AUSTIE ROLLINSON CHIEF PUTTER DESIGNER at ODYSSEY Putters shows off the new designs from Odyssey putters/Callaway Golf. Check out Callaway Golf Clubs and Odyssey putters at odysseygolf.com at @Odyssey on Twitter. McQ’s DOME located in Bolingbrook, is the premier golf dome in the Chicagoland area, it’s the winter home of the Mistwood Golf Club professional golf staff. Visit McQsDome.com and get ready for the upcoming outdoor golf season ahead in 2018. While there hit the OTB and the Grill.
CLICK HERE to hear our interview with lead Odyssey Putter designer Austie Rollinson. ______________________________________________________________________
YES HE IS ! It’s Valspar Week at the Innisbrook Resort in Tarpon Springs Florida north of Tampa. The Gog Blog by Rory Spears , follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy and on Linkedin and Facebook.
THE VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP is a fun week on the PGA Tour and players know it, what makes it so much fun is the atmosphere around the Innisbrook Golf Resort, located just North of Tampa Florida in Tarpon Springs.
Adam Hadwin from Canada is this years defending champion, but a solid field has signed up for the 2018 version of the tournament.
Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth lead a solid field onto the Copperhead Course that is loaded with top players this year.
A group of European players headed up by McIlroy and former British Open Champ Henrik Stenson are in the field. Spieth a past champion at Valspar, is tuning up for next months event in Augusta Georgia. One surprising entry is Tiger Woods who normally didn’t play this event, even when he was good. The course might be a little too tight for Woods erratic style off the tee, and so not much is expected from him as he tries to work off the rust in advance of the Masters.
SR. DYLAN MEYER from the University of Illinois earned an exemption to play in the Valspar Championship this week, by winning the 2017 3M Collegiate Challenge while playing for Illinois. Meyer gets to locker next to golfer Rory McIlroy in the clubhouse. The Valspar Trophy sits in the Osprey clubhouse near the front check in desk at Innisbrook.
YOUR ON THE 1ST-tee that is on Copperhead (L) where the rounds begin. Later on the Par 3, 17th hole has the famed Copperhead bush line, and is part of the three closing holes (par’s 4-3-4) that are known as the “Snake Pit”.
Local Illinois professionals Kevin Streelman and Luke Donald are past champions here and will play again this week. They are joined by last weeks winner on the Champions PGA Tour University of Illinois Alum Steve Stricker.
Innisbrook has four courses, Copperhead, the Island Course, the North Course and the South Course. Copperhead was renovated a couple of years ago, and the North Course was done in 2017, this summer the South Course is expected to get the upgrades that the North Course got last year, that were new greens that roll really fast but true, along with some tee and tree work. Might the Island Course get upgrades in 2019, well we have to wait and see on that one.
Innisbrook has great golf schools if your looking to tune up your game, and Packard’s Steak House is a must if your staying on property. At the Osprey Clubhouse no meal is complete without having the award winning Onion Rings, probably the best you will ever have.
So enjoy the Valspar on television this week, and the views of Copperhead, a PGA Tour course you can play. Innisbrook Resort is part of the Salamander Resort Chain, with properties in several states. For more information visit Innisbrookgolfresort.com. The first tee on Copperhead is open as soon the tour pro’s are done on Sunday.