Len Ziehm

Harsh Words for Cog Hill Just Don't Ring True

 Frankly, I didn’t like what I was hearing from some of the PGA Tour’s elite players during the BMW Championship at Cog Hill in mid-September. In one form or another, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Luke Donald voiced complaints about the public layout that has hosted Chicago’s PGA Tour stop quite ably for 20 years.

I suspect the tourney will be held elsewhere when it returns to Chicago in 2013, and there are plenty of courses in the northern suburbs that would be appropriate. Perhaps a change in venue will even be refreshing.

For now, though, I choose to applaud Cog Hill and the Jemsek family for all they’ve done for Chicago golf—and not just because they hosted the biggest tournament. And I wish that more PGA Tour players had been heard during the last BMW.

Such as D.A. Points. The University of Illinois graduate from downstate Pekin won his first PGA Tour title at Pebble Beach this year, but he didn’t get a chance to offer his thoughts on Cog until after his final round was over.

“I liked it [at Cog Hill] just fine,” said Points. “I’d be happy to come back to Cog Hill every year.” Points admitted, however, that “maybe that’s not in the cards.”

Points’ only complaint about the Dubsdread course was the bunkering. He thought the bunkers were “real, real, real severe…maybe just a little out of hand.” He went on to say, “Everybody wants to move the tournament to the north side. I just hope they find a course that represents Chicagoland golf, a place that gives a good depiction of what Chicago golf is all about.”

I’m with Points on that.

Too Close to Call

The Illinois PGA’s race for player of the year will be decided in October, and it’s one of the tightest ever contested. The winner probably will be decided during the IPGA Players Championship at Eagle Ridge in Galena on October 3-4.

Two assistant pros, Rick Dukelow of Cantigny and Brian Brown of Naperville, are one-two as of this printing, but a few players a close behind them: Ivanhoe’s Jim Sobb, who has won three major titles in either regular or senior section events this year; Twin Lakes’ Travis Johns, last year’s player of the year; and Glen Oak’s Matt Slowinski, already the IPGA Assistants player of the year and runner-up in the IPGA Championship.

A long shot is Curtis Malm, the former Illinois Open champion who is now an assistant at St. Charles. He’s in his first year of eligibility for award.

They’re Hall-of-Famers

Bob Gardner, a legendary Chicago athlete from long ago, will join two veteran club professionals and a celebrated course superintendent as the honorees when the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame has its induction ceremonies on October 21 at The Glen Club in Glenview.
Steve Benson, who had long stints at Glen Oak and Hillcrest, and Sherm Finger, whose distinguished career was largely at Knollwood, are the club professionals headed for the Hall. The superintendent is Paul Voykin, who spent 47 years at Briarwood.

The Hall of Fame enshrined its first class in 1989, and these latest inductees were chosen by a committee of leaders from the Illinois PGA, Chicago District Golf Association, Western Golf Association, Women’s Western Golf Association, Midwest Golf Course Superintendents Association and Illinois Junior Golf Association. Members of the media and past Hall of Fame honorees also were part of the selection committee.

Gardner might be the least known of the foursome because his era was so long ago. He won the U.S. Amateur at Chicago Golf Club at age 19 in 1909 and was the tourney’s youngest winner until Tiger Woods came along in 1994.

Born in 1890, Gardner was a member at Hinsdale Golf Club, Onwentsia and Old Elm prior to his death in 1956. He also won the U.S. Amateur in 1915, was runner-up in 1916 and 1921 and was the British Amateur runner-up in 1920. In addition, he was a four-time member of the U.S. Walker Cup team.

But Gardner was more than just a great golfer. He also held the world record in the pole vault and was a national doubles champion in squash. As a collegian, he was the captain of both the track and golf teams at Yale. In addition to his competitive accomplishments, Gardner was president of the Chicago District Golf Association from 1924–27 and vice president of the U.S. Golf Association from 1921–25.

No disrespect to any other Hall of Fame members, but very, very few have the credentials for membership that Gardner has.
Change Comes to Cary Courses

When this season started, Cary neighbors Foxford Hills and Chalet Hills were rivals. Now they’re not. GolfVisions is managing them both.

These two layouts are among my favorites in the Chicago area. Foxford Hills, owned by the Cary Park District, has been among the layouts managed by GolfVisions. Chalet Hills went into foreclosure, and GolfVisions boss Tim Miles had to get the District’s permission to manage that course, too. His goal is to preserve the value of Chalet Hills and get it sold, a process that could take at least a year.

Until a transaction is completed, the courses will peacefully coexist while trying to attract players.

What Does This Rating Mean?

I’m not big on the ratings that the various golf magazines produce, though they can make for topics of spirited conversation. The latest Golf Digest ranking of golf cities was a perfect case in point.

Chicago was ranked 22nd overall of the 50 that were ranked, but was No. 1 in both the quality and quantity of its public courses. Forgive me, but I don’t get it.
Good Reading
There have been a number of golf-oriented novels offered over the years, and the recently released The Swinger by Michael Bamberger and Alan Shipnuck is one of the very best. It’s a fun read that is also timely. Its hero is Tree Tremont, and his character is not-so-subtly patterned after Tiger Woods.

Bamberger and Shipnuck paint a very realistic setting for Tree’s episodes, and they should. Bamberger has written on golf before (To the Linksland and His Golfing Life) and Shipnuck coauthored a book with LPGA player Christina Kim and also is the author of The Battle for Augusta National. Both writers are Sports Illustrated veterans.

The Swinger is published by Simon & Schuster/Sports Illustrated. I advise you to give it a look. CG