If you’re a golfer you’ve got to envy Tom Coyne. Lots of author types – me included to some extent – have been more than willing to write about their golf travels in some form or another. Coyne has done it much better than most. He’s a globe-trotting golfer with lots of stories to…
Author: lenz
Aviv’s oxygen therapy could become a big boost for golfers
THE VILLAGES, Florida – Golf is huge in The Villages, a fast-growing vibrant over-55 adult community in Central Florida. That’s obvious. Golf carts are everywhere, and not just at the courses. Golf carts of all sizes and colors fill the area’s parking lots as well as those at the 12 championship and 40 executive courses…
Medinah announcement might be highlight of 2021 Chicago golf season
That horrible pandemic made 2021 a difficult year for everybody, but it was somewhat less so for those in the Chicago area golf industry. The courses were busy, the big events were back on schedule and an extraordinarily large number of facilities took on expansion projects. The biggest was at Heritage Oaks, the Northbrook Park…
New additions open at Poplar Creek, Fox Run courses
While most area golf courses are in the process of closing for the season, a couple are just kicking into high gear thanks to the completion of some major construction work. The Bridges of Poplar Creek, an 18-holer in Hoffman Estates, has opened its new Toptracer Range. It features 10 covered, heated hitting bays. While…
Bubba Watson’s `Up & Down’ is well worth reading
It was part of my tournament coverage routine at a PGA Tour events to walk at least nine holes in the first two rounds with a player just to get a handle on the course. At that stage of a tournament it wasn’t necessary to be caught up in what players were in contention. That…
Chicago experienced an extraordinary golf building boom in 2021
The 2021 Chicago golf season should be remembered for much more than pandemic-related issues. Some extraordinary building was going on at clubs across the Chicago area, and it wasn’t all done on golf courses. Golf course renovations are commonplace annually, but this year the most noteworthy upgrading related to clubhouses. Two facilities – The Preserve…
Palm Aire’s Champions Course re-opens on Dec. 1
SARASOTA, FL. – The Champions Course at Palm Aire Country Club was one of the more difficult courses in Florida, and it may still be. It will, however, have a much different look when it re-opens following an extensive $2 million renovation on December 1. The original…
Olympia Fields will host another BMW Championship in 2023
The PGA Tour’s 2021 season concluded on Sunday, but the circuit – along with the Western Golf Association – made an announcement on Monday that will have a huge effect on the Chicago golf community for years to come. After a two-year absence the PGA Tour will be back in the Chicago area in 2023…
Jin Young Ko’s epic win caps off a big week for the LPGA
NAPLES, FL. – The PGA and LPGA tours concluded their 2021 seasons on Sunday, and the women went out with a bigger bang than the men. The PGA Tour reached its high point a couple months ago with the staging of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Ryder Cup. Those were tough acts for…
Sore wrist can’t keep Korean star from stringing seven birdies
NAPLES, FL. — Beware of the injured golfer. Korea’s Jin Young Ko is the defending champion in the biggest money event in women’s golf, and she’s definitely injured. An injury to her left wrist has troubled her since May and she never takes a full swing in practice. On a scale of 1 to…