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If you have read past issues of my E Newsletter you have seen that I am doing great at knocking off the places and
things I want to do before I die.
This quarter was no exception. I sang the National Anthem with my church choir at a minor league baseball game in
Joliet. This may sound like a minor accomplishment, but you should try it. It makes you awful proud of your country.
How is your bucket list coming? Let me know about some of the accomplishments you are conquering.
Golfest 2009 Conquers Illinois
By Jim Allen
Just when you think an annual golf trip can't get any better, the group at www.GolfestOnline.com took it to a whole another level this year. With the assistance of Mike Fitzgerald of Golf Exclusives, Golfest 2009 traveled to Illinois in May in our ongoing quest to play the top 100 public golf courses in the United States. The "Land of Lincoln Golf Quest" featured 8 ½ rounds of golf at nine different courses, including six rated in the top 100 by Golf Digest.
Also thrown in was some Chicago flavor - a Cubs game and a final night awards dinner at Ditka's Restaurant. Mix in about 558 miles of quality windshield time, some Advil's, a trip to the emergency room, and the 12 Golfestians experienced a true road show & golf adventure.
The trip started in Glenview, IL with a visit to the Glen Club, which also happens to be the home of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame. The Glen Club is a great facility that is worthy of the designation as the best public course in Illinois. After a brief rest and an E-Train ride downtown, we enjoyed prime seats for a 5-2 Cubs victory over the Pirates at historic Wrigley Field.
Pine Meadow Golf Course and White Deer Run Golf Club were on tap on Thursday, for the first of two back-to-back 36-hole days. Both were conquered in typical Golfest fashion. After inhaling a fair share of carbs at White Deer Run, we negotiated the back roads of Illinois for a three hour drive to Galena. The destination? The scenic Eagle Ridge Resort.
We played the famed General Course at Eagle Ridge in the morning. This venue was absolutely awesome with the course cut beautifully through the local rolling hills. It was very challenging, but what else would you expect from a course called the GENERAL? Our choice for the best golf hole of the 153-hole trip was the par-4 14th at the General. The tee box is 80-yards above the fairway and on a clear day you can see three states. How cool is that?
After a couple hours of enjoying swing lubricants, we played the North Course. Our new-found energy evaporated and scores crept up quickly, something that is expected to happen when you play 72-holes in 36 hours. While the energy is low, entertainment is high.
The best experience of the trip took place on Saturday when we journeyed to Peoria. The heartland of America should be proud of the 37th ranked WeaverRidge Golf Club. Course owner Jerry Weaver rolled out the red carpet for us. Jerry worked the bar crowd like a politician, making us feel very welcome and appreciative of the fact that we came from four different states to visit his facility.
WeaverRidge is a hidden jewel on the Top 100 list. See photo at top of article. It has a lot of personality, not just from a course perspective, but from a people standpoint. You could feel that the associates who were employed there, really liked to work at W-Ridge. Smiles were the norm and good service was definitely on the courses mission statement. WeaverRidge promised great scores for good target golf and the par threes at this course are pretty cool.
At that point, our sites were set on the dinner buffet at Jumers, a huge casino in Moline, Illinois, about 84 miles up the road. In a strange twist of events, Golfest newcomer Mike Barbone didn't quite chew up his steak and it got stuck in his throat. Casino staff rushed to the rescue when he puked on the floor and had trouble breathing. Next thing we know, he was being transported to a local hospital for treatment. He was released a couple of hours later after the meat finally worked its way down his windpipe. Never a dull day on a Golfest trip!
The site of the annual John Deere Classic played host to Sunday's round at the TPC at Deere Run. The good news is that everybody was relaxed and well-rested after sleeping in. The TPC at Deere Run proved to be an ample challenge for us, but seemed to lack some pizzazz. It was a formidable course and a very nice facility, but very few holes really prompted us to pull out our camera. This course, which is very nice in its own right, was designed and destined to be a PGA tour stop and is exactly that.
The trip closed out at Cog Hill, home of the annual BMW Championship. The weather forecast was absolutely correct ... for about one-hole. Or long enough for our group to drop a bundle on waterproof gear in the Dubsdread Pro Shop. However ..., about the time our three groups reached the second hole, everybody was quickly peeling the stuff off because the rain stopped and the humidity rose fast.
The course was in excellent shape, which was a given, since it recently reopened after going through major renovations. The greens were the most unique of the entire trip and provided the feeling you were putting on a 1" thick piece of cork board. Cog Hill had installed a state-of-the-art aeration and moisture removal system called SubAir.
After a quick lunch break, we were prepared to close out our 2009 adventure with a nine-hole best-ball tournament on Cog Hill's No. 3 course. However, in mere minutes, it went from overcast -- to raining cats and dogs, forcing some of us to race back to the restaurant bar. Just as quickly as it started, it ended. Ten-minutes later, the tourney was back in business, less four players who preferred the drier confines and comfortable chairs of the bar lounge.
The 30-minute drive back to downtown Chicago was uneventful as everyone looked forward to hot showers and clean clothes and a 7:30 dinner reservation at Ditka's Restaurant. The fine staff at Ditka's fixed us up with a private room upstairs and we indulged on cocktails, hors d'oeuvre, and an endless supply of great food. We also used the event as an opportunity to pass out our weekly awards.
Collectively, we all agreed that it was another successful Golfest trip. We have officially marked our Illinois scorecards as CONQUERED, leaving Florida for the 2010 edition. Special thanks again go out to Mike Fitzgerald for his hard work in putting this adventure together.
For the complete version of Golfest 2009 - The Land of Lincoln Golf Quest, go to www.GolfestOnline.com. Videos can be found on You Tube by looking up "Golfest 2009 - Illinois."
GOLFEST 2009 - ILLINOIS COURSE RANKINGS:
- WeaverRidge Golf Club
- The Glen Club
- Cog Hill Country Club - Dubsdread
- The General at Eagle Ridge
- The TPC at Deere Run
- White Deer Run Golf Club
- The North Course at Eagle Ridge
- Pine Meadow Golf Course
- Cog Hill Country Club - No. 3
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Golf Exclusives 
