HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Florida – Mission Inn Resort & Club, on the outskirts of Orlando, has two golf courses. In most such multi-course facilities the feeling is `new newer, the better.’ That’s not the case here. Mission Inn’s older course is El Campeon, built in 1917. Its new one, Las Colinas, isn’t all that new. Former PGA…
Author: lenz
Cog Hill is back on the calendar as the site for a big-time event
Chicago’s biggest public golf facility will soon by back in the national – if not the world – spotlight. Cog Hill, in Lemont, was named Tuesday as the site of the 45th annual World Long Drive Championship. It’ll be held Sept 3-9 with national television coverage on The Golf Channel. The event will be held…
How important are golf course rankings to you?
I found this interesting. As most of you know, I give little credence to the course rankings provided annually by the various golf publications. Golfweek, though, just released its top 200 resort courses (as well as its top 200 in casino courses, residential courses and courses in the Caribbean and Mexico). Being most interested in…
Good island vibes set Hilton Head apart as a golf destination
Hilton Head bills itself as “The Golf Island,’’ and – given all the great golf that can be played there — it’s hard to argue with that. There are some areas for concern, however. Barry Fleming, executive director of the South Carolina Lowcountry Golf Course Owners Association, believes Hilton Head still has one troublesome issue….
Another dramatic finish concludes the LPGA’s mini `Florida swing’
BOCA RATON, Florida – There’s no reason the LPGA shouldn’t play as many of its tournaments as possible in Florida. After all, the LPGA’s headquarters are in Daytona Beach and three of the circuit’s top stars — Lexi Thompson and Jessica and Nelly Korda – live there. This year’s schedule called for four LPGA tournaments…
Playoff loss to Lopez doesn’t cool Inbee Park’s enthusiasm for the Olympics
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL. — Already the youngest player to earn her place in the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame, Korea’s Inbee Park – now 31 — hasn’t been anxious to get her seasons started. That changed this year, and for a good reason. “I always started a little bit late, probably the end of…
Seven didn’t turn out a lucky number for Small, Wu
This was a weird first tournament week of the season for two of Chicago’s most prominent golfers. Both Mike Small and Dylan Wu blew seven-stroke leads in their 2020 tournament debuts but still finished as runner-ups in their events. Small, the University of Illinois men’s coach who owns 12 wins in the Illinois PGA Championship…
GOLF TRAVEL NOTEBOOK: Myrtle Beach is going after golfers — from Alaska?!
The Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship is already the world’s largest tournament with its annual entry number around 3,200, but that’s apparently not good enough. When the event tees off for the 37th straight year on Aug. 31 tournament director Scott Tomasello is hoping for a change in the field. There hasn’t been a…
REMEMBERING PETE DYE: A giant in golf course architecture
It was back in 2010 that then Indiana governor Mitch Daniels triggered the creation of the Pete Dye Golf Trail to stimulate tourism in the Hoosier State. The following year Joy and I became among the first to play all seven courses on it. Back then I wrote that Dye was the most innovative golf…
World Handicap System will have a unifying effect for golfers
No, Tiger Woods didn’t win his record PGA Tour record 83rd tournament this week to break a tie with Sam Snead. In fact, Woods didn’t even play in the Sentry Tournament of Champions – the PGA Tour’s first event of 2020 that concluded on Sunday with Justin Thomas’ playoff win in Hawaii. What did happen…