BY: RORY SPEARS, ASSISTANT EDITOR &                      SR. WRITER

It was amazing how many courses opened back up, or had never closed in the first place in spite of the early drop in temperatures this fall. I guess it shows what you can do with no snow and some creativity. As a result, some golfers got out and did take advantage of the conditions.

Inside at the domes. The Buffalo Grove Golf and Sports Dome had a nice “Holiday hit Around” on Saturday afternoon. It was well attended. It was nice to see Wilson Golf among the club equipment companies out there. Several teachers were there helping out with free or discounted instruction. Can’t beat that.

Golf Digest Top 50 Instructor Todd Sones, who makes his home base at the White Deer Run Golf Course in Vernon Hills, is doing a series of Free Clinics at the BG Golf & Sports Dome over the winter. The third one is this Wednesday at 6:30 PM, and it’s called “Why Does the Ball Go Where it Does,” it will help golfers learn about their ball flight and what they can learn about their swing from it.

The Buffalo Grove Golf and Sports Dome, will be hosting Free Clinics by Todd Sones all winter

Last night I had a chance to watch the first run of the winter “Golf Scene” with Steve Kashul. The program will be rerun three more times this month, and a few more in January. The show provides a nice look at several of the area golf domes, and a nice interview with Wilson Golf General Manager Tim Clarke. The show stops in at the Gregg Tengerstrom Golf Academy at Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park. Gregg and partner Joe Copeland are your hosts for the Tinley Park Golf Expo from Feb 6-8 in 2015.

I want to wish the best to a good guy and a great pro as he moves on from Illinois to Colorado. Visanu Tongwarin has decided to leave Mistwood Golf Club and head out west. “V” as he was known, served as tournament director for the Phil Kosin Illinois Women’s Open for several years. He will be missed. Congrats to former Illinois PGA Section Champion Frank Hohenadel, on his promotion and move from Midlothian CC, up to Westmoreland CC. I’m sure Frank will enjoy working for Hans Larson.

From behind the second green at Ballyowen Golf Course, at the Crystal Springs Golf Resort in New Jersey.

If you have not seen it yet, please check out our feature from yesterday on the Northern New Jersey resort of Crystal Springs.

The full service resort doesn’t get much of a mention around the area here and it should, especially for those headed in the direction of New York City. As you can tell from my photo (left), there are some scenic views you would not expect to find in New Jersey. Yes, those are mountains in the background.

The resort has 7, yes 7 golf courses including Ballyowen that is rated the top public course in the state, along with the famed Atlantic City Country Club that is now public. Many of the top golf resorts don’t have seven courses. The don’t have four hotels, and 15 restaurants scattered through out the property. It’s just a quick one hour drive into New York City from the resort, for those of you headed that way. There is skiing and winter activities too, no word yet about a golf dome.

BIG 3 Partner Len Ziehm, has the Ziehm Machine rolling through Florida, he headed over to Orlando yesterday to see the end of the Father-Son event with PGA Tour players and their kids. Visit lenziehmongolf.com for the full wrap up.

With the Father and Son and the Shark Shoot-Out in the books. The Golf Silly Season is over, yes I still call it that. I’m not a big fan of the wrap-around season. Let the players go home and have some down time, so they play a few more events during the heart of the season.

JOHNNY MILLER made some recent remarks during an interview on a variety of topics, but I found one of his comments interesting. In regards to Tiger Woods chase of breaking the Jack Nicklaus record of 18 majors Miller said, “don’t count (Woods) out”. A couple of times in the last few years I have heard Miller say, Woods will never break Jack’s record. One of those times at Harbor Shores, in front of a crowd of some 5,000 golf fans who gave Miller a standing ovation for his comment. All of which brought a smile to the Golden Bear’s face as a he stood there listening.

THE SHARK GREG NORMAN, held court before his tournament the Shark Shootout in Naples Florida, click hear to hear Norman talk about his upcoming work on Fox Sports and more. gnorman_121024_ma

I HEAR that Jill Carlson and Chris Delira, who work on the CDGA TV program that airs on Comcast Sportsnet, have put together a TV piece on their local golf club the Mt. Prospect golf course. Which has been under an architect Dave Esler renovation. Not sure where it is going to be shown quite yet, but when I find out I’ll keep you posted.

I’M SENDING  thoughts of birdies and no bogeys to a few of our local players who are at Q-school for the Web.com tour. Brad Hopfinger, is the low-local in 51st place right now, at 4 under par after 4 rounds.

The Gog Blog returns this week, stay clicked in. RS