Theirs is a success story unlike most others in the world of golf.

For starters, the Aurora-based Nadler clan has the longevity factor going. Nadler Golf Cars has been in business over 50 years and is still going strong. Through it all, it’s remained a family business that is now a third-generation operation servicing nearly half of the roughly 400 courses in the Chicago area.

The company leases about 6,00 golf cars and provides the maintenance on them summer and winter. And, just as important, the company gives back to the game. That was underscored this year when Nadler Golf Cars was declared the longest running continuing sponsorship for the Illinois PGA’s Pro Presidents outing, which is approaching its 40th year.

Nadler Golf Cars also has been the title sponsor of the Illinois PGA Championship for over 10 years and recently signed up for another three-year extension. The sponsorship run is also in the 40-year vicinity with the Midwest Golf Course Superintendents Assn. and the First Tee of Aurora’s headquarters is named the Nadler Golf House of Learning.

“We want to be visible to all our customers in the area,’’ said Eric Nadler, the company president since 2013 when he replaced his father, Dave. “It’s very important to our family to give back to those guys. Without them we wouldn’t have our business.’’

The Nadlers’ story, though, goes way beyond the giving back policy. It’s one well worth telling just from the historical perspective. In 1963 Bill and Bea Nadler – parents to Dave and grandparents to Eric — were operating a Harley-Davidson motorcycle shop in Elgin. They entered the golf industry when Harley-Davidson came out with one of the first golf cars.

“We’re very fortunate for the vision my grandfather had, both for our family and for golf in Chicago,’’ said Eric. “He put golf cars in as a sideline, and my grandmother said he was crazy. She had a lot of reservations. She believed people walked in golf.’’

Most did, of course, but Bill Nadler was able to lease four or five cars to the Fox Valley Golf Club, which is now owned by the city of Aurora, and he started pounding on the doors of other courses. When the motorcycle industry started experiencing tough economic times Nadler opted to focus strictly on golf cars.

“Some thought he was crazy again,’’ Eric admitted.

But he wasn’t, as it turned out.

Dave Nadler entered the business when he was 11, basically on the maintenance end, to support his father and the then one other employee the company had. Times were as tough for golf cars as they were for motorcycles then.

“When (Bill Nadler) got his first demo he decided to stop by a golf course, and he went to Bonnie Dundee (the longstanding public course in Algonquin),’’ said Dave. “The owner told him `everybody at my course walks.’’’

That was that, for a few months, but before the year was out Bill Nadler was called back to that club because the owner had a change of heart. Others course operators were also willing to try the power cars, and a thriving business was born.

“He was in the right place at the right time,’’ Dave said of his father. Dave became a full-time employee after finishing college in 1974 and joined forces with his brother Keith and sister Karen (now Karen Baumgartner) to buy out their father in 1981.

They were the officers when Eric, Dave’s son, and Matt Baumgartner, Karen’s offspring, got involved.

“I started as an 8-year old washing golf cars,’’ said Eric. “I found out early on about manual labor. I found out what the real world was all about.’’

He later spent summers working in the parts and service departments during his high school years.

“In high school my father and uncle were harder on me than the rest of the employees, and before I was to go to college my dad sat me down and gave me an opportunity (to work towards taking over the company),’’ said Eric. “I didn’t want to do it.’’

In stepped grandfather Bill again. They had a talk on a vacation in Wisconsin, and Eric changed his mind. He worked for the company for 17 years before he and Matt took over ownership of Nadler Golf Cars on Jan. 1, 2013. The company has tripled in size over the last 10 years.

Keith Nadler retired from the company in 1997 and Dave in 2013. Bill Nadler passed away on March 7, 2013, at the age of 94. Karen Baumgartner remains active, and the operation has grown to 18 full-time employees – some of whom were hired over 40 years ago by grandfather Bill. Another four are generally brought in to help with seasonal projects.

The Illinois PGA has long benefitted from its connection with three generations of Nadlers. Michael Miller, who left the IPGA this year after 23 years serving as tournament director and then executive director, said the section “wouldn’t be where we are without the Nadler family. They have been such a vital part of what the Illinois PGA has done.’’

In addition to the event sponsorships Dave Nadler served on the IPGA Foundation board that launched a $2 million program in the late 1990s that benefits Maryville Academy and the First Tee programs, among others. The Nadlers were among the initial donors.

Carrie Williams, who took over as Miller’s replacement in August after serving as executive director of the Illinois Junior Golf Assn., was well aware of the good things done by the Nadlers from an earlier working stint with the IPGA.

“The support that Nadler Golf and the Nadler family have provided the Illinois Section throughout their decades of sponsorship is unparalleled,’’ she said. “Not only is their financial support of the Section and its PGA professionals integral in continuing to elevate major events like the Section Championship and Pro-President, the unique evolution of our relationship across multiple generations of the Nadler family sets Nadler Golf apart as both the longest-standing Section sponsor – and the most generous.’’

The 115th U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields couldn’t have gone much better.

The weather was great, the champion showed potential for long-term greatness and Fox Sports – new to golf broadcasting – presented Olympia Fields in a very positive light. Dave Allard, the club’s chairman for the event, said U.S. Golf Assn. officials told him that Olympia’s greens were the best for a USGA championship this year – and that’s saying a lot since the organization puts on 20 such tournaments at some of the country’s best courses.

There’s only one problem. The USGA isn’t coming back – at least not for a long while. For the first time in at least four decades not one of the USGA championships is scheduled for the Chicago area. Golf’s ruling body in the U.S. generally schedules at least five years in advance. Its biggest event, the U.S. Open, already has sites determined through 2024.

Tom O’Toole, the USGA president, underwent a screening from select golf media about the scheduling issue and stressed that “Olympia Fields has done a fabulous job.’’

So, why no USGA events coming beyond qualifiers for national tournaments? O’Toole didn’t shed much light on that but said it was nothing personal.

“We’d like to continue our history in Chicago because it’s been a rich one,’’ said O’Toole. “There’s a wonderful plethora of clubs here.’’

Olympia Fields, of course, is just one of them and – rather than belabor the future schedule issue – now it’s more appropriate to celebrate another rich moment in Chicago golf history. Thirteen U.S. Amateur Championships have been played in Chicago or its suburbs and the first one at Olympia Fields had to be one of the best – a bonus for the club, which used the event to highlight its Centennial celebration.

The U.S. Amateur made its first Chicago appearance in 1897 at Chicago Golf Club, the site for the championship four times. It was also played at Onwentsia, in Lake Forest; Glenview Club, Flossmoor, Beverly, North Shore (twice), Knollwood and Cog Hill. The Cog Hill version, won by Matt Kuchar, was the most recent. It was played in 1997.

Olympia Fields hosted the U.S. Senior Open the same year Cog hosted the Amateur – a banner year in Chicago golf history. In landing the Amateur, Olympia was able to spotlight its two recently-renovated courses. It was the last Chicago course to host U.S. Open, in 2003 when Jim Furyk won the title. This U.S. Amateur may have measured up better than that Open did. Olympia’s North Course didn’t prove to be the monster that most Open venues have been.

For the U.S. Amateur, though, it was ideal. The North and South layouts contrasted nicely for the 36 holes of stroke play that started tournament week for 312 qualifiers, and the North offered all kinds of interesting challenges for the 64 match play survivors.

There could be only one winner, of course, and that turned out to be Bryson DeChambeau, a senior at Southern Methodist University from Clovis, Calif. He was clearly the best of the lot. Rain delays, caddie changes, a bad tee shot at a critical moment. Nothing was going to keep DeChambeau from joining some of golf’s most elite company.

In winning at Olympia Fields Country Club DeChambeau joined Jack Nicklaus (1961), Phil Mickelson (1990), Tiger Woods (1996) and Ryan Moore (2004) as the only players to win the NCAA Championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year.

Both finalists, DeChambeau and Derek Bard, earned berths in next year’s Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, but there were few other similarities in their status after the title match. DeChambeau was just too good. He never played beyond the 16th hole in his first five matches and had even less trouble with Bard in the 36-hole final, winning 7 and 6 with a torrid nine holes immediately after the lunch break. That was one of the widest victory margins since the tourney was inaugurated in 1895.

“I kept putting the pedal to the metal,’’ said DeChambeau. “I wanted to play Bryson golf, and that’s what I did. I just made everything.’’

A physics major at SMU, DeChambeau, 21, opened birdie-birdie to go 2-up quickly, but that lead didn’t last. Bard, a 20-year old junior at the University of Virginia, won four of five holes in one stretch to go 2-up, but DeChambeau took charge for good after chipping in to win No. 8.

The 47-minute rain delay didn’t help, but he battled back to get to all square and then won Nos. 14, 15 and 16 to claim the lead for good. There were some moments of adversity, though.

During the 42-minute lunch break DeChambeau’s regular caddie, Mike Sly, told him that he couldn’t continue on the bag in the afternoon. A case of plantar fasciitis was too painful. No problem. DeChambeau called on a friend who had carried his bag occasionally in the past and only briefly lost momentum.

His first tee shot of the afternoon round sailed left into the woods, and he was lucky to find his ball. Still, no real problem. Bard, who had won No. 18 to conclude the morning round, took advantage of DeChambeau’s rare muff to win that hole, too. Still, DeChambeau wasn’t ruffled.

He went on a tear, stringing one great iron shot after another and backing up those approaches with brilliant putting. He had Bard dormie after winning No. 10 and closed out the match when Bard’s birdie putt lipped out on the 30th hole.

It wasn’t just the dominating result that set DeChambeau apart from the field during the week. It was also his unconventional style. His trademark is a cap like the one Ben Hogan wore. He also spoke proudly of going to the same college as the late, great Payne Stewart, who also wore similar headgear.

DeChambeau’s clubs are also unusual. The shafts are all the same length, that of a standard 6-iron. His style for lining up putts is different, too. He lines them up with his putter in a horizontal position rather than the usual vertical method – like taking aim with a gun. And, his training methods include cursive writing backwards with his left hand (he’s right-handed) because it improves the sensitivity in his hands.

“Obviously he’s a very smart kid,’’ sad Bard. “I was prepared for all that. Whatever works –and this week it worked for him pretty well.’’

Eri Crum arrived at Stanford University in 1994, the same year that Tiger Woods did. They were teammates on the school’s golf team for two years, before Woods started his legendary career as a touring pro.

Crum stayed at Stanford, earning his letter in golf his final two seasons, and now he’s still involved in his sport as a professional. His role is a bit different than Woods’, however. Crum has discovered Speedgolf, and he’ll defend his title in the Speedgolf World Championship at The Glen Club in Glenview on Oct. 19-20.

In Speedgolf you’re judged on both your score and pace around the course.

“It’s an awesome sport, but it needs help to grow,’’ said Crum before giving a demonstration over the last three holes at The Glen. He cruised through No. 16, a par-4, in 1:49 and made par, got through No. 17, a par-3, in 62 seconds and made bogey and then made birdie on No. 18 — a par-5 – while getting from tee to green in 2:08.

Crum was a good college golfer but was involved in other sports, as well. He was captain of the school’s hockey club team and later ran a three-hour Boston Marathon. After school days he became a physical therapist and chiropractor. He got serious about golf again after learning about Speedgolf.

“It’s been a wonderful outlet to get my golf game back,’’ he said. “Efficiency is so important.’’

Players must avoid unnecessary delays to be successful at Speedgolf. One of Crum’s top rivals putts one-handed and doesn’t drop his golf bag. None of the players stop to check yardages. Golf bags are made as light as possible with most using six clubs or less. Standard golf attire is expected in competition, but most wear shorts instead of pants.

There are some rule variations. The pin remains in the cup in Speedgolf and there’s no loss of distance for a lost ball. Players go off alone in roughly six-minute intervals.

“We’re not suggesting it replaces regular golf,’’ said Tim Scott, president of Speedgolf International. “But Speedgolf promotes creativity and fitness. It’s growing.’’

The Speedgolf World Championship has been held at Bandon Dunes, the popular Oregon resort, the last three years. A couple well-known track and field athletes – Nick Willis and Bernard Lagat – were among the competitors that Crum defeated last year. Lagat, from Kenya, was a four-time Olympian at 1,500 meters while Willis, from New Zealand, was the silver medalist at 1,500 meters in the 2008 Olympics.

Speedgolf has a history dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s and got more widespread recognition when Steve Scott, the American record-holder in the mile, reportedly shot 95 while covering 18 holes in 29 minutes using only a 3-iron.

The world record, according to Scott, was posted by Christopher Smith, a teaching pro from Oregon, while playing in a competition at Chicago’s Jackson Park in 2005. Smith got around Jackson Park in 65 strokes and 44 minutes.

Combining the score and time, Smith’s record is 109. Crum’s winning total last year at Bandon over 18 holes was 121 – a score of 76 in 45 minutes.

The elite division at The Glen will have about 30 competitors, including some from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Canada. There are Speedgolf organizations in those countries. In addition to the overseer, Speedgolf International, there are U.S. branches in Houston and Southern California. A $40,000 prize fund will be on the line in the elite division at The Glen.

This will be the third year for the World Speedgolf Championship. Chris Walker, a mini-tour pro who played collegiately at Notre Dame, won in 2012 and Rob Hogan, a pro from Ireland, won in 2013 with Crum finishing second.

An amateur division with age group competition will also be offered on the first day of the World Championship at The Glen. Entry fee is $150. For details contact www.speedgolfinternational.com.

What would be your reaction be if a playing partner arrived at the first tee with a full set of golf clubs, but no golf bag?

That’s what happened to me when long-time friend Brett Detterbeck arrived with a backpack – much like the type that high school students use to carry their books. A big difference, though. In it was a full set of clubs, with the shafts separated from the clubheads.

Brett assembled his clubs as we went along, screwing the shafts into the clubheads. I can’t say they helped his play in a Couples Scramble event put on by the staff at Cantigny, in Wheaton, but they looked and felt like golf clubs when you swung them.

One of Brett’s Glen Ellyn neighbors, Pat Brady, brought the clubs to his attention. Brady was one of three founders of an Atlanta-based equipment manufacturer called the DV8 Sports. The company was founded in 2009.
Its website reports that Brady has 13 patents to his name with six more pending. He’s not a golfer, the website is quick to declare. But he is an inventor and an investor who has done well in other fields.

Is the DV8 Sports product good? Is it bad? I can’t say one way or the other, but it is most interesting. Its clubs are certainly easier to transport than the standard bag of clubs. I’m told they can even be carry-ons at airports.

Golf has always stirred the creative juices of golfers and non-golfers alike. I’ve seen some really weird gear at shows and pro shops over the years, some of it even laughable, but these clubs make more sense than many of the other products I’ve seen. Apparently others felt so, too, because other players in the outing were curious enough to take a look. None needed an invitation to take a peek. They just wanted to find out what the product was all about.

This new product led to a discussion with Patrick Lynch, the head professional at Cantigny. He reported being contacted recently by a company that makes bicycles that players can use to transport their clubs around the course during a round. Lynch was curious enough to welcome a closer look. I would be, too.

The Western Golf Association’s premier tournament, the BMW Championship, is still nearly two months away, but the WGA showed off the improvements coming for the third tournament of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs

Tourney site Conway Farms, in Lake Forest, underwent an extensive renovation since hosting the event in 2013 and spectators — 130,000 are expected again – should have an improved experience. Cart paths have been widened throughout the course to improve foot traffic and seating has been improved dramatically for that big week when trophies (to say nothing of big prize money) is on the line.

The size of seating around the 18th green has been doubled and there’s also expanded viewing at Nos. 1, 2, 7, 9, 11 and 17. The Beer Garden, a popular attraction two years ago, will also be doubled in size.

More than anything, though, the work done on the course has opened up vistas for better spectator viewing. Also improving the spectator experience is the establishment of an attendance limit. Vince Pellegrino, the WGA’s senior vice president, tournaments, said attendance will be limited to 27,000 per day. When the tourney was played at Conway two years ago the gallery topped 35,000 on Saturday.

The players will find a major change in the practice facility. It’s been enhanced with a 10,000 square foot putting green, a two-acres practice range and a new short game area. All 18 greens were re-grassed. several new tees were constructed and others re-shaped. New back tees resulted in the lengthening of Nos. 4 and 17.

Strategically, No. 16 – my favorite hole on the course – has two sod-wall bunkers now instead of three and they’ve been moved to the right. This, you’ll remember, was a key hole in 2013 because Jim Furyk made eagle there en route to shooting his record 59.

The tournament dates, Sept. 14-20, are a week later than they were in 2013 with players getting a week off in between the first two playoff events and the last two. The purse has increased slightly, to $8.25 million.

Shuttles from the nearby Metra stations are expected to relieve congestion around the course. The shuttles from the stations to the course are only two minutes. The new general parking area is in Waukegan (Waukegan and Belvidere roads), and shuttles from there will be in the 15-20 minute range.

Pellegrino announced a new event for tournament week. The Evans Scholars Cup will be contested on Monday. It’ll feature teams from 28 clubs and their head professional. Otherwise the schedule is the same as in the past except for the starting times for the first two rounds. Play will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday and Friday and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

A three-year project to renovate its bunkers is over, and Kemper Lakes is ready to “Restore the Roar.’’ The club, based in Chicago’s northwest suburb of Kildeer, wants big tournaments again, and the new looks that Libertyville architect Rick Jacobson created with the bunkers should help.

“The renovations are now complete, and it’s been a seamless transformation into a premier championship venue that we believe is once again ready for the best players in the world,’’ said John Hosteland, the club’s general manager. “So, this summer we’ll be welcoming golf media and the various governing bodies to visit Kemper Lakes. We call it our `Restore the Roar’ initiative. In the event there’s a need or desire to bring a national tournament to Kemper Lakes, we’re ready.’’

Augie Tonne, a club member who heads its championship committee, is also spearheading the `Restore the Roar’ effort. Both he and Hosteland point to the available space around the course for parking and other event necessities as an added plus in its appeal for big tournaments.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Kemper Lakes was the No. 1 big tournament site in the Chicago area. Opened in 1979 as a public facility, the course made the world spotlight in 1989 as the site of Payne Stewart’s first major title at that year’s PGA Championship.

Kemper hosted more big events than that one, however. It was the site of Chicago’s annual Champions Tour stop for six years and hosted the Grand Slam of Golf four times. Two big women’s events – the 92nd USGA Women’s Amateur Championship and the 25th U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship – were played there. And, in addition to all those big events, Kemper hosted the Illinois PGA Championship 24 straight years.

The big events disappeared after the LaSalle Bank Open made its debut on the Web.com Tour in 2002. Private investors purchased the Kemper facility the following year, and the Web.com stop was moved to The Glen Club in Glenview for the next six years. It is no longer held.

Kemper, meanwhile, was gradually transformed into a private club. It became fully private on Jan. 1, 2007, and the only non-member event on its annual schedule since then has been the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship.

Now the club and its 285 members hope that will change. The bunker project certainly gave the course a refreshing new look.

Most strikingly different is No. 14 – a short par-4 that once had a 100-yard bunker (the longest bunker in Chicago golf) stretching down the left side of the fairway on the dogleg left. Now that area has several bunkers and another has been added on the right side of the fairway.

The green-side bunkering at the par-5 seventh hole is also markedly different. Water lines the left side of the fairway and a retaining wall had blocked the bunker from both the water and the green. That wall is still there, but you don’t see it. It’s been covered over by turf that runs down into the water.

The sand bunkers on every hole, however, have either been re-constructed, renovated or eliminated to – according to the club’s formal announcement — “bring it to 21st century standards.’’

“For the Chicago golfers and fans who either enjoyed playing the course or attending the previous championships, if we host an event we’d be excited for them to see the course they haven’t seen in over 10 years,’’ said Hosteland. “It’s a dramatic change.’’

And, while Hosteland and Tonne have both declared the course ready for the big time again, work is continuing.

Jacobson is now tackling the tee boxes. He completed a new tee at the super tough par-4 sixteenth hole and will also build new tee boxes at Nos. 9, 13, 15 and 17. The new markers at the 15th will stretch a 578-yard par-5 to 620 yards. The course measures 7,217 yards from the tips now but will be over 7,400 when the new tee boxes are put into play.

Since the big crowds were last on the grounds Kemper’s members remodeled the locker rooms and put plaques commemorating big events of the past on each hole. A contest is now underway to create a name for the three finishing holes, a stretch that is at least arguably the toughest stretch in the Chicago area.

You might think that Carlos Sainz Jr. would be down in the dumps after enduring eight missed cuts, seven of them in a row, to start his rookie season on the PGA Tour. That was certainly not the case, though, as the Elgin golfer approached the midway point of the season.

“I’m excited,’’ said Sainz during his final days of preparation for his tenth PGA Tour event – the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April. “I’ve got to keep things in perspective. It’s just a matter of time before I start playing well again.’’

Sainz earned his PGA Tour privileges with a strong finish in the 2014 Web.com Tour season, and a return to that circuit at the El Bosque Mexico Championship in April did wonders for his confidence. Making eagle on the last hole, Sainz finished in a tie for 27th place, ended his string of missed cuts and shot 68, matching his low round of the year first posted in Round 1 of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am on the big circuit.

“I was really happy about that week in Mexico,’’ said Sainz. “I hadn’t been performing as well as I’d have liked, and it was nice to see my hard work pay off. But that week we played for $600,00 and (at New Orleans) we play for $6 million. Nothing against the Web.com. It’s a great tour, but the PGA Tour is the one I want to play on.’’

That’s understandable, but – unless his success improves quickly on the PGA Tour – Sainz may have to keep bouncing between the circuits. He missed the cut at the Louisiana Open in his only other Web.com tournament of the year in March and was looking forward to his next one – at the United Leasing Championship at Victoria National in Evansville, Ind., the week after New Orleans.

“That course is one of the best on the Web.com Tour,’’ said Sainz. “It was where I played my first Web.com event. It’ll be the third time I’ve played there.’’

What Sainz needs, though, are more showings like he had in his second PGA Tour event – a tie for ninth place in the Sanderson Farms Championship back in November. It earned him $100,000, which was more than he earned in all of 2014 on the Web.com circuit. He was 10 under par in that tournament, played near Mississippi State University where Sainz enjoyed a solid collegiate career before turning pro in 2010.

“It seems like forever ago,’’ admitted Sainz. The string of missed cuts followed –the OHL Classic Mayakoba in Mexico; Sony Open in Hawaii; Humana Challenge, Farmers Insurance Open, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am and Northern Trust Open in California; and the Puerto Rico Open – before his uplifting finish at the Web.com stop in Mexico.

“Playing the West Coast swing was a great experience, but I was sick for two of the tournaments and I also pulled my back,’’ said Sainz. “My allergies popped up at Pebble Beach, then I had a touch of the flu. But these are the things we deal with. Those things happen.’’

Other than the Zurich Classic and United Leasing Championship, Sainz wasn’t sure where he’d be playing the rest of the season.

“It’s hard to tell,’’ he said. “It all depends on who commits to events late, but there’ll be opportunities. I’ll have five to 10 more tournaments on the PGA tour and I’ll play another five to 10 on the Web.com to keep my game sharp.’’

He felt his best chances to get into PGA Tour events would be at the Wells-Fargo Championship, the Byron Nelson Classic, the FedEx St. Jude Classic, the Greenbrier Classic, the John Deere Classic and the Barracuda Championship in Nevada. They’ll all be played before the PGA Championship comes to Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits course in Wisconsin in August.

Sainz is also entered in the U.S. Open and has a pass into sectional qualifying. His life could change in a heartbeat if he plays well in any of those.

“It just takes one great week and a couple of good ones on these tours,’’ said Sainz, who doesn’t turn 30 until November. It’s safe to assume plenty of good tournament are still in the offing.

I guess you can learn something every day. I thought I knew a bit about Donald Ross, the famed golf designer, but I didn’t realize he had designed only one public course in Illinois. That course is Ravisloe in Homewood, which went public when Claude Gendreau purchased the club in 2009.

Cheryl Justak, publisher of Golf Now! Chicago, and I had played Ravisloe during its 107 years as a private club (my lone round there was about 20 years ago). We were duly impressed by our long-planned return visit this week. The course was in great shape, the rough was so thick it was frequently difficult to find your ball and the greens and bunkers were both challenging and fun. The clubhouse was nice, too. All in all, a good experience.

A bit of history, though. Because Ross was such a prolific designer — 413 courses are listed in his portfolio — I just assumed his courses were not unusual in the Chicago area. They aren’t. According to the Donald Ross Society his name is also on Beverly, Bob O’Link, Calumet, Evanston, Exmoor, Hinsdale, Indian Hill, LaGrange, Northmoor, Oak Park, Old Elm and Skokie. All those are private clubs. Only Ravisloe is open to the public.

Ross wasn’t the original designer of many of those courses, including Ravisloe, but he did perform renovations that – in many instances – led to him being declared the course designer. In the case of Ravisloe the club was founded in 1901. The Society says Ross did his renovation in 1915 but the club claims the bulk of the work was from 1917-19 and his fine-tuning continued until 1924.

All that is relatively unimportant, but it is noteworthy that public play is available on a course whose designer also created such famous masterpieces as Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, Oak Hill in New York, Inverness in Ohio, Seminole in Florida, and Interlachen in Minnesota. A course he designed from scratch also now bears his name in French Lick, Ind.

You might guess I’ve been a huge Donald Ross fan for a long, long time. He’s by far my favorite of the old-time architects. Ravisloe, a par-70 that measures only 6,321 yards from the tips, has a bit of a quirky design. Nos. 2 and 3 are both par-5s and Nos. 6 and 7 are both par-3s. I can remember only two courses — in my 60 years playing golf — that had back-to-back par-5s and I can’t recall any that had back-to-back par-3s. There’s nothing wrong with either. It was just different, that’s all.

For reasons that have long escaped me, Tom Bendelow is still not in the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was the course architect that, perhaps more than any other, got golf started in the United States.

That’s especially evident in the Chicago area. Bendelow’s name has been on about 800 courses that were built from, roughly, 1895 to 1930. Most that have survived have been radically altered, among them Medinah’s famous No. 3 course that has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and the 2012 Ryder Cup matches.

Bendelow was the original designer of all three courses on the Medinah property in the 1920s. The No. 1 layout was renovated last year by Michigan architect Tom Doak. More extensive work has been done on No. 3 over the years to prepare that layout for its big tournaments, and Rees Jones was the latest architect to do the work there.

Medinah’s No. 2 course, though, is one of the very, very few unvarnished Bendelow designs anywhere. It was built in 1924 and has been well-maintained – but not altered – since then.

With the Ryder Cup over and Doak’s work well-received on No. 1 – the new model of that course will host this year’s Illinois PGA Championship in August, the club is now focusing on No. 2. It won’t be renovated, though.

The course, little used for non-member play over the years, received somewhat of a last hurrah at this spring’s Medinah Patriot Day. It’ll remain open, as a family course, until late September and then it’ll be closed for over a year for a $3.5 million improvement.

Jones has prepared architectural plans, which didn’t involve the famous architect interjecting his own design style. Now Wadsworth, the long-established golf course construction company, will work with Medinah’s staff, headed by superintendent Curtis Tyrrell, to enhance No. 2. Unlike so many other courses around the country, Medinah doesn’t want to downplay what Bendelow created.

“We’re calling it a modified restoration,’’ said Tyrrell. “This is as true a Tom Bendelow design as you’re going to find. We’ll take some liberties with the tees and bunkers to improve things for today’s game. It’ll be a real thorough project.’’

Before the year is out there’ll be some significant tree removal and storm drainage work done. Things will get more intense next spring when all the greens, tees and bunkers are altered and bentgrass planted. There’s lots to like about what Bendelow created, and that’s to be revived – not replaced.

“The greens have shrunk. Due to some maintenance things they’ve been mowed smaller and lost a lot of their character,’’ said Tyrrell. “They’ve gone from intricate, unique shapes to small circles, and a lot of the bunkers have expanded through edging and weathering. They used to have nice movement to them. Now they’re big ovals. They’ve gotten bigger, and the greens have gotten smaller. And some bunkers have been filled in, and others have been added.’’

Jones sorted all that out through the use of old aerial photographs and other archival materials.

Suffice it to say that when the course re-opens it’ll look different – but more like it did in the Bendelow days.

“The greens will be unique,’’ said Tyrrell. “We won’t worry too much about how many hole locations we can get because the greens will almost double in size, and they’ll take on shapes that aren’t customary these days to what modern architects are building. They’ll take on a whole new flare.’’

Even now those greens still have lots of interesting humps and bumps that are largely missing on the Nos. 1 and 3 courses. Those humps and bumps will only be accentuated, Tyrrell said.

Unlike the other courses, there’s no need to change the routing or length of the holes on No. 2. The course will remain about 6,300 yards from the back tees.

“The course won’t get longer, but it will get shorter for certain levels of handicap players,’’ said Tyrrell. “We’ll be more than doubling the amount of tees. It can play as short as 4,000 yards from the junior tees and there’ll be a (tee) option for everybody.’’

Tree removal is inevitable, though Tyrrell isn’t sure how many will come down and says new ones will be planted in some places.

“What we hope to do is open the course up for people to see the great routing rather than get walled off by rows of trees,’’ said Tyrrell. “It’s going to feel more open, and more of the trees that get taken out will be for agronomical purposes rather than restorative purposes.’’

The course has been frequently referred to as the “ladies’ course,’’ but that was never accurate. It was simply shorter than the other two Medinah layouts and therefore preferable for junior and family play.

“Everybody played it,’’ said Tyrrell, and that will continue after the “modified restoration.’’

And in the final days of its present state the No. 2 course will be readily evident to the area’s most devoted junior golfers. Medinah will host the PGA’s Drive, Chip and Putt regional tournament in September. It will send winners to next spring’s national finals prior to the Masters at Augusta National. The Drive, Chip and Putt event will be held on the driving range that is adjacent to the No. 2 course.

There doesn’t seem to be nearly as many golf charity events as there once was, but the Medinah Patriot Day outing certainly isn’t having any problems. In fact, after six years, it’s growing big-time.

I was among the 140 golfers that participated in Tuesday’s event on Medinah’s No. 2 course. Jim Cornelison highlighted the pre-golf luncheon with his signature rendition of the National Anthem, an experience made even more memorable when done Blackhawk-style in the confines of the club’s ballroom. More money was raised from a spirited auction, one item of which included two paintings.

The golf was delayed twice by rain – once before the round started and once while it was in progress – but the event was still an unqualified success. Mark Slaby, a Medinah member and the event founder, said this latest Medinah Patriot Day will gross over $200,000 to aid military families and that’s up from the $140,000 the event grossed last year.

“For a golf outing that was outstanding,’’ said Slaby. “Our message is being amplified. We sold out (the playing spots) 50 days in advance and I suspect that if you haven’t applied by February next year you’re not going to get in. We’re trying to get people to sign up quick.’’

Slaby had to work through a Ryder Cup on Medinah’s No. 3 course and a Tom Doak renovation that closed the club’s No. 1 course. Next year No. 2 will be closed for a restoration (I’ll be reporting on the particulars in Facebook/lenziehmongolf).

Medinah Patriot Day, though, has awarded 67 scholarships over its first six years and now has a full-time executive director, Michael Ziener.

“We have an opportunity to take the event to another level,’’ said Slaby. “Next year we’ll be back on the No. 1 course and will try to expand to two courses, and by this time next year we’ll be over 100 scholarships.’’