In the early 1980s the Chicago amateur ranks were dominated by a fabulous foursome, David Ogrin, Gary Pinns, Gary Hallberg and Jerry Vidovic. Toss in Lance Ten Broeck and Roy Biancalana, who were slightly younger than that group, and you had what I consider the Golden Years of Chicago amateur golf. Ogrin, Hallberg and Ten…
Chicago Area Golf
GolfVisions’ promotions are a big reason for the Chicago Golf Show’s success
Back in 2010 Tim Miles Sr. made a bold promotional move. He offered a free round to all Chicago Golf Show visitors at all of the courses that his company, Mundelein-based GolfVisions, was managing. Looking back, Tom Corcoran – owner of the 35-year old show since 1997 — still calls Miles’ move “the wildly greatest…
Now it’s time to look ahead to big events at Medinah, Whistling Straits
Usually columns for the final issue of a season are used for look-backs at the high (and sometimes – low) points of the goings-on in the previous spring and summer months. This year I’ve coaxed Chicagoland Golf publisher Val Russell into indulging my preference to move in another direction. Rather than looking back at the…
PGA Tour schedule for 2018-19 will require some fresh thinking
I did enough venting about this year’s tournament schedule in our last issue. Then – wouldn’t you know it? – the PGA Tour made its plans for the 2018-19 wrap-around season official. There’s lots of food for thought when you analyze that one. Just knowing the PGA Tour dates isn’t enough to project how our…
Golf has proven to be a tonic for this Parkinson’s sufferer
Gary Smith, by his own admission, is not a champion golfer but his golf story is well worth telling. Tim Rosaforte, a long-time friend of mine who works for The Golf Channel, told it first as a TV feature. Now it’s my turn. Smith is a Naperville resident, but I met him at the International…
We will all have to deal with `THE BIG CONFLICT’
This is my 50th year reporting on the Chicago golf scene and I can assure you there has never been a month like the one confronting us this July. There have been busy tournaments times in the past, but never anything like what’s coming in the next few days. I’m calling the whole scenario “The…
Mistwood, Kemper Lakes host big women’s tourneys at the same time
It’s a shame, it really is. In the biggest year ever for women’s golf in the Chicago area the biggest women’s professional tournament and the biggest women’s amateur event will be played on virtually the same dates. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is June 26 to July 1 at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer. It’s one…
KPMG Women’s PGA will be Kemper’s biggest event in 29 years
This spring has not been business as usual at Kemper Lakes. The Kildeer club, which had been a tournament hotbed for more than two decades before going private, has been a busy place again even during the period when snow delayed the traditional start of spring. That’s what happens when a club takes on a…
Here’s what’s good — and bad — about the Chicago tournament schedule in 2018
I don’t know that Chicago has ever had a golf season like the one coming up in 2018. It’ll be a good one – any links season in Chicago is a good one – but this one will be different. Last year’s tournament schedule was the busiest in 20 years and featured the national collegiate…
Women’s Western will benefit from closer relationship with WGA
This one was long, long overdue. The Western Golf Association and Women’s Western Golf Association have jointly announced that they have formed “a new partnership.’’ That made May 10, 2017, an announcement date to remember in Chicago sports history. Given the rich histories of the two organizations, its importance goes beyond just golf. While the…