Chicago Area Golf News

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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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.