Clubs and Courses

The boys played White Hawk, Crown Point, IN and Glenwoodie, a local course in Glenwood, IL. The rain has been a positive factor for course conditions for the most part, although rounds are down substantially this season. There are deals for most of the public courses such that even a person on a limited income can play once a week.

White Hawk cost only $29 for 18 holes with an "instant" online coupon for $10. There are four nine hole courses and three of them are in great condition: Red, Black and Gray. The guys played Gray and then Silver, which was needs a lot of work. It obviously gets the least maintenance and suffers from crew abuse. Regular players know about the Silver course and choose to play two of the other three or one of the others twice for 18 holes. Info is available at WHITE HAWK, IN

Glenwoodie is a mature course about 40 minutes from Chicago's southside and the home course for Mount Carmel High School. The guys have played this course many times, but this Tuesday was the last time they will probably play it together for the foreseeable future.

A customer came by the shop today and mentioned he read the blog I wrote about Scottsdale golf. He prefers Florida to Arizona because he owns race horses and his stable is there. He'd just come back from Florida where he has a house in a golf community in Orlando. He's tired of driving and wants me to ship a set of clubs to his Florida address so he won't have to take them on the plane.

Another customer at the counter piped up about how much he loved Florida this time of year, before the heat set in. This guy goes to Orlando at least twice a year where a bunch of his retired friends live and they play 18 to 27 holes of golf every day, usually at a new place. Orlando is his favorite destination because of all the things the wives can do there besides play golf.

I've been to Florida several times, but only to Orlando once for the PGA Show and didn't have enough time to do anything but work. It's a city I want to visit for fun and play some golf.

The song, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" came to my mind several times since the end of March. Chicago weather has been dreadful with a capital "D." All but a handful of days for nearly six weeks were cold and/or wet.

Not surprisingly, many of the golfers who come to our shop left for where the weather was a lot better. And most of those trips were to Arizona -- it is hard to beat that state in general, and Scottsdale in particular, for beautiful weather and great golf this time of year.

Our son, Jack, is graduating May 10 from ASU and Charlie is going to AZ for the graduation. He and Jack are playing golf on Friday and are looking to play one of the many courses in Scottsdale where both the locals and snow birds frequent. There are so many to choose from! A full lineup is at Scottsdale Golf.