THE 2017 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S NCAA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS MAY 19-31 AT RICH HARVEST FARMS IN SUGAR GROVE. The Women play from May 19-24 and the Men from May 26-31. Well priced tickets on sale now and parking of course is FREE, so come support your school or Alma-Mater. See NCAA.com/tickets today.           ______________________________________________________________________

THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Editor and Director of Content. Follow Rory to Medinah Country Club, the Illinois Patriot Day Golf Outing on May 30th.

The Medinah Country Club is close to finishing up it’s Course #2 restorations, as the course will reopen for play to the membership in June.

While the historic Tom Bendelow design will now have a modern but classical style to it, it will have something else.

That something else is called  “Golf for Life”, it’s system that lets golfers regardless of their skill level, a theater to improve their game in.

The key to the program is the addition of tee boxes on each hole, so that each hole will now have seven. This gives the club the option to try out various new events and programs.

A look at the new style golf hole on Medinah’s #2 course.

The Golf for Life program was created by Medinah Director of Golf Marty DeAngelo. Each Medinah member can meet with a club professional for a game evaluation, and then start a system that will help them improve.

DeAngelo said his golf staff will work with the membership, and have them start at one tee box. “As students work on their games, there will be recommendations for improvement to the next set of tees will occur.”

Medinah Course #2 has been closed for over a year, to give the course a design that is in touch with today’s game. The project did not change the course routing or topography and total fairway space has increased from 21-34 acres. Some fairways even connect with fairways on other holes, something not seen that much today, but not uncommon during the building of courses during the classic style era of 100 years ago or more.

In recent years Medinah’s other two courses #1 and #3 have both been restored in recent years as part of the clubs ongoing improvements. Course #1 was renovated by architect Tom Doak, and Course #3 by Rees Jones prior to the 2012 Ryder Cup.

The club has been improving other sections of the club as part of it’s 2020 Plan. For more information on the Medinah Country Club, please visit Medinahcc.org.