News and Views

by Steve Kashul - April 2008

The Golf Scene will be giving away great prizes in 2008. This includes a golf vacation for two to Maui, Hawaii! Get all the information by clicking the tab, “Win Great Prizes”.

This year, we’ll also feature Golf Scene podcasts; providing in-depth coverage of the national and local golf scene, as well as great interviews.

Following one of the harshest winters we’ve ever had here in Chicago, it’s great to see green grass again and the golf season back up and running. While we had large amounts of snowfall during the winter months, one positive is that the snow can act as an insulator for the turf. That is why some courses are bouncing back very nicely. Ice is not good for fairway turf on golf courses, but it seemed as though we went from winter directly into summer with some of these warm April days.

Among the new golf equipment on the market for the 2008 golf season is a wonderful new iron by Wilson Golf called the Ci 7. This is an upgraded version of their popular Ci 6 which made headlines the past few years. The new Ci 7 was recently named the top game improvement iron by Golf Magazine and featured in Golf Magazine’s 2008 Club Test appearing in the May 2008 edition. The new Ci 7 iron by Wilson looks great and performs even better.

Hard to believe that the Chicago area will be hosting just one professional golf tournament this season. This will be the Nationwide Tour’s Bank of America Open which will be contested at The Glen Club in Glenview May 29th – June 1st. The Western Open, now known as the BMW Championship, is being played this year in St. Louis while Cog Hill’s Number Four Course is being rebuilt. It’s my view that we deserve at least 3 of the four major professional tours making stops in Chicago each year. It’s been a while since the LPGA Tour and Champions Tour have played in Chicago. While the Champions Tour has lost a lot of its attraction, the LPGA Tour can be fun to watch and follow. Let’s hope a major sponsor steps up and the LPGA Tour can put Chicago on its schedule again.