BLACKBERRY OAKS GM and head golf professional Chad Johansen holds the Blackberry Amateur Trophy, this years Blackberry Amateur will be played on June 23-24 at Blackberry Oaks, this year lets Fill the Field with 120 players. To sign up for the event sponsored by Wilson Golf  see Blackberryamateur.com or please call (630)-553-7170. THE MISTWOOD GOLF CLUB is hosting to women’s golf tournaments, but there are plenty of tee times left for you. See Mistwoodgc.com or call (630)-254-3333 for details.   _____________________________________________________________________

Golfersongolf.com by Rory Spears, Director of Content and Creation. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy, and Linkedin and Facebook, On the Sandbox at Sand Valley GC, Wisconsin

THERE IS NEWS ON THE GOLF COURSE FRONT, and it’s good news to the ears of most golfers. First on the tee box is that the Preserve at Oak Meadows new look has it winning awards from national golf publications and other organizations. renovation of the year by Golf Magazine is the latest award.

The Schaumburg Golf Club is getting close to reopening the first nine that is under construction, and start work on the second nine of the three year project in July, that will encompass all three nines.

In the private sector the North Shore Country Club gets ready to reopen from it’s restoration of the Colt-Alison design. Early in August the Sunset Valley Golf Course in Highland Park will restarts from the renovation it has spent the last year undergoing.

THIS PAST WEEK Olympia Fields lost one champion when Carol Mann passed away, then the club hired another when they brought in architect Keith Foster to redo both their North and South Courses.

The Par 4, 3rd hole on the Olympia Fields North Course.

The question is already being raised as to why? But there have been a few people I have spoke with over the last year who were not “wow’d” by Olympia Fields. Including a few rating panelists from national publications.

Foster however is the kind of architect that brings a wow factor to his restoration projects. You could say he is the leading architect in the classic course restoration and renovation industry. Foster beat out some of the heavy hitters in the industry in landing the Olympia Fields project. His work at places like the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Eastward Ho, TPC Old White at the Greenbrier, Orchard Lake and Knollwood has really put him on the map. His first two big renovation projects that included Southern Hills and Colonial were winners.

The real question is what’s in this for Olympia Fields. Word on the street is that Olympia Fields could use a few more members, but that’s what most private clubs need. Is Olympia in need of another big tournament that they could make some money off of, sure, many of the big clubs are looking for that. But what’s out there that could bring bucks to the south side and OFCC. The long term agreement that OFCC signed with the PGA of America, seems worthless now, with the schedule change coming in 2019.

While Olympia could host another KPMG or a Ryder Cup in 2036 based on the calendar, 2036 might be too long of a wait for what the club wants to do now, It will be interesting to see what Olympia Fields can attract when Foster wraps up his restoration work on both courses. The first thing will likely be a pile of new members.

CALUMET COUNTRY CLUB could be a south side casualty of progress. There is no secret the club has been for sale for a while. But what’s interesting is who the top buyers on the table are. They are rumored to be two package distribution companies looking to build new centers for their trucks, and not to play golf even though one company is tied to the PGA Tour’s Playoffs. The other is asking, “what can Brown do for Youre

IN THE NORTH BURBS, there is the Lake Bluff Park District asking donors to come up with $265,000 to remain open in 2019. Seriously, that’s sad. But maybe there are some 50 people who can write checks for about $5,000 a piece to help keep things running. Lake Bluff needs an architect who can come in and renovate the course, so it makes money Doing nothing at Lake Bluff will make that course continue to lose money

SPORTSMAN’S COUNTRY CLUB in Northbrook will get a full renovation from the hands of golf course architect Greg Martin and clubhouse specialist Dan Wohlfeil. The work should begin late summer in 2019. This will be another winner when it gets done.

Greg Martin joins Golfers on Golf Radio tomorrow morning on Am 750 WNDZ as a guest host, from 10-11 AM. Please join us.

Yes the courses are changing, who is next. RS