THE MISTWOOD GOLF DOME-RT. 53 IN BOLINGBROOK is your home to winter golf in the dome. Mistwood has Toptracer golf which allows you to test your swing, learn your yardage numbers, and gather the data you need. But if you need more, how about a club fitting. So you can have the right clubs in your golf bag when outdoor golf returns in 2025. McWethy’s Sports Bar is home to great food and a large choice of beverages. So book a hitting bay now at Mistwoodgolfdome.com or call the dome-(630)-739-7600.
By Rory Spears, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter-X @GogBlogGuy Facebook/LinkedIn/Instagram.
THE WORK HAS STARTED in Arlington Heights.
Nickol Knoll Park on the North Side of Arlington Heights, is home to Payton’s Hill and the Nickol Knoll par-3 golf course. A few years ago the Arlington Heights Park District renovated it’s main 18-hole golf course, Arlington Lakes GC under the eye of architect Mike Benkusky.
So after that successful project brought even more golfers out to Arlington Lakes, Benkusky is back at Nickol Knoll.
But long before Nickol Knoll was a park, it was a landfill used for training by Chicago Bear great, the late Walter Payton. Because early in Payton’s career, Payton was an Arlington Heights resident.
The par-3 third hole at the top of Payton’s Hill, is thought of as the courses “signature hole”.
Payton would park his car on the side street next to the hill, and start running the hill up and down.
Sometimes other athletes would try to run the hill on their own, or with Payton. But they often had little success before tiring out.
What Payton could accomplish on that hill, his hill, others simply could not. Today Nickol Knoll Park remembers Payton both in the golf course clubhouse, on the golf course, and with a monument on the property.
A NEW TEE BOX will go into place on the third hole (L). The plaque honoring Payton sits near the top of the hill.
Benkusky’s masterplan presented to the Arlington Heights Park District, would add improvements and tributes to Payton, who made the hill and the park famous.
THE TEE SHOT from the tips on the third hole (L). The Bears logo now is on all the new Yamaha golf carts at Nickol Knoll.
Recently the Bears and the local Arlington Heights school districts reached a tax deal on the land of the former Arlington Park. Land now owned by the Bears which required a tax agreement, before any Bears stadium could be built.
The Payton Place apartments sit adjacent to that land. So as the work begins on the golf course known as Payton’s Hill. The footprint of the Bears in Arlington Heights is continuing to grow.
NICKOL KNOLL PARK is located on the Northside of Arlington Heights, between Dundee Road and Lake Cook Road. Wilke road to the west and Arlington Hts. road to the east. Architect Mike Benkusky (R in photo) recently served as the national president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA).
Renovation work will continue in 2025. So for more information on Nickol Knoll Park and the Arlington Heights Park District golf facilities and programs, visit AHPD.org.