(6/8/09 ... Written by Jim Allen) ... After examining a United States map and our Top 100 Public Golf Course peg boards, it appears that our annual quest is running low of  "clusters" of top rated courses in any one tight geographical region.  It must be a sign that Golfest is getting a little history and experience under its belt.  Five years worth of trips have already brought us to outstanding golfing destinations such as Pebble & Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst, Bandon Dunes, and the state of Michigan.  With that in mind, it pretty much narrowed down our 2009 trip selection to either Illinois or Florida. 

     With Illinois featuring six top ranked golf venues, it became the inspiration for the "Land of Lincoln Golf Quest."  This trip featured 8 1/2 rounds of golf at nine different courses and 558 miles of quality windshield time between May 26th and June 2nd.  The great city of Chicago provided the cornerstone for the 2009 roadshow, which also incorporated a Cubs game, and a final night dinner at Ditka's in downtown.  It seems like the whole thing just flew by and in fact ... it did.  For those of you at home who may have missed it, let's hit the rewind button for a quick recap of GOLFEST 2009!

    5/26 - GOLFEST 2009 - Travel Day:  ... Chicago's Midway and O'Hare International airports were the flight destinations for the Golfest 2009 crew.  Our three foursomes represented the states of California, Indiana, Texas, and Utah. The one-hour drive to Glenview, a burb on the Northeast side of Chicago, was treated with awe as we viewed the impressive skyline in the distance.  Not only by the dominating sight of the Sears Tower, but also by the rain that was pelting our windshield.  Most of us stopped on the way to the hotel to load up on the basic staples:  Red Bull, Grey Goose, beer, bottled water and snacks.  After all, we are professionals!

     Most of us had been making daily visits to the weather icon on the Golfest website prior to the trip.  This was kind of ironic because this years venture was moved back three weeks to accommodate nothing but good weather.  While the forecast was of the wet variety, most of us were cool with it either way, because the temperature were expected to hover in the 65-70 degree range.  Friday's Restaurant, which was located just a hop, a splash and a car dodge across the wet and busy road from our hotel, served as our weather and golf strategy center.  After all, most great ideas and strategies are developed with a full stomach and Vodka-cranberries (that's our story and we are sticking to it.)  We were joined by Mike Fitzgerald of Golf Exclusives, who assisted in putting this journey together.  Mike lives about 25 minutes up the road.  He kicked in $200 in additional prize money for the final night awards dinner at Ditka's.  This trip just keeps getting better.  Our first tee time at the Glen Club tomorrow morning is at 7:00 a.m.  For California's Golfestians, the two-hour time difference meant a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call, so this wasn't going to be a late night affair.


     5/27 - The Glen Club ... The Glen Club lived up to its Top 100 golf course reputation by hosting a great
Golfest 2009 opener.  Considering that mother-nature dumped more than 2" of torrential rain on this awesome 18-hole layout throughout the night, the course was in surprisingly great condition.  The good new for us?  It wasn't raining now.  Even being wet, the Glen Club greens were scary quick, which had many of us comparing them to the famous greens at Pinehurst.  Bonus points were given to the course crew who wasted no time pumping water out of bunkers and making the course playable again.

     The staff at the Glen Club, which is also home of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, represented a breath of fresh air in the service category. They obviously take a lot of pride in their clubhouse, amenities, and course.  The service was very good, the driving range rocks, and the pro shop was extremely helpful.  As an added feature, they set us up with a Golfest-exclusive leader board in our GPS carts.  It kept things interesting as we kept track of the "more successful than others" and the "low score-challenged" on this overcast, but rain-free day.

     Mark Suzda was on top of the board most of day, scorching his card with a 77, despite agonizing through three double-bogeys.  Mike Rittner and Bob Potts also shot lights out, with a 78 and 79 respectively.  It was Rittner's first ever round in the 70's.  Some of these boys came to play some real golf.  Closest to the pin honors and prizes went to Todd Baltzley and Mark Suzda.  Mark Pickering earned a King Cobra hybrid club for his long drive on the picturesque 18th hole.  Reed Conley had the best value per swing, battering it around in 115 strokes.

     Afterwords, our group took the E-Train to downtown Chicago to visit the historic Wrigley Field.  The train experience allowed us to kick back and experience the locals and the parts of Chicago not normally shown on a tourist brochure.  Nothing bad - just "real world" big city living stuff.  We arrived about the third inning and the Cubs went on to beat the Pirates 5-2 before a very enthusiastic crowd. It was overcast and the Chicago fans provided two standing ovations when the sun burned through the clouds for a few brief moments.  Despite the lack of World Series banners, Cub's fans love their team.
 
     Dinner came in the form of Chicago's famous deep-dish pizza.  We picked a little hole in the wall place in a strip mall up the street and it turned out to be a good choice.  The restaurant got mighty quiet when the food arrived, as it attacked by 12 starving golfers.  Everybody is winding down quickly in anticipation of our busy day on Thursday.  It includes 36-holes of golf and 150-miles of windshield time. ...


     5/28- Pine Meadow Golf Course & White Deer Run Golf Club ...  It was time to get serious about our golf game and endurance tactics.  On tap was the sister-course of the famed Cog Hill -- the 51st ranked Pine Meadow -- and local and unranked favorite White Deer Run.

     Pine Meadows appeared to be a little tired for our visit, missing that "over the top" edge that separates Top 100 facilities from regular golf establishments.  First off, the practice range was closed.  Who closes a practice range on a Thursday morning -- or for that matter -- ever?  

     As far as course conditions go, just about every ball hit into a bunker had to be fished out of standing water. The rest of the bunker was packed so tight that it required a club bending chip just to get out.  In addition, some of the greens were pock marked, which was disappointing.  To give credit where it's due, the back nine at Pine Meadow has a lot of personality.  We still had a pretty good time. The pro shop featured a large selection of merchandise, and Mark Suzda was like a woman in Nordstroms when he saw the Chicago Bears logoed golf shoes.  A quick $120 investment later and Mark was sporting new dawgs sporting his favorite team ... DA' BEARS!

     The game of the day was SNAKE, which inflicted a financial penalty on three-putting.  Everytime someone three putted, they owned the snake and the penalty doubled.  Three-foot putts on 17 and 18 were knee knockers.  Afterwards, we loaded up and drove three-miles down the road to White Deer Run for our first tournament of the week.  This was a very nice facility that just celebrated its 10-year anniversary and featured a very friendly and courteous staff. ... (MORE) ...