THE SCHAUMBURG GOLF CLUB at 401 North Roselle Road is open for year round golf in the clubs three simulators, on the lower level below Chandlers Chophouse. So you can play the Schaumburg Golf Club Course all-year round. The pro shop is now starting to stock up with everything for the summer season ahead. Currently you can get lessons or club fittings in the simulators. Schaumburggolf.com (847)-885-9000.
THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter-X @GogBlogGuy or connect LinkedIn/Facebook/Instagram
RORY SPEARS-OUTSIDE THE TRAILER at “The Keep”, by Bill Bergin and Rees Jones. The early front runner for the 2025 New Course of the Year. In Rising Fawn GA. Where the morning temperature when this photo was taken was 40 degrees.
IT’S OVER…
So just like that the 2025-23 day winter golf trip concludes, in just 19 days.
WHY?
It was an adventure to say the least from Day 1 moving forward. 13 rounds of planned golf turned into just 7, the best temperature for any of those rounds was 57 degrees. In Pinehurst North Carolina of all places during January. Pinehurst got 3 inches of snow just 72 hours after I left town. So I escaped to Florida just in time before things across the South went from okay-to forget it.
BACKING UP it’s never fun loading your car for a golf trip at 5:30 Am when it’s just 3 degrees above zero. But since your headed South, things can only get better right?. That is until you get to Indianapolis and you get out for gas, and it’s now -1. But by the time you arrive in Kentucky, and it’s at least 25. The heat wave had arrived.
THE SHACK at 1717 Chestnut Ave. in Glenview is open all winter golf season long-with seven simulators. Stop in and join Arnie at the bar. So book your time at TheShackGolfClub.com or call (847)-904-2905.
But when your plans require reaching Asheville NC. on Day 1, it sounds good, until Rt. 40 in Tennessee is closed and the detour kicks in to get into Carolina. Because last falls hurricane that flooded Western NC., has left quite a mess to clean up. Problem is part of Interstate 40 near the Tennessee and North Carolina border doesn’t exist anymore, because the road washed away into a mountain ravine. The road months later has not yet reopened and there is no due date for that to happen. The detour into Asheville only takes you 1 hour and 20 minutes out of your way. The fun is just beginning, and it’s only Day 1.
So after a long day of travel your big name hotel has no working internet, or phone in the room, no TV remote and the air conditioning is blowing full blast on cold. It is 38 degrees outside. I’ll say this, every hotel in Asheville is loaded up with dump trucks and repair trucks as the clean up and repairs continue. Good luck to those who live there in getting back on your feet.
AFTER A GREAT PINEHURST STAY-the road takes us to Florida and the late Tom Petty’s town of Gainesville Florida. Where our big name hotel has no working internet again. At least the Firehouse Sub place down the street has really good subs.
THE MISTWOOD GOLF DOME on Rt. 83 in Bolingbrook is open daily until 10 Pm. Toptracer golf, lessons and club fittings. Then enjoy McWethy’s Sports bar for burgers and wings. Mistwoodgolfdome.com or call (630)-739-7600. So put your shoes on and head over to the MGD.
GOLF LEADING INTO the PGA Show is in South Florida, in Myakka City and the new Soleta Golf Club, by Nick Price. It is really good and there is room for some 90 more members at this time. I played as a single in the 54 degree weather, with World #1 Nelly Korda playing as a single behind me. My full feature on Soleta will be out this month.
THE DEMO DAY to open the 2025 PGA Merchandise Show at Orange County National GC, is held in rainy 42 degree weather. So sorry but this is not fun. But there reports of snow at the famed retirement community, “The Villages” only about 30 miles north of Orlando, with the rest of the South not doing any better.
So after the PGA show concluded and I spent a fun weekend in Parrish Florida with friends, it was off to the Innisbrook Resort that is starting to set up for the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship that concludes the Florida swing. The weather is better at Innisbrook, but my coughing bug is back and my energy is running low. As a result one forgets to set an alarm, and sleeps right through the tee-time on Copperhead. UGH!
BUT WHAT I CAN SAY is that the renovated Packard’s restaurant at Copperhead, is really good, and the Toll Brothers project with new homes coming to Innisbrook is well underway. So stay tuned for my Innisbrook feature.
FROM PALM HARBOR TO OCALA Florida and the media partner Len Ziehm’s on Top of the World Studio’s. But Len is still recovering from golf in the rainy cold weather from the Golf Writers outing at Missions Inn. So it’s a quick move on now headed out of Florida.
WITH STOPS on Hilton Head SC, Greensboro GA., and Myrtle Beach SC. having been cancelled for one reason or another, it’s time to venture into Northern Georgia. The town of Helen Georgia is Galena or Long Grove Illinois on steroids and really cool. In the heart of town sits the No.1 candy and chocolate store in the state, Hansel & Gretel’s Candy Factory. Well worth a side venture from golf, for those with a sweet-tooth.
THAT NIGHT in the Northern Suburbs of Atlanta-was night three of issues with the big name hotel chain. So it’s always great to have a third floor room, but as part of the “pardon our mess upgrades” the elevators don’t work and the internet doesn’t work in your room. The lobby yes-but the room-ah no. Who needs a health club, when you have stairwells to run, while carrying suitcases.
BUT THE NEW GOLF DESTINATION in Rising Fawn GA. is McLemore and or Cloudland as it’s called. It sits in the Lookout Mountain area, just south of Chattanooga Tennessee. Now with a second 18 holes-The Keep and short 6-hole course. The 42 holes make McLemore a real golf destination. But don’t try to arrive on a 48 degree day after 2.5 inches of rain has come down and the storm is just about to blow-out. My feature of McLemore is coming soon, along with more from the PGA Show.
GOLF TRAVEL in the winter months can be an adventure, and this year I found just how much. It’s a little earlier than planned, but Home-Sweet-Home, and the internet works.
STAY TUNED for the weeks that were all month long at Golfers on Golf. RS