It is sad to say, but the golf season here in Indiana is coming to close quickly. We had a brief spell of good weather the last 10 days, but we also had a lot of rain mixed in with a few cold days.
With the golf season over, we look toward 2010 with great anticipation. The economy and weather early on and at the close of the season did us no favors. We had a rather mild summer with temperatures. Speaking of temperatures, we once again will promote “Pay the Temp” at the start of the new season and may bring it back for November. Stay tuned to the Web site for specials and other interesting golf items this fall and winter.
The PGA Tour is in Mississippi this week, and unfortunately the first round has been postponed due to heavy rain. See? Once again, weather is an issue in golf. Jim Gallagher Jr is in the field this week, and we wish him luck.
A couple of Hoosier golfers did really well this year on the Nationwide Tour, Chad Collins and Craig Bowden. Chad finished second on the money list, Craig 22nd. By virtue of their finishes, they both receive PGA TOUR cards for next year. Chad already was locked in for a card, but Craig had to play the round of his life last Sunday at Charleston, S.C., to stay in the top 25 and get his card. You can read about Craig’s last round in his blog he posted Monday.
As for golf in the Midwest, it is time to look at what can be done in the offseason to stay in shape and fine-tune swings. There are a couple of indoor places here in Indianapolis to hit some balls, and there are quite a few places to work out. Try to find some golf-specific workout programs to help you work on flexibility, and then do some toning on the old muscles.
This is a great time to look into putting together some golf trips with your buddies and head out of town to warmer places and get in some golf in the upcoming winter months. I think there will be plenty of deals out there on travel this year.
My annual trip to California is coming up in November to play in the Straight Down Fall Classic in San Luis Obispo. Last year, it was a strong field, with the likes of Fred Couples, Charley Hoffman , Dan Forsman, Jamie Lovemark, Jason Gore and Chez Reavie. The field has not been announced yet, but when it is, I will report on the entrants this year.
I am still hoping for that Indian summer, but we might be running out of time. Speaking of time, we move our clock back a hour here in Indiana this weekend, which means darkness will come that much earlier.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
Cold and dreary weather sums up the last week here in Indy. The weather was a little better over in Columbus where I played at Scioto CC last weekend. The golf course was great and it definitely has the character to hold another major. The format over there was a two best ball of a fivesome at scratch, no handicap.
Of course most of the players were from Ohio and naturally I took a lot of ribbing about IU football. But I did remind them about our Colts and how we were looking forward to Anthony Gonzalez getting back on the field this season. The Colts are off to a good start again and have this week off to rest. Sometimes when they have a bye week some of the players will get in a little golf but the weather has been less than ideal for golf, high 40s and rain has been the norm here since last week.
The IndyCar Series season ended last Saturday evening with Dario Franchitti winning the race at Homestead and also winning the series championship. Congratulations to Dario and to the Target Chip Ganassi Racing Team on a great season. Dario’s teammate Scott Dixon finished second in the championship.
The PGA Tour is in Las Vegas as the players make a run for the top 125 and exemptions for next season. The Nationwide is in Florida with Craig Bowden trying to stay in the top 25 to earn an exemption onto the tour next season. Craig opened with a 1-under-par 71.
Back to Vegas, one of the leaders after the first round is Tom Pernice Jr. Tom just turned 50 here a few weeks back and won his first Champions Tour event and now is in contention to win on the regular tour.
The President’s Cup ended last weekend with the United States team winning in somewhat of a dominant fashion. To start the week off all the media wanted to know was the situation between International Team captain Greg Norman and his wife Chris Everett. It was reported they had separated after 18 months of marriage and Greg had just had surgery on his shoulder. Greg’s response to the questions was very classy and to the point, they were there to play golf and his personal life would not be discussed that week.
After the matches were over there was a little flap over Anthony Kim and his social life the night before the single matches. Kim played Robert Allenby and beat him 5 and 3. Kim was well under par for the match and Allenby said that Kim was out until 4a.m. that morning. Long story short is that they have made up and decided to move on. U.S. captain Fred Couples did a great job of getting this team together and having them play their best golf. Fred definitely needs to be a Ryder Cup captain in the future. Fred had some great assistants with him in Jay Haas and none other than basketball great Michael Jordan.
That is about all that is going on in the golf world and I would like to send a get well wish to our friend Bill Schumaker from Columbia City, Indiana. Bill had heart surgery a week ago and is recovering nicely. Bill is an Indiana Golf Hall of Fame member and has won every possible professional tournament in Indiana along with a PGA National Club Professional Championship.
The weather has got to turn back to at least normal and we still are waiting for that Indian summer we always have here in Indiana. Book a tee time and get out and play some golf before the snow flies.
Fall has definitely set in here in Indy this week, with high temps around 60, cold winds and a chance for some heavy rain. That’s slowed down the golf here at the Brickyard.
Out on Tour, the Presidents Cup begins on Thursday with Fred Couples and Greg Norman as the captains of the U.S. team and International team, respectively. The event is being played at Harding Park in San Francisco. It is a public course and is rated one of the best in the country.
One of our bloggers here, Craig Bowden, at the Brickyard had a good week on the Nationwide Tour and moved into the top 25 on that money list. Craig had a solid tournament and needs to keep playing well to stay in the top 25, which will earn him a spot on the 2010 PGA TOUR. Check out Craig’s blog this week by clicking here.
Another Nationwide Tour player who was blogging for us is Chad Collins. Chad has enjoyed a really successful second half of the year and is guaranteed a spot on the PGA TOUR next year. Congrats to both players as we will have a few more Hoosiers out on Tour next year.
The Brickyard Crossing Men’s Club ended its season last Saturday. We had a little fun that day as the superintendent put some “fun” pin placements out on the course that day. The low score was 79 from the modified white tees. I played that day, and it was “fun.” The pins were in spots where we probably will never see them again. Hats off to Jeff Stuart , our superintendent, and his crew on giving us one of the best-conditioned golf courses all summer.
Even though the temperatures begin to fall this time of year, there still is a lot good golf weather left. It seems like we have been getting some early cool temps and then an Indian summer pops up, with some great 70- and even 80-degree days here in Indiana.
Provided the weather holds out, I am headed over to Columbus, Ohio, to play at Scioto Country Club. They have an event every fall called the Swat. The golf course is rated in the top 100 and was Jack Nicklaus’ home course when he was growing up. I have played there before, and I saw why he was such a great iron player. They have done some renovations to the course that I have not seen, and they are trying to get a major tournament there in the future.
My good friend Bill Stines is the professional at Scioto. He was the assistant there to Walker Inman, who the tournament is named after now. The format is interesting, as every team in the field plays each other a Nassau bet each day. This will be fun, and the course has so much history as it has hosted a U.S. Open, Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Senior Open.
On the racing side of things, tune in at 4 p.m. (ET) Saturday to VERSUS as the season-ending race for the IndyCar Series is at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This should be a great race as three drivers go after the season championship. Good luck to Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti (both with Target Chip Ganassi) and Ryan Briscoe with Team Penske. This will be a great race to watch so tune in Saturday night on VERSUS.
Until next week, root for the U.S. team in the Presidents Cup and don’t put away the clubs just yet. There are still good days to come, and think about booking a trip to go play someplace, like the Brickyard.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing