SCHAUMBURG GOLF CLUB at 401 North Roselle Road in Schaumburg is your home for year round golf. The simulators are open with plenty of Top 100 courses, and a few major championship and Ryder Cup venues. Currently through December 30th the pro shop has a 40% off sale on all apparel. Call the pro shop to reserve simulator tee times at (847)-885-9000, to learn more on the course renovations see Schaumburggolf.com.  _____________________________________________________________________

THE GOG BLOG by Rory Spears, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy, and on Linkedin or Facebook. Teeing of on 18 at White Eagle Country Club in Naperville, home of the 2020 Illinois Open. Photo by Chip Wagner.

THERE ARE ALWAYS GREAT ROUNDS, for many reasons. It’s because of how you played, where you played, who you played with, or a day on the golf course came at good time.

Maybe you played in a charity event, and raised a lot of money for a good cause. Did you help your team win the tournament that day, maybe you won the tournament that day. Did you a hit the shot of a lifetime, a hole-in-one or a Double-Eagle 2, on a par 5. It’s always great to recover with a birdie after you have taken a penalty on a hole, and you holed a recovery shot. Was it your longest drive ever, 300+ yards. All of these shots bring you back for more.

My 19 favorite rounds for 2019 are below, I hope you got in 19 rounds this past year or at least 10. Coming up later this week, My Best 10 rounds of the the tens (this decade) and 20 rounds I’d like to play in 2020.

The par 3, 3rd hole on Innisbrook South Course.

19. Innisbrook FL. South Course. The recently renovated South Course is good, and a fun track golfers of all skill levels can play.

One of the enjoyable things about this round, is that it was 53 degrees when I teed off last January. The starter had on a down jacket, I had a wind-breaker. I was warm he was not.

A friend called from Chicago as I was on the 4th tee, he said it was 22 below temperature wise back home. And here I was out golfing. It’s days like this you enjoy playing even if your score isn’t good.

18. The Donald Ross Course at the French Lick Resort, Ind. I played the Ross while working the Sr. LPGA Championship, my partner was the soon to be Hall of Famer Len Ziehm, in his last round before induction. We had a blast and the Ross Course is a great track.

17. Stonebridge Country Club IL. I had not been there since 2004 when Karrie Webb walked out the door with the trophy from the last Kellogg-Keebler LPGA Tour event. The course has matured, and been renovated by the Fazio group. It looks better than ever and will make a great second course for the 2020 Illinois Open.

16.Rich Harvest Farms-Sugar Grove IL., RHF is a Top 100 course that gets better every year as owner Jerry Rich and his staff make little improvements here and there. I had a great fall round with the colors on the trees out in full force. Of course I finished with a 65 foot birdie putt to cap off a great day. The Men’s Big 10 Conference Championship is here May 1-3 in 2020, can’t wait to see that

15. The Preserve at Oak Meadows in Addison IL., I played the Preserve when it first opened, and again in early 2018. Then I didn’t go back for 16 months. When a course reopens from a major renovation it still takes time to fully grow in. The 16 months made a world of difference at the Preserve, which was really eye-popping last September. The new halfway-house was open and I played well. The DuPage County Forest Preserve District has a winner in the Greg Martin renovation of Oak Meadows. I can’t wait for the new clubhouse to open in late summer of 2020.

14. White Eagle Country Club in Naperville IL., I enjoyed a round here on my birthday with my friend Chip Wagner, who is the clubs historian. I had not played here in 5 years, and since the Todd Quitno-Lohman renovation had been completed. WECC will be a great home for the 2020 Illinois Open, and the course, all 27 holes of it look better than ever.

13.The Glen Club in Glenview IL., played here twice in 2019, once for media day marking the new WGA event on the Korn-Ferry Tour, the Evans Scholars Invitational. Then in the fall for the Kemper Sports Invitational, while I didn’t play great either day, my team won the KSI, and it’s always nice to win a golf tournament.

12.The Warren Course in South Bend Indiana. I played the Warren Course in the final round with my old golf clubs, before the new ones arrived after getting fitted. The Warren Course was used for the 2019 U.S. Sr. Open, won by Steve Stricker. Steve played the course much better than I did, but it was fun seeing one of the first ever Ben Crenshaw & Bill Coore designs, and it’s always fun playing a U.S. Open golf course.

11.The Golf Course at Golden Nugget in Lake Charles LA., it’s one of the best casino courses I have played, and the Korn Ferry Tour arrives in 2020. It was the highlight of the Lake Charles trip, and I would go back and play it again, anytime.

10.The Cradle at Pinehurst NC., Gil Hanse’s design of the Pinehurst Resorts par 3 course is called the most fun 10 acres in golf by some. I can’t agree more. On a 48 degree January day I had the course to myself for a quick 18 holes and 2 laps around this 9 hole track. The speakers are hidden in the prairie grass, and it’s the first time I have ever tee’d off with Led Zeppelin playing in my ears. I hit it 5 feet and made the birdie. This course is fun-fun-fun and a must play.

9.Mid Pines in Southern Pines NC.. It was a trip back 20 years later to the first course I ever played in North Carolina, and with a renovation since completed, Mid Pines is really good. It might not get the most publicity but well worth playing it. Special thanks to Ross Hutchison of the sales department for joining me. We had fun even though it was 38 degrees when we tee’d off, and only 45 when we walked off 18.

8.Tobacco Road Samford NC.. This Mike Strantz design has always been known as a love it or hate it type course. I loved it. I can see 20 years ago where golfers might find it a bit different that what was the norm back then, but if you enjoy Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley, or Streamsong, you will love Tobacco Road. Strantz was just ahead of the times when he created Tobacco Road, too bad he did not live long enough to build a few more courses just like it. Before he lost his fight to cancer.

7. Farm Links AL.. Farm Links is a really good golf course, that leaves you plenty of room to hit the ball. It has two of the best par 3’s ever built on the same golf course with major elevation change involved (thanks Dana Fry). David Purcell and his family have a great resort with top notch hospitality, it could use a second golf course. But Farm Links should be on all golfers bucket list, it’s an Alabama must play. And it was great playing with owner David Purcell.

6. The National Golf Course at Reynolds at Lake Oconee. A great track in the hills of Georgia, and at a resort/development now under the watchful eye of former Medinah head professional Mike Scully, who serves as Reynolds GM. National was a great way to wrap up the winter trip and is one of six courses at Reynolds. The Jack Nicklaus Great Water design at Reynolds has reopened from renovation. Put it on your hit list.

5. Schaumburg Golf Club, only 18 holes are open from the Todd Quitno renovation, but the Players Nine and the Baer Nine are really good, and it leaves you chomping at the bit for the Tournament Nine to open in July or August of 2020. A 27 hole day here at the Schaumburg Golf Club should be on all Chicago area golfers bucket list. Chandlers Chophouse in the clubhouse would round out a perfect day in the summer ahead. I played great here and that only added to my experience at SGC.

4.Ozark National and Top of the Rock at Big Cedar in Sw. Mo. near Branson. Owner Johnny Morris has made Big Cedar one of the best resorts in the Midwest. Top of the Rock is a great par 3 course, and the Coore-Crenshaw design of ON has been named Best New Course for 2019 by multiple publications. And it should be. I played with Assistant Pro and two-time Missouri State Amateur Champion Joey Johnson who was a great tour guide. I birdied 18 with a 22 footer, a great way to walk off.

3.The Lake Course on the Robert Trent Jones Trail AL.. I never thought one of the best courses I would play all year, would be in the middle of Alabama. But it was. The Lake Course is one of two courses at the property. But the Lake gets the nod by a nose. Two island greens and just pretty holes carved out between the trees and some water. You could use the camera on almost every hole, the photo opp’s are that good, but the golf is better. Visit the trail and you will find a Marriott nearby-with a spa. Can’t beat it.

2. Medinah Country Club #3, the course that Justin Thomas destroyed during BMW Championship week is always a great day of golf, regardless of your score. It’s a course where I learned that my recently fitted new clubs weren’t right, Medinah 3 exposed that. New shafts were ordered within 48 hours and things got better the rest of the summer. I hadn’t played #3 in seven years, I won’t make that mistake again.

1. Pinehurst #4, on a day is was 42 when I tee’d off and 52 when I finished. But the sun was out and the company was great for the walk, that came on heels of walking #2 the day before. I was joined by Pinehurst media director Alex Podlogar, and the course #4 superintendent. Gil Hanse did a wonderful job, even though the uphill par 4, 6th hole that plays almost 500 is tough in the cold. Driver-3 wood could not get me home in two. But if you have seen the pictures, and you like what you see, GO !. #4 was used in the U.S. Amateur this year, and you can play this championship course. I have played #4 before Fazio, and after the Fazio renovation, now after the Hanse renovation. It’s never been better. Pinehurst the Cradle or Home of American Golf never lets you down. Courses #4 and #2 share one of the best halfway houses you will ever find.