BY: RORY SPEARS, EDITOR & DIRECTOR OF CONTENT. FOLLOW RORY ON LINKEDIN, FACEBOOK & TWITTER @GOGBLOGGUY

     Links & Tee’s Golf Dome, Lake Street in Addison, call (630)-233-7275 Ext.4. or visit Addisonparks.org. The Buffalo Grove Golf & Sports Center, will hold it’s Customer Appreciation Day this Saturday Feb. 7th starting at 11 AM. Come by for prizes, raffles, free food, new equipment demonstrations and more. Call (847)-459-2321 or see Bgparks.org.

At the PGA Merchandise Show, Photo by artist Cassy Tully.

The first golf trip of 2015 is in the books, and i raced home yesterday from Pinehurst, a near 14 hour drive only to arrive in Chicago minutes for the snow started falling. I wanted to be home for a superbowl party, that is being hampered by the weather. Maybe I should have stayed in Pinehurst a few more days.

The home of the 2014 U.S. Men’s and Women’s Open has more news, and I’ll be passing it along this week. Including maybe another USGA event for 2019. Stay clicked in.

I did play 9 rounds while gone, and after taking 10 weeks off at the end of 2014 due to cold weather it was good to get back into the swing of things. After arriving in Orlando from Valdosta GA., and hooking up with former Kemper Lakes head professional Bob Spence at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, I marched right to the range at demo day to get fitted (always a good idea) for a new Titleist 915 Driver. I’m impressed with the pop that club has, a few more yards off the tee can’t hurt.

I’ll have more on the PGA merchandise show and products I saw during my time there. More stories coming on the courses and properties I visited afterwards. Calusa Pines GC, in Naples will star in an upcoming chapter of Great Golf on a Cold Day.

I have already written about my visit to the Innisbrook Resort, and the courses at Ocean Hammock Beach Resort, but there will be more coming from those destinations.

After heading out of Florida, I stopped to play two courses on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Both at the relaxing Palmetto Dunes Resort, where I played two of the three championship courses there. The Robert Trent Jones Sr. course and the Arthur Hills course, I wish I would have had time to play the George Fazio course, maybe on another trip.

The final stop was in Pinehurst, where things are not quite back to normal after the U.S. Opens. That’s because progress there is continuing, and Pinehurst has not stopped getting better. Friday I played Pinehurst No.2, and my message for Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, reduce the size of the waste area’s please. I found too many of them, but they do add a look that’s not found on many courses.

When I got up on Saturday morning, it was 24 degrees in Pinehurst and the crews were putting tarps on the greens right after our group putted out on them. When it’s 24 in Pinehurst, you know it’s time to head home.

Upon arriving home it was nice to learn about the renovation coming to Arlington Lakes Golf Course, Kudo’s to my park board for approving it. Mike Benkusky will do a great job on the upgrades.

I’ll be at the Tinley Park Golf Show this Friday, see you there. Much more coming up here this week, now enjoy the game. RS.