MISTWOOD GOLF DOME on Rt. 53 in Bolingbrook is open daily until 10 PM. But it’s also the home of McWethy’s Sports Bar and the award winning chicken wings. So you can book your hitting bay online at Mistwoodgolfdome.com or call (630)-739-7600.
THE GOG BLOG BY RORY SPEARS-Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy or connect on LinkedIn or Facebook.
RORY SPEARS on the First Tee at Pine Needles in Southern Pines North Carolina home of the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.
WELCOME TO 2022.
Happy New Year and welcome to golf in 2022. I am ready to tee it off, and will do so before long on my way to the 2022 PGA Merchandise Show at the end of this month in January.
This part of the year is always exciting. Because one never knows what the year in golf will bring. But the 150th edition of the Open Championship at St. Andrews will be exciting, and perhaps the years best major.
The U.S. Open returns to The Country Club in Brookline Mass. and is the clubs first big event since the 2013 U.S. Amateur and or the historic Team USA Ryder Cup win in 1999.
2022 will make the last Presidents Cup on American soil until 2026, when the matches come to Medinah. But late this fall, work is expected to begin on Medinah #3 as the course undergoes a renovation by Australian architecture firm OCM. I said it before and I will say it again, this renovation is the most significant one in the Chicago area in recent years, and maybe over the next few years. If this project brings a U.S. Open here in about 8-9 years, it will be well worth it. Not to mention everyone would love to see another Ryder Cup at Medinah again someday. But that would be closer to the year 2040.
The three simulators are open at the Schaumburg Golf Club at 401 North Roselle Road in Schaumburg. Chandlers Chophouse is open, so is the pro shop for great golf gifts. (847)-885-9000
THIS YEAR there will not be any big golf tournaments here in town, with the BMW off to Delaware.
The only PGA Tour stop in Illinois will the 51st edition of the John Deere Classic in Silvis Illinois (Quad Cities).
But the interesting thing about the JDC, is that it’s dates are week earlier this year. So with the British Open not the week after the JDC, this years field could see some names that normally don’t play there. Stay tuned.
GOLF CLUB NEWS-Titleist has announced the release (coming soon) of the new Vokey SM-9 wedges. The tour professionals will have them this week at Kapalua for the Tournament of Champions. Callaway is launching it’s new line of Rogue Clubs, coming soon. You can get fitted for them at Mistwood starting next week.
BATAVIA BASED TOUR EDGE will have a new line of clubs out, come February. Stay tuned.
I AM CURIOUS what the PGA Merchandise Show will be like this year. The 42,000+ show-goers in recent years, might be closer to 30-32,000 this year. Most of the major equipment companies are not coming. But some might just have a smaller presence.
IN CHICAGO THIS YEAR our tournaments will be highlighted by the Western-Am at Exmoor, and the WGA-Jr. at Naperville CC. The WWGA will have it’s amateur at Sunset Ridge in Northfield and the WWGA-Jr. at Prestwick in the south burbs. 50 years after Nancy Lopez won one of her WWGA-Jr’s there.
THE ILLINOIS OPEN returns to White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville, where it had a very successful staging in 2020. But the other three Illinois PGA majors have not yet been announced. The Illinois State Amateur run by the Chicago District Golf Association (CDGA) will be played at Westmoreland in July. The Illinois Women’s Open returns to Mistwood.
2022 MIGHT JUST BE a great year to enjoy upgraded facilities that are now open. Heritage Oaks in Northbrook will have a full season of being open. The Preserve at Oak Meadows will have it’s new clubhouse open all year. Fox Run in Elk Grove will have it’s new clubhouse open all year. Heritage Bluffs will have it’s new clubhouse open all season. The new practice facility at The Bridges of Popular Creek will have it’s grand Opening in March.
SETTLERS HILL in Batavia will reopen at some point in July. But the new clubhouse there should open in 2023.
THE CHICAGO GOLF SHOW is back at the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont Feb. 25-27. Tickets are on sale. Chicagogolfshow.com.
SO GET READY to Grip-It and Rip it. Those days are coming soon. But they have already started if you were one of the almost 100 golfers who teed it up at the Eskimo Open at Cog Hill this past Sunday. Because the conditions were not exactly what was hoped for.
The Gog Blog returns all week. RS