The Back Nine: April 2009 Archives

So, how much LPGA golf have you seen this year?
Don't worry if you say "not much" - no one really has. Since the season opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay on Feb. 12-14, the tour has not been on television three times and has been off four times.
That's not including this week's off week.

In all, the LPGA has 12 off weeks sprinkled into its 30-tournament schedule, including two off weeks preceding its marquee event - the Solheim Cup.

It's unreal.

For comparison's sake, the 50+ circuit on the Champions Tour has 15 off weeks during its 26-tournament schedule.

It's unfortunate that that's a good comparison for the premier women's golf tour in the world where most of the players are old enough to be the grand daughters of Champions Tour players.

The Nationwide Tour, the PGA Tour's "developmental tour" has only 9 off weeks in its 29-tournament schedule.

Then, the grand daddy of them all, the PGA Tour, has 49 tournaments in 45 weeks with no off weeks.

On a local note, Winfield native, Wheaton Warrenville South alumnus and PGA Tour pro Kevin Streelman (who often practices out at Black Sheep Golf Club in Sugar Grove) was recently named as one of the "best players on tour" to not have won yet.

Quite an honor for a guy who has just started his second full season on tour.

In today's Front Nine golf page in the Beacon News, I talked about ways to stay around the game even if you're watching your checkbook a little more closely this golf season.

Patrick MacDonald, head pro at Whitetail Ridge Golf Club in Yorkville and Keith Pike of Orchard Valley Golf Club in Aurora both recommended calling your local club to see if they're offering any specials, but also to head to the course to practice.

Use the range and the putting green and get better with the clubs you use the most (wedges and putter) - at least that way you're getting your golf fix as well as improving your short game. Which, when you finally do get out to play 9 or 18 holes, will pay off tremendously.

Here are some quick links to sites that offer discounted tee times:
Golfnow.com
Ezlinks.com
Golfhound.com
Golfus.com
Chicagotetimes.com

And, if you're looking for a couple of great places to customize your equipment, you've got to check out Bettinardi Golf in Tinley Park and the TaylorMade Performance Lab located at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields.

Nick and Ray Muellner spent Monday at Augusta National Golf Club, the famed home of the Masters Tournament.

Nick won the tickets, along with a round of golf at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, by winning a raffle that Blackberry Oaks head professional Chad Johansen put together for golfers who took lessons at the club in 2008.

"It was spectacular, man," Nick said. "I love that place. As soon as I started walking on it I dreamt of me playing it."

Ray added: "He got going in golf eight or ten years earlier in his life than I did, and I believe him when he says he might get a chance to play here. I let him drive the rent-a-car right into Augusta. He's 16 years old and he's driving a car into Augusta's parking lot. Maybe in another year or two we could drive in again."

One element of the course that doesn't translate to television caught the Muellner's off guard though: "When we first got there, we wanted to walk one through 18, tee box to green," Nick said. "But that didn't really work out because that place is long with a lot of really big elevation (changes) so we walked in the middle of a lot of holes, but we got all of them."

And what were some of Ray's favorite moments? - "Tom Watson was putting on the practice green and I said 'Thanks Tom' and he gave me a wry smile. I saw Mike Weir on the 10th green. We saw Ben Crenshaw wandering around a little bit."

There won't be a smiliar raffle in 2009, but Johansen has started the Chad Johansen Golf Academy that includes high school academy, putting studio, group clinics, junior camps and business packages where people can entertain clients at Blackberry Oaks.