this organization.’’

In other words, Stevenson proved he can do it all, and his versatility was greatly enhanced through his variety of roles as a golf professional.

In addition to the things he did while managing golf courses Stevenson also has been co-host of a popular radio program, Golfers on Golf, that has run weekly for 10 years throughout the golf season and he also has been director of instruction for Marianjoy Hospital’s programs for adults and children with disabilities.

Those factors undoubtedly led to Stevenson’s elevation beyond the golf world.

“All the roles of a PGA professional means he has to wear a lot of hats,’’ said Stevenson. “That’s the right background to prepare someone for a job like this. It’s been an interesting path to get there.’’

It all started while he was growing up in Deerfield.

“Ultimately I grew up in a family with some avid golfers,’’ said Stevenson. “My Dad grew up in Scotland, so my loving golf was almost mandatory. Plus, I was fortunate to grow up in a community where I had the opportunity to caddie.’’

Briarwood Country Club had a good caddie program, and professionals Joel Zelaszny and Randy Cochran took a liking to Stevenson.

“I enjoyed the culture of the game, and – even as a caddie – I enjoyed helping others enjoy the game,’’ said Stevenson.

While he played on some competitive teams at Deerfield High School and participated in Illinois Junior Golf Association events, Stevenson didn’t play golf while earning a degree in journalism at the University of Iowa.

During his summers away from school he worked as a caddie master at Briarwood. Anticipating a future of writing press releases after graduation in 1994, Stevenson looked for other career options and Cochran suggested he take the PGA of America’s playability test. That kept him in golf a little longer — and it turned out to be a lot longer.

Stevenson served his PGA apprenticeship at Briarwood and moved over to Oak Meadows as an assistant professional in 1996.

“The members at Briarwood treated me wonderfully,’’ he said, “but I realized it was time to learn something new, and I switched to the public end of the industry. Oak Meadows was a beautiful opportunity, and I could progress through a lot of different roles.’’

By 2001 he had attained full PGA membership and was named Oak Meadows’ head professional. When he moved up to the District’s director of golf he became the overseer of three courses instead of one. Nearby Maple Meadows, which then had 27 holes, and nine-hole Green Meadows, in Westmont, came under his jurisdiction.

Oak Meadows, though, remained his biggest concern. The course, built in 1923, had a long history of flooding problems that dated back to the time it was called Elmhurst Country Club. The course, designed by Charles Wagstaff, was deemed good enough to host the 1941 Chicago Open, won by no less a legend than Ben Hogan, but flooding was always a problem and the situation was made worse in 2009 when the facility lost its clubhouse in a fire caused by lightning.

For several years District personnel contemplated what to do with Oak Meadows. Eventually a $16 million renovation was deemed the answer, and Batavia architect Greg Martin took on the project while also serving as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

Stevenson worked closely with Martin during the two-year construction process.

“We looked at renderings, drawings and planning, so it was more like a five-year project,’’ said Stevenson. It was something much bigger than a golf course revival. Only one-third of the hefty price tag went toward the course.

The area can now hold 20 million more gallons of storm water than it could before construction began. The construction process involved the moving of 700,000 cubic yards of earth, the removal of 1,000 non-native trees and the planting of 500 more suitable ones along with 308,000 baby wetlands plants. Thirty new areas of wetlands were added to the 10 that had already been there.

The renovated course was well received during its soft opening this summer. A grand opening is planned for the spring, then the clubhouse will become a high priority. An architect has already been named and a design approved by the District board. Ground-breaking is targeted for early in 2019 and the opening in 2020.

Until then, at least, Stevenson will remain a golf guy while enjoying family life with Kathy, his wife of 17 years, and their two daughters.

“Golf being my background and passion, I wanted to stay involved,’’ said Stevenson, “but we’ve got a lot of other projects going on throughout the Forest Preserve. We have an equestrian center renovation under way and I’m working on a master plan that will set priorities for the next five years.’’

Yes, Stevenson is one golf professional who has transformed himself into much more than a golf guy.