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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Six decades ago the Tam O’Shanter Country Club in suburban Chicago was among the most famous golf courses in the world. It was owned by George S. May back then, and May was a man far ahead of his time when it came to golf promotion.

Tam O’Shanter opened in 1925. May took ownership in 1937 and hosted his first tournament, the Chicago Open, in 1940. He liked the results, and the next year he created his own tournament – the All-American Open – which offered, for that era, unprecedented prize money for the best men and women golfers. The legendary Byron Nelson was the men’s champion four times in a five-year stretch and notched win No. 10 in his unprecedented 11 victories in a row there in 1945.

The All-American Open grew into the World Championship in 1946. It lasted until 1957, with the likes of Gene Littler, Lloyd Mangrum, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Patty Berg and Babe Zaharias teeing it up for – by far — the biggest purses in golf. None of those players had the longlasting impact on golf that Lew Worsham did, however.

In 1953, in the first nationally-televised golf tournament, Worsham holed a 104-yard wedge shot on the final hole of the World Championship for an eagle and a one-stroke victory over a stunned Chandler Harper. The drama provided by Worsham’s shot captivated golf fans and triggered the sport’s rise in popularity as both a participant and spectator sport.

May eventually had issues with the PGA Tour over player entrance fees and discontinued his tournament in 1957. He died in 1962 and the Western Open resulted in the return of the PGA Tour to Tam O’Shanter in 1964 and 1965. That was the last hurrah for Tam O’Shanter’s glory days.

May’s family sold the club to developers late in 1965 and they turned much of the land into an industrial park, closing the course in the process. Now Tam O’Shanter is a nine-hole municipal course owned by the Niles Park District. Only about one-third of the land from the Tam O’Shanter of the May days is still used for golf and the clubhouse burned down long ago.

This story does not have a sad ending, however – not by a long shot.

The Niles Park District purchased what was left of the golf course and salvaged a nine-hole course that opened in 1974. It struggled for survival for nearly four decades but now, following a year-long course renovation project, Tam O’Shanter isn’t just surviving. It’s thriving.

The course renovation was performed by the Illinois-based Lohmann Quitno architectural firm. Drainage was improved and new tee boxes, bunkering and cart paths were installed. Signage on the course was also upgraded as the course was given a more classic look. Only two holes – No. 1, a par-4, and No. 6, a par-3 that had been No. 16 on the old course – are left from the original 18-holer. The renovated nine-holer plays just 2,457 yards from the tips.

No. 1 is now the longest hole, at 404 yards, and the rotation calls for six par-4s and three par-3s. It’s nothing fancy, like the Tam O’Shanter of old, but players have been turning out in steady numbers since the renovated course re-opened in June.

“We weren’t really trying to preserve the course, just bring back the style it had from the old days,’’ said architect Todd Quitno. “It was more about function and maintenance than it was about history. We wanted to preserve the golf course for a long time, and to do that we had to make it more maintainable. It was about acknowledging that this course had a long history and giving it a long future.’’

That was just fine with manager Peter Dubs, who attended golf camps at the course when he was 14 years old and held part-time jobs there before becoming a full-time employee 11 years ago following his college graduation. Chris Urgo, the director of instruction, also progressed from part-time to full-time staffer during a similar time frame.

What had once been a failed, very small driving range was converted into the outdoor portion of the Golf Learning Center. The facility is heavy into youth work and draws about 1,000 pupils annually.

Immediately after the Niles Park District opened the course the pro shop was operated out of a trailer. Then an Italian restaurant was added, but it didn’t work out very well. Since 2003 the Howard Street Inn sports bar-restaurant, which adjoins the pro shop, has been a busy year-around facility – not just when golfers are on the premises.

While the new nine-holer only faintly resembles May’s carnival-like 18-hole version, the history of that place hasn’t been forgotten. A big history wall fronts the No. 1 tee and the learning center includes an array of photos and memorabilia from May’s big tournaments.

Nine-hole rates range from $19 to $21 for non-residents and on-line reservations are being taken for the first time. Though power carts are available, the course is ideal for walking.

FRENCH LICK, Indiana – Two players are inducted into the LPGA Legends Hall of Fame each year, and this year – for the first time — the two honorees were inducted on separate nights.

Shelley Hamlin was honored at Thursday night’s opening night gala preceding the Senior LPGA Championship and Sherri Turner was inducted the following night in another dinner gala that followed the event’s second Faegre Baker Daniels Pro-Am on the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort.

The competition begins at noon on Sunday when the Legends Honors Division tournament tees off and the main event, — 81 players competing over 54 holes for a $600,000 purse –runs Monday through Wednesday with The Golf Channel broadcasting the action from 4-6 p.m. (EDT) each day. The champion receives $90,000.

Both induction ceremonies were held at the French Lick Resort, and Hamlin and Turner will be included in the Legends Hall of Fame room at the nearby West Baden Springs Hotel. Honorees are determined off the significant impact that each has made on both the LPGA and Legends tours. In the case of Hamlin and Turner, the inspiration that they demonstrated during their careers was instrumental in their selections.

Hamlin, who is involved in a long battle with cancer, could not attend her induction and good friend Anne Marie Palli accepted on Hamlin’s behalf. Hamlin was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991, during the heart of her playing career. She kept playing and fighting the disease after that winning three tournaments on the LPGA circuit and another on the Legends Tour.

Both Hamlin and Turner were among the 25 founding members of The Legends, for players who have reached their 45th birthday, in 2000.

“Shelley is a class act, and I’m sure she has a special feeling for this award, even though she’s in a fight for her life,’’ said Turner.

Turner, introduced by good friend of 40 years and fellow player Jane Crafter, was diagnosed with Juvenile diabetes when she was 15 and has coped with Type 1 diabetes during her professional career.

Both Hamlin and Turner were on the LPGA board of directors, Hamlin serving s president in 1980-81 and Turner on the player executive committee from 1997-99 before The Legends Tour was created.

“The Legends gave us the opportunity to continue to compete,’’ said Turner. “We all still love the game, and there’s nothing like the thrill of winning. It also allowed us to maintain life-long friendships.’’

Turner gave special thanks to Legends founder Jane Blalock and Jan Stephenson, who herself was announced as a member of the next induction class into the World Golf Hall of Fame last week.

Blalock and Stephenson were among those preceding Hamlin and Turner into the Legends Hall of Fame. Stephenson, along with Kathy Whitworth, was in the first induction class in 2013. Blalock went in with Nancy Lopez the following year. Others in the Hall are JoAnne Carner and Rosie Jones (2015), Sandra Haynie and Elaine Crosby (2016) and Sandra Palmer and Nancy Scranton (2017).

Stephenson, Blalock, Carner, Jones, Crosby and Scranton will all be competing this week. Haynie will hit the ceremonial first tee shot on Monday.

The Illinois PGA’s Birdies for Charity event is one of those things that was good from the start and keeps getting better. That’ll be underscored again on Sept. 4 when the event is held for the eighth time at River Forest Country Club in Elmhurst.

Birdies for Charity involves golf professionals playing 72 holes in one day to raise funds for non-industry charitable organizations throughout Illinois. Donors make a financial pledge per birdie to support each participating professional.

Travis Johns, the director of instruction at Medinah, was involved in the creation of such an event while a member of the North Texas Section of the PGA.

“There were seven other pros who were born in Australia and working in the Dallas area,’’ said Johns. “We felt fortunate to be working in the United States and wondered how we could give back.’’

Mark Harrison, the executive director of the North Texas Section and a fellow Australian, devised the Birdies for Charity concept. The pros went to their clients, neighbors and customers inviting donations per birdie made. Among their group was Cameron McCormick, now the teacher for PGA Tour star Jordan Spieth.

The group’s first Birdies for Charity event was played at Preston Trail, one of Dallas’ premier clubs, in the early 2000s and raised about $25,000. That Birdies for Charity was eventually moved to Brook Hollow and the Australian pros were joined by hockey star Bret Hull, the son of Blackhawks’ legend Bobby Hull.

As the event gained momentum, the players decided to take advantage of extra daylight in August and expanded the event to seven rounds in one day. Johns played in the Dallas version for eight years and the event topped $1 million in charity donations by the time he left to take the job at Medinah.

While the Dallas group has continued its Birdies for Charity Johns felt it a worthwhile project for the Illinois Section to take on as well. He took the idea to Chris Gumbach, the head professional at River Forest. He was the section’s sponsorship chairman at the time.

“I pitched it to him, and thankfully he ran with it,’’ said Johns. “It was different here, though. We didn’t limit the players to seven-eight people. We opened it to every pro in the section.’’

“Travis was new to the section then, and he brought it up to a few of the guys and wasn’t getting much interest,’’ said Gumbach. “I didn’t know Travis then as well as I do now, but to me it was a great idea and the event has quietly grown.’’

This year 44 professionals from 38 clubs will participate and the Central Illinois Section of the PGA will hold its own event for the first time on the same day at Country Club of Decatur.

There are some other enhancements as well. Previous Birdies for Charity were played over four rounds. This year’s will be over five. It’ll mean over 12 hours of non-stop golf for the participants.

Johns and Gumbach were co-founders of the first Illinois PGA Birdies for Charity in 2011 and have remained as co-chairmen of the event. The Illinois Section’s first Birdies for Charity raised $44,000 with 14 professionals participating. Now the total raised is up to $1.18 million.

“I thought we were king of the hill after that first year, raising that kind of money,’’ said Gumbach. “It was just guys playing golf. Never in a million years did I think we could crack $1 million in seven years. That was pretty cool.’’

Those “guys playing golf’’ raised more money in each succeeding year with last year’s event raising a record $280,000. Thirty-five professionals made 670 birdies on that long, but most worthwhile day at River Forest.

That meant contributions of $66,390 to each of Core Four charities – the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana and the Illinois PGA Foundation. This year more charities will also benefit.

“Those four will remain the same, but a lot of other charities got wind of what we have been doing and asked to be involved,’’ said Johns, “so we’re trying to spread the wealth.’’

Two – Folds of Honor and Cal’s Angels — will benefit, but to a lesser degree than the Core Four. Each participating professional was invited to submit an entry for “bonus charity’’ status. Fifteen were nominated before those two were selected in a drawing. That policy will be continued in future years.

Johns and Gumbach have set a financial goal of $300,000 for this year’s event. While the final numbers will be totaled up on Sept. 4 it’s clear that some professionals have accumulated enough in pledges to raise $1,000 per birdie made.

The debut of the Central Illinois section’s Birdies for Charity will be held the same day with 11 professionals participating to benefit two downstate charities – Boys & Girls Club of Decatur and OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois.

Jim Sobb’s playing record speaks for itself.

The 30-year director of golf at Ivanhoe Club won eight of the Illinois PGA’s four major tournaments, including the IPGA Championship three times. He also won nine of the section’s Senior majors, and this month he’ll go after his sixth title in the IPGA Senior Championship.

He has played in three national PGA Championships, five Western Opens, three U.S. Senior Opens and two Senior PGA Championships. In 2011 Sobb pulled off what may be his most outstanding accomplishment as a player when he swept the IPGA Match Play and IPGA Senior Match Play titles in back-to-back weeks. No other player has one that.

Now 62, Sobb has made more Radix Cup appearances (22) than any other IPGA member and – in the first year he was eligible – added the Illinois PGA Super Senior Open title to his resume.

Enough already?

Well, the remainder of the 2018 season presents a playing challenge that Sobb relishes – even though the first part of the campaign hasn’t produced a victory yet. There’s still enough big events left on the schedule for Sobb to make this year like most of the others, however.

Most notably, the IPGA Senior Championship is Aug. 13-14 at Merit Club, in Libertyville, and the IPGA Senior Match Play will be played Oct. 2-4 at Shoreacres, in Lake Bluff. Spring weather problems forced its postponement earlier.

Also, you can never count Sobb out of his favorite tournament, the Illinois PGA Championship. Though it’s been 18 years since he won the last of his three titles, he’ll be at Stonewall Orchard from Aug. 27-29 to give it another try.

Time usually takes a toll on a player’s abilities, but Sobb might be getting better with age.

“Maybe I am – by a little,’’ he said. “I continue to learn and manage my game better. There’s a lot to be said for experience.’’

What’s more surprising about this Sobb story is the fact that – despite all his playing success within the Illinois section — he never entertained thoughts of being a touring pro.

“I’ve always wanted to be a club professional. I’ve never looked beyond that,’’ he said. “I like being competitive, but (to be a tour player) you’ve got to devote yourself 365 days a year. I’m happy where I am.’’

Clearly there’s more to Jim Sobb than being a tournament golfer. He’s a lifetime Chicago guy with a unique family. His wife Tina has battled Multiple Sclerosis for many years, yet the Sobbs worked to put their two children through college. Son Ryan graduated from Birminham Southern and daughter Abbey from the University of Mississippi.

Sobb started playing golf at age 10 while growing up in Palatine. He played at Palatine Hills and Pebble Creek, a nine-hole course that is long gone, and caddied at Inverness before starting in tournament golf in the Northern Illinois Men’s Amateur Golf Association events organized by Mike Spinello. Now both Spinello and Sobb are members of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame.

Even back then Sobb’s focus wasn’t just on golf. He was a very decent quarterback at Palatine High School, where he also played basketball and golf, but wasn’t a scholarship athlete when he headed to Western Illinois for college.

Sobb encountered one of the very best college coaches when arrived at Western. Harry Mussatto welcomed him to the team as a walk-on, and Sobb performed well enough as a freshman to earn a scholarship the next year.

After his days at Western Sobb held assistant professional jobs at Hillcrest, in Long Grove, and the now defunct Thorngate, in Deerfield, and landed his first head job at Chapel Hill, in McHenry, in 1983. He also was the head man at Highland Park Country Club before beginning his long run at Ivanhoe.

Rather than aspire to be a touring pro Sobb had another role model.

“I wanted to be like Gary Groh,’’ he said.

While Groh did play on the PGA Tour – he even won the Hawaiian Open – his career was built around his long stint as head professional at Bob O’Link, in Highland Park. Groh worked there into his 70s and competed successfully within the state ranks much like Sobb is doing.

The Ivanhoe job has offered Sobb some other growth opportunities.. He created a high school tournament, the Ivanhoe Invitational, and was – for the last three years – the host professional for a Web.com Tour event, the Rust-Oleum Championship. He’s also mentored several former assistants who now hold head professional jobs.

Such projects helped earn Sobb the IPGA Professional of the Year honor in 1995 and 2000, the IPGA Private Club Merchandiser of the Year Award in 1997 and the Bill Strausbaugh Award, for service to his fellow pros, in 2012. He also spent 10 years on the IPGA board of directors and he’s not done yet.

“I’m very comfortable here,’’ said Sobb. “I haven’t set a date for retiring. I feel great. I like to compete, and I love what I’m doing.’’

Six decades ago the Tam O’Shanter Country Club in suburban Chicago was among the most famous golf courses in the world. It was owned by George S. May back then, and May was a man far ahead of his time when it came to golf promotion.

Tam O’Shanter opened in 1925. May took ownership in 1937 and hosted his first tournament, the Chicago Open, in 1940. He liked the results, and the next year he created his own tournament – the All-American Open – which offered, for that era, unprecedented prize money for the best men and women golfers. The legendary Byron Nelson was the men’s champion four times in a five-year stretch and notched win No. 10 in his unprecedented 11 victories in a row there in 1945.

The All-American Open grew into the World Championship in 1946. It lasted until 1957, with the likes of Gene Littler, Lloyd Mangrum, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Patty Berg and Babe Zaharias teeing it up for – by far — the biggest purses in golf. None of those players had the longlasting impact on golf that Lew Worsham did, however.

In 1953, in the first nationally-televised golf tournament, Worsham holed a 104-yard wedge shot on the final hole of the World Championship for an eagle and a one-stroke victory over a stunned Chandler Harper. The drama provided by Worsham’s shot captivated golf fans and triggered the sport’s rise in popularity as both a participant and spectator sport.

May eventually had issues with the PGA Tour over player entrance fees and discontinued his tournament in 1957. He died in 1962 and the Western Open resulted in the return of the PGA Tour to Tam O’Shanter in 1964 and 1965. That was the last hurrah for Tam O’Shanter’s glory days.

May’s family sold the club to developers late in 1965 and they turned much of the land into an industrial park, closing the course in the process. Now Tam O’Shanter is a nine-hole municipal course owned by the Niles Park District. Only about one-third of the land from the Tam O’Shanter of the May days is still used for golf and the clubhouse burned down long ago.

This story does not have a sad ending, however – not by a long shot.

The Niles Park District purchased what was left of the golf course and salvaged a nine-hole course that opened in 1974. It struggled for survival for nearly four decades but now, following a year-long course renovation project, Tam O’Shanter isn’t just surviving. It’s thriving.

The course renovation was performed by the Illinois-based Lohmann Quitno architectural firm. Drainage was improved and new tee boxes, bunkering and cart paths were installed. Signage on the course was also upgraded as the course was given a more classic look. Only two holes – No. 1, a par-4, and No. 6, a par-3 that had been No. 16 on the old course – are left from the original 18-holer. The renovated nine-holer plays just 2,457 yards from the tips.

No. 1 is now the longest hole, at 404 yards, and the rotation calls for six par-4s and three par-3s. It’s nothing fancy, like the Tam O’Shanter of old, but players have been turning out in steady numbers since the renovated course re-opened in June.

“We weren’t really trying to preserve the course, just bring back the style it had from the old days,’’ said architect Todd Quitno. “It was more about function and maintenance than it was about history. We wanted to preserve the golf course for a long time, and to do that we had to make it more maintainable. It was about acknowledging that this course had a long history and giving it a long future.’’

That was just fine with manager Peter Dubs, who attended golf camps at the course when he was 14 years old and held part-time jobs there before becoming a full-time employee 11 years ago following his college graduation. Chris Urgo, the director of instruction, also progressed from part-time to full-time staffer during a similar time frame.

What had once been a failed, very small driving range was converted into the outdoor portion of the Golf Learning Center. The facility is heavy into youth work and draws about 1,000 pupils annually.

Immediately after the Niles Park District opened the course the pro shop was operated out of a trailer. Then an Italian restaurant was added, but it didn’t work out very well. Since 2003 the Howard Street Inn sports bar-restaurant, which adjoins the pro shop, has been a busy year-around facility – not just when golfers are on the premises.

While the new nine-holer only faintly resembles May’s carnival-like 18-hole version, the history of that place hasn’t been forgotten. A big history wall fronts the No. 1 tee and the learning center includes an array of photos and memorabilia from May’s big tournaments.

Nine-hole rates range from $19 to $21 for non-residents and on-line reservations are being taken for the first time. Though power carts are available, the course is ideal for walking.

Last year Highwood’s Patrick Flavin did something very special, winning both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open. No player had won both in the same year since David Ogrin did it in 1980.

This year Flavin will try to do something even more special. He’ll try to repeat in both. No player has ever done that.

In fact, Ogrin, who became a journeyman on the PGA Tour with a victory in the LaCantera Texas Open in 1996, is the only other player to capture the two major state titles in the same year. Flavin became the eighth to own titles in both events, the other six having done it in different years.

Ogrin, now 60 and the director of the Alamo City Golf Trail in San Antonio, Tex., won the Illinois State Amateur at Crestwicke, in Bloomington, and the Illinois Open at Bloomington Country Club. He turned pro shortly after taking the double, and that made it impossible for him to defend his Amateur title in 1981.

Flavin, though, isn’t in any hurry to play for money. Despite completing a solid career at Miami of Ohio, where he won eight collegiate tournaments – four in his senior season, Flavin opted to spend the summer as an amateur. His tentative plans called for turning pro for the Web.com Tour qualifying school in the fall.

“Staying amateur was a no-brainer for me,’’ said Flavin. “It was incredible to win the state Amateur and state Open last year and to repeat is a huge goal of mine, though I know the fields will be strong.’’

His title defense in the 88th Illinois State Amateur will come July 17-19 at Bloomington Country Club, where Ogrin completed his then unprecedented double. Flavin’s defense in the 69th Illinois Open comes from Aug. 6-8 at The Glen Club, in Glenview, and Ravinia Green, in Riverwoods. The last putt of his Open win last year came at The Glen.

Just repeating in either tournament has been a rarity. There hasn’t been a repeat champion in the Illinois State Amateur since Todd Mitchell in 2002-03 and only five others have won back-to-back since the tournament went to a stroke play format in 1963. Illinois men’s coach Mike Small was the last to repeat in the Illinois Open. He won three straight titles from 2005-07 and was only the fourth player to win that tournament in back-to-back years.

Flavin took both his titles last year by one-stroke margins, but the Amateur was more difficult as Flavin had to overhaul Jordan Hahn, a University of Wisconsin golfer from Sugar Grove, in the 36-hole final day. In the Open Flavin owned a six-stroke lead entering the final round but former Illinois State basketball player Brandon Holtz pulled into a brief tie for the lead on the back nine.

In the end Flavin was one swing better than Holtz and two college stars, Nick Hardy of Illinois and Matt Murlick of Marquette.

Flavin has already tested the professional ranks, when he went through qualifying for the Canadian PGA Tour while retaining his amateur status. In addition to the two state tournaments his summer schedule includes the Western Amateur, starting July 30 at Sunset Ridge in Northfield; the Sunnehanna, in Pennsylvania; the Northeast, in Rhode Island; and the Trans-Miss, in Ohio. All are invitationals. He’ll also enter the U.S. Amateur.

Those tournaments will provide more seasoning for Flavin, though his play over the last year suggests he doesn’t need much of that.

“My game is solid now,’’ he said. “I know I can play at the next level.’’