THE ARROWHEAD GOLF CLUB has 27 holes, a revamped driving range and outstanding 19th or 28th hole for food and beverages. Visit Arrowhead Golf today on Butterfield Road in Wheaton see Arrowheadgolfclub.org for more details. Arrowhead Golf is now home of the Pelican Golf training center. Arlington Lakes Golf Club will reopen for play on Friday July 1st, the course has been renovated and golfers of all levels should enjoy the new look on the course and in the clubhouse where upgrades are being completed. For tee times or more call (847)-577-3030 or online AHPD.org.      _____________________________________________________________________

 The Gog Blog by Rory Spears, Editor and Director of Content, Follow Rory on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy. (L) with the Payne Stewart statue at Pinehurst, (R) the glow of Stewart still flows through the clubhouse at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer. Stewart won his first major title in 1989 when he won the PGA Championship.

A new logo and a new look and Kemper Lakes Golf Club.

EDITORS NOTE : BIG 3 Partner and Daily Herald Golf Writer Len Ziehm and I, toured and played the Kemper Lakes Golf Club this past week as it prepares to host the first Illinois PGA major of the year, the Match play Championship. Here are my observations.

Kemper Lakes Golf Club is at a crossroads. While it is moving forward and looking to the future, it is also remembering where it’s been as it preserves it’s history.

The late Payne Stewart is a big part of that history and it would be wise for the club to make sure they never lose sight of that. While Stewart is so fondly remembered at Pinehurst where he won his third and final major the 1999 U.S. Open, it never seems that his first two majors get much of Stewart’s spotlight. This years Ryder Cup will bring back memories of his first U.S. Open win at Hazeltine, but perhaps as part of Kemper Lakes future, the  club should make a statement about Stewart’s past and his link to the PGA.

One of the great new views at Kemper Lakes is on the approach shot to the Par 5, 15th hole.

In 2024 the USGA will remember Stewart when they take yet another U.S. Open back to Pinehurst No.2, it’s fourth in just 25 years.

The question is, could the PGA make a statement by remembering Stewart in 2024 by awarding Kemper Lakes a PGA Championship, on the 35th anniversary of his PGA win, and the 25th year since his passing.

2024 is on the PGA future site grid for the taking, and it would be nice if Kemper Lakes would be given a shot to take it. The first real test of the improvements made over the last few years at Kemper Lakes by golf architect Rick Jacobson and his team, get put on display next week during the IPGA match play.

In June of 2018 Kemper Lakes will be tested by the LPGA Professionals at the KPMG/PGA Championship. If Lydia Ko and her friends don’t come and shoot five or six under par every day, Kemper will have passed the test, that’s needed to take the next step of a men’s major championship.

The Par 3, 3rd hole at Kemper Lakes.

The club has taken the next step of improving it’s golf course. The new bunker designs are much better than the old ones, and the new tee program is not yet completely done, and the yardage not yet on the scorecard is more than a wee-bit over 7,000.

But it doesn’t have to stop there, there is plenty of room to add on in places, that in the past weren’t places golfers even noticed during their rounds at Kemper Lakes. The yardage number is not limited at Kemper Lakes. Something else that is not limited seems to be parking, and it’s right there by the golf course. When it comes to onsite parking, Kemper Lakes is the Northside’s answer to what Cog Hill has on the Southside.

The Par 4, 9th hole at Kemper Lakes, is now longer with new tee boxes.

But the new bunkers, tee’s and minor tree removal program have given Kemper Lakes a more powerful look.

That look starts long before the Par 4 16th hole, but it’s at 16 where golfers of all skill levels hang on for dear life. Chicago doesn’t have a course with a tougher final three-holes, than Kemper Lakes.

The last three holes have so much character and water, that anything can happen and usually does. Just ask Mike “Radar” Reid about the last three holes at Kemper Lakes. Word is that he will just walk away, as he chooses not to remember them or his near miss at winning one of golfs major championships.

Kemper Lakes is looking at coming up with a name for it’s final three holes, something that plays like the Bear Trap or Snake Pit that currently reside on two of Florida’s PGA Tour courses. No word yet if “Payne’s Ponds” or “Lakes of Payne” or “Payne of Lakes” located not far from the famed “Chain of Lakes” have a chance to be crowned the winner.

No matter what the name turns out to be, one of these days when Kerry Haigh the PGA’s tournament set up guy returns to view the course, he will realize it’s not the Kemper Lakes that the PGA saw in 1989. The new double-chute par 3, 13th hole, now has the length and the direction to create a full stadium like par 3, like the one that’s a big party when the PGA Tour visits Phoenix every February.

The logo is now different as of this year, new are the three ripples that stand for the three ponds on the last three holes. Gone are the bird’s who used to drop things behind them. There is no longer a “dropping” problem at Kemper Lakes.

Kemper Lakes clubhouse, behind “the tree”. Photo by Len Ziehm.

If there is one thing you might like to see more of, it’s the clubhouse.

There is a question about a big old tree that looms over the front door. It’s a place where in my opinion that next Payne Stewart statue needs to go. Still holding and hugging the famed Wanamaker trophy close to his chest.

The clubhouse is another question. What to do with a clubhouse that looks outstanding on the inside, and is starting to show it’s age on the outside. Rebuilding clubhouses from scratch isn’t cheap, but might the announcement of a PGA coming in 2024, give the club enough incentive and money to rebuild. One tour pro in 1989 compared the clubhouse to one of those state welcome centers you see on the interstate.

A few years after Stewart won his PGA at Kemper Lakes, a former Chicago Bears coach once said, “all the pieces are in place.”

Well all the pieces might not be quite in place at Kemper Lakes, but they are coming together. When they are finished, Chicago will have another course that is capable of handling major championships and anything else the professional golf world can throw at it.