Glorious Weather, Glorious Courses, Glorious Golf

Well, I did what I said I’d do this weekend:  I went to the BMW Championship at Dubs Dread (Cog Hill #4) on Friday and the U.S. Senior Amateur Open at Beverly Country Club today.  I had a great time.   

Cog Hill #4 is longer than it used to be and the greens are tougher.  I think more trees are in play and the course has a savannah look.  The east half of the course was literally carved out of the woods whereas the west half might have been farmland 100 years ago.   

It’s obvious Cog Hill is old: mature trees, somewhat compact layout and elevation changes from one side to the other all indicate this course has been around awhile.  There was no noise coming from the street or sky the whole time I was there.  The silence of professional golf is kind of eerie when you live in the city. 

I followed Camillo Villegas for a couple of holes (14 and 15), watched Angel Cabrera while I backtracked to #14 and then repeated this for the next couple of hours.  I limited myself to 13, 14, 15 and 16, but saw a nice range of shots from close to half the field.  Despite the ropes I was able to get pretty close and I brought binoculars, which really helped.   

On the same hole, #15, I saw Jim Furyk and Retief Goosen hit in the fairway bunker, Sean O’Hair have to play a drop and all three bogie the hole, while a few minutes later I was right next to Justin Leonard when he eagled this hole with a 110 yard pitch shot.   

It’s amazing how much Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvie look alike at first glance, and none of the golfers look as big in person as they do on TV.  However, most of these guys are in terrific shape, something TV doesn’t highlight that well in my opinion. 

Trying to follow Tiger Woods was hard, boring and not fun.  I found it much more enjoyable to watch Padraig Harrington and Geoff Ogilvie and followed them to #17 when I finally left.  I easily walked three miles, maybe more, and slept soundly Friday night. 

Today, Sunday, I entered a completely different world at Beverly Country Club.  Beverly is obviously an old, urban course with hundreds of trees and multi-level grasses; no shrubs, no flowers, no borders.  The mile-long layout is only two blocks wide and bounded on all sides by traffic:  Western Ave., 87^th Street, 91^st Street and the Pacific NW railroad.  The elevations are fantastic for a Chicagoland course and trees come into play on every hole. (Something like 600 trees were removed this year to accommodate the event and you’d never know it if you didn’t play there every day.)  The trees muffle the traffic noise enough so that on a few holes you might think you’re playing in Nottingham Forest instead of the south side of Chicago. 

On the front nine, which parallels the recreation area of the Dan Ryan Woods, jazz music started playing out of speakers shortly after I arrived.  People routinely have family reunions or other large gatherings at the Dan Ryan Woods and the jazz was the entertainment for the day.  I imagine these are not the usual playing conditions for the majority of golfers there, most of whom came from outside Illinois. 

There were few bystanders since most of the players’ wives were taking a city tour.  I literally had the course to myself and spent as much time looking at the many varieties of trees as I did golf shots. 

Three of the players came to the Klees Golf Shop on Saturday to get grips or some last minute repairs done.  Charlie was able to talk to two of them and both told him how much they liked the course.  Charlie thinks it’s because most of the older players grew up on tree-filled courses with narrow fairways and Beverly reminds them of their youth. 

The senior amateurs were older, (mostly) heavier and noticeably less skilled than the PGA group. However, they all played so much better than what I’m used to seeing. I actually forgot that golf is hardly ever played this well, and that might be the downside to watching two tournaments in a row.  Oh well.  It’s enough that I know it’s possible.