Chicago Area Golf News

April 8, 2025
Hank Haney opens golf studio in Deerfield
Ed Sherman, Chicago Tribune

This week finds Haney, 69, far away from golf’s most intense spotlight in Augusta. He’s teaching at the new Hank Haney Golf Studio in Deerfield, just a mile or so from his boyhood home. Instead of working with the best of the best, Haney now instructs amateur players of all ages and abilities, ranging from low handicappers to the dreamer who just wants to break 90.

The latest chapter in Haney’s life has been an unlikely twist. He is back living in his hometown for the first time in more than 40 years, teaching a similar level of players as when he broke in as a young professional at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park.

March 25, 2025
Chicago news helicopter makes emergency landing on golf course

• Learn more about Wing Park Golf Course

Adam Harrington, CBS Chicago

NBC 5 Chicago said a cockpit warning light came on in the station's helicopter, indicating an engine problem. Elgin Fire Chief Rob Cagann said the engine problem specifically involved overheated oil temperature.

The pilot of the Sky 5 chopper made a precautionary landing at the Wing Park golf course.

"They were able to find Wing Park here to be able to put it down safely without any incident," said Cagann.

March 18, 2025
Chicago Park District renews Troon golf course management contract
Wire report, Golf Wire

Troon is pleased to announce a 10-year management agreement renewal with the Chicago Park District to manage the City of Chicago’s eight golf facilities. Indigo Sports, a Troon company, will continue to operate and maintain Chicago’s six golf courses, three driving ranges and one miniature golf course, while providing outstanding guest service and innovative golf programs focused on increasing engagement of underrepresented communities.

March 11, 2025
Tourist helicopter lands on Jackson Park Golf Course after mechanical problem

• Learn more about Jackson Park Golf Course

Tre Ward, ABC 7 Chicago

A helicopter with a mechanical problem landed on a South Side golf course Monday night, Chicago Fire Department officials said.

CFD said in a post on X just before 6:30 p.m. that the helicopter landed on Jackson Park Golf Course in the 6200-block of South Richards Drive, near the first hole.

People were left shocked at the golf course after watching the helicopter lower from the sky, as the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing.

March 4, 2025
Gun arrests outside Naperville Topgolf resume with three busts in four weeks
Tess Kenny, Naperville Sun

After a few months of quiet, gun-related arrests at the Topgolf in Naperville have started up again, with police apprehending three suspects in the past month on firearm charges in and near the facility’s parking lot.

Arrests occurred Feb.1, Feb. 11 and March 1, which was this past Saturday. Prior to February, the last gun-related arrest outside the 3211 Odyssey Court venue was in late October, according to Naperville police spokeswoman Kelley Munch.

March 4, 2025
Winnetka Golf Club earns Green to a Tee Award

• Learn more about Winnetka Golf Club

Staff report, Golf Course Industry

Illinois’ Winnetka Golf Club was recognized with the Green to a Tee Award at the recent KemperSports Leadership Conference banquet, celebrating its commitment to environmental sustainability. In a historic achievement, Winnetka Golf Club became the first facility in the history of KemperSports to complete all four levels of Green to a Tee certification in a single year, including earning Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Certification.

March 3, 2025
Golfers can once again hit the links at Wrigley Field this spring
Staff report, NBC5 Chicago

Chicago Cubs fans can experience Wrigley Field in a unique way this spring as Upper Deck Golf returns to the Friendly Confines.

According to the Cubs, a nine-hole course will return to Wrigley Field in mid-April, giving golfers a chance to hit shots at a variety of targets around the ballpark.

“We are excited to host Upper Deck Golf at Wrigley Field during golf’s biggest weekend,” said Andy Blackburn of Wrigley Field Events. “We look forward to celebrating with some unique Cubs Golf apparel, fun activations and viewing opportunities.”

March 3, 2025
Top 25 Public Golf Courses in IL - Golfers' Choice 2025
Jason Scott Deegan, Brooke Taylor, GolfPass

The best public golf courses of Illinois stretch from Chicagoland to the Quad Cities and down to the state's southern border.

GolfPass releases a Top 25 Public Golf Courses in Illinois every year thanks to YOU. We create our annual Golfers' Choice lists by curating the reviews submitted by everyday golfers. We use GolfPass' Ratings Index logic that weights newer reviews and combine it with a course's subcategory averages.

February 27, 2025
40th annual Chicago Golf Show returns to Rosemont
Tony Smith, ABC 7 Chicago

Ready to swing into action? This weekend, the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont is hosting the 40th annual Chicago Golf Association event. The event is presented by the Chicago District Golf Association, will be open to the public Friday through Sunday at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Mike Gilligan, with the Chicago District Golf Association stopped by ABC 7 Eyewitness News to discuss the golf galore event.

February 24, 2025
Zinkand Golf Design completes restoration of Chicagoland's venerable Old Elm Club
Staff Report, First Call

Zinkand Golf Design, led by golf course architect David Zinkand and his more than 25 years of experience designing, managing and shaping projects in the field – has completed a multi-year bunker and greens restoration project at suburban Chicago’s Old Elm Club.

Thanks to the course’s one-of-a-kind design pedigree, the engagement represented a unique opportunity for ZGD and its principal designer, David Zinkand. Harry S. Colt routed the golf course in 1913 during one of his rare visits to the United States. Donald Ross then led the construction, including its greens, during his absence. Together, these two legends of the “Golden Age” of golf course architecture are credited with 16 designs among GOLF Magazine’s 2023-24 Top 100 Courses in the World. Yet Old Elm, recently ranked among GOLF Magazine’s 2024-25 Top 100 Courses in the U.S., represents the only project where the two men crossed paths.

February 22, 2025
DuPage Forest Preserves’ director of golf lauded as PGA Executive of the Year

• Learn more about The Preserve at Oak Meadows

Steve Metsch, Chicago Tribune

Ed Stevenson, 52, who resides in Wood Dale, is being honored statewide for his contributions to golf.

Now director of golf for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Stevenson has been named PGA Golf Executive of the Year 2024 by the Illinois PGA. It’s “one of the highest honors the Illinois PGA can bestow,” according to a description posted by the organization, adding that “candidates must possess outstanding qualities of leadership, vision, courage, strong moral character, and a substantial record of service to … the game of golf.”

February 21, 2025
Big things on tap at next weekend’s Chicago Golf Show in Rosemont
Len Ziehm, Daily Herald

The Chicago Golf Show, the unofficial start to the Chicago golf season, kicks off its 40th anniversary season on Feb. 28 at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.

Hank Haney, longtime swing coach for Tiger Woods, will appear on the Daily Herald Main Stage on the last two days (March 1-2) of the show. This year’s show will have a notable new feature — free club fitting courtesy of Aurora-based Matt Pekarek. He’s among the Top 100 Club Fitters selected by Golf Digest and is Nippon Shaft’s Aftermath Director for North and South America.

February 13, 2025
World's first golf course built in a dome expected to begin construction in 2025
Tim Gavrich, Golfpass

The golf-mad Midwest is reportedly set to take the golf dome concept to a new level. According to WSPY News, a project called Megalodome is under development for the village of Oswego, Ill., located in the western suburbs of Chicago, just south of the town of Aurora.

The Megalodome plan features not one but four gigantic inflatable domes that will sit side-by-side. Whereas many golf domes are barely 100 yards from end to end, Megalodome's individual domes will be 300 feet wide and 900 feet long, rising as much as 115 feet high in the middle.

February 13, 2025
Winnetka Golf Club's stormwater solution

• Learn more about Winnetka Golf Club

Andrew Hartsock, GCM Online

Like so many golf courses across the country, Winnetka (Ill.) Golf Club had a water problem. Unlike so many, its problem was too much of it.

“I reviewed some of the numbers,” says Andrew Garner, Winnetka GC’s director of agronomy and nine-year GCSAA member, “and the golf course would be open for half of a playable season because of too much rain. One inch of rain would have the golf course closed for maybe a week. They didn’t have continuous cart paths, and the golf course is in a low-lying area, so it wouldn’t dry out very quickly. It made it tough for maintenance.”

February 12, 2025
The Midwest golf company that’s changing the game in Sycamore, Illinois
Kaitlin Sharkey, Yahoo Sports

Sixty miles west of Chicago and centered on Route 64, Sycamore, Illinois is home to Sub 70, a golf company leading with a Midwest approach.

“I grew up in Hinkley, Illinois—still live in Sycamore. It’s in your soul so, it’s impossible to not have that Midwest angle of how we present the brand because we try to be real and authentic,” said Jason Hiland, founder and owner of Sub 70. “If you’re a Midwest golf company, it’s like, well that’s our brand. That’s kind of the sense we get when people come and visit us.”

February 5, 2025
Northmoor to install 130-foot-tall netting to contain errant golf balls
Joseph States, Lake County News-Sun

A Highland Park golf club will install new netting the height of Chicago’s first skyscrapers because of an ongoing issue of errant golf balls landing on school property across the street.

According to city documents, the Northmoor Country Club installed 70-foot-tall safety nets at its driving range in 2006. While those nets may seem towering in person, the club is aware that “from time to time” golf balls hit on the range travel beyond the netting, across Edgewood Road and end up on the property of Edgewood Middle School.

January 27, 2025
Barrington golf academy expands
Staff report, Daily Herald

Barrington-based Northwest Golf Academy and Performance Center recently expanded adding two new Trackman digital teaching and practice bays in an adjacent space.

The 6,000-square-foot center, which opened last summer, now has six fully-equipped practice bays and a putting green at 756 W. Northwest Hwy.

January 24, 2025
Coyote Run sets record number of golf rounds

• Learn more about Coyote Run Golf Course

Staff report, HF Chronicle

The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District’s Coyote Run Golf Course in Flossmoor set a record in 2024 with 40,261 rounds of golf played. That is a 6.4% increase over 2023, according to Tom Denklau, course manager.

The golf season stretched from Feb. 3 to Dec. 30. Denklau said the course was open 333 days in 2024. The opening day for the 2025 season will be weather dependent.

January 22, 2025
Schaumburg Park District director named PGA golf executive of the year

• Learn more about Schaumburg Golf Club

Staff report, Daily Herald

Schaumburg Park District Executive Director Tony LaFrenere has been named the 2025 PGA of America Golf Executive of the Year.

The honor recognizes outstanding services in an executive management position, as well as leadership, vision, courage, moral character and a substantial record of service to the association and the game of golf.

December 27, 2024
Golf Course Manager KemperSports Seeking New Capital, Sale Discussed
Scott Soshnick, Brendan Coffey, Sportico

KemperSports, the fifth-largest golf course management company in the country, has discussed the possibility of a sale to private equity and is seeking to raise fresh capital, Sportico has learned.

Since its founding in 1978, KemperSports has been owned by Steve Lesnik and the family of co-founder James Kemper Jr., who died in 2002. James Kemper Jr. was well-known in the golf world for his insurance company’s sponsorship of the Kemper Open, a longtime event on both the LPGA and PGA Tours. The KemperSports business had been self-funded until the owners sold equity to three outside investors in 2022. Only one of those investors was publicly disclosed, private equity firm LNC Partners, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.