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
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
The Indy 500 is in the books, and congrats to Helio and Team Penske. It is back to golf here at the Brickyard, with a few events here in the next week or so.
A new event here at the Brickyard was completed this week, the Brickyard Crossing Senior Series hosted by Rollie Schroeder, our pro emeritus. This will be a monthly tournament for seniors to compete for prizes. More information on these events can be found at the Web site, www.brickyardseniorgolfseries.com.
The PGA Tour this week is in Texas at the Colonial, the Nationwide is in Raleigh, N.C., where we have couple of players with Brickyard ties competing. Chad Collins is back out on the road as you know if you have read his blog this week, and our old friend Jim Gallagher Jr. also is playing this week. Jim usually comes up for the race but called and said he was playing this week and wanted to stay home and practice. Another Hoosier professional on the Nationwide Tour, Craig Bowden from Bedford, stopped by last week to watch the Indy 500.
Our men’s and ladies’ clubs here at the Brickyard are in full swing with their seasons. The ladies played Wednesday, May 27, and the men have an event Saturday, May 30. If you would like more information on our clubs, visit our Web site at www.brickyardcrossing.com or give us a call at (317) 492-6572, and we will answer any of your questions.
This Monday, I will have the pleasure of playing the new Pete Dye course at French Lick, Ind. I have heard it is amazingly difficult and long. Rumor has it that the course record from the back tees (8,000 yards) is 86. Obviously, I will not be playing the back tees but hope to get a few photos of the views from the back tees.
The U.S. Senior Open qualifier is a month away and I need to find some game. So I need to get out do some practicing and especially do some stretching and walking. So don’t forget to get out hit some balls and play a round here at the Brickyard. Stay tuned for upcoming events and programs here at the Brickyard.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
The golf season finally has arrived here at Brickyard Crossing.
On Tuesday, March 17, we opened for play with a “Pay the Temp” promotion, which meant the air temperature was the price for your greens fee and cart for the round. We ended up being completely booked.
The weather was perfect. Sunny and high 60’s, with a low around 40 degrees. So we started out the season full bore and ended up extending the “Pay the Temp” promotion for the rest of March.
We had some fun with the opener taking place on St. Patrick’s Day. We had the Gordon Pipers here, and we did a little ceremony with Indianapolis 500 veteran A.J. Foyt IV, Nationwide Tour pro Chad Collins, Brickyard Crossing superintendent Jeff Stuart and myself. A.J. and Chad ended up playing, but Jeff and I were too busy to join them.
Congrats to Chad on his 13th-place finish last weekend in New Zealand. He flew in late Monday and came out to help us kick off the 2009 golf season.
In other golf news, Phil Mickelson finally finished one off over the weekend. Now the debate over whether Phil or Tiger will be the favorite at The Masters has heated up, I think I will take Tiger.
Tiger’s last couple of rounds last weekend looked like the old Tiger, but he has made some minor changes that the experts pointed out. His footwork is better, and his swing looks a little different. Speaking of swings, has anyone seen Hank Haney trying to fix former NBA great Charles Barkley’s golf swing on The Golf Channel? Wow – what a undertaking. But Charles is working really hard at fixing it.
Not much else going on. I’m just glad to see some golfers and actually a promising forecast for the next week or so. It felt good to get back in the swing of things here at the course, see some familiar faces and meet some new golfers that had not played the Brickyard before.
That is going to be one of our initiatives this year, introducing golf to people who have never played the game before. I’ll keep you posted on this as the PGA of America has programs in place aimed at increasing the number of golfers.
Until next week, keep stretching for a new swing. Get out to the Brickyard and “Pay the Temp” or visit your local course and hit some balls.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
Brickyard Crossing is set to open St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, March 17 with a “pay the temperature’ fee” greens fee promotion, and it is going great.
In a nutshell, players will pay the air temperature at their arrival time as their greens fee. If the temp is 55, their greens fee is $55, including a GPS-equipped cart.
By the time Tuesday rolls around, we will have close to 150 or more players. The weather forecast calls for lows in the 40’s and highs in the mid-60’s. So there will be a substantial savings for our players here on Tuesday.
We also will run some contests with giveaways, and the clubhouse also will run some traditional Irish food and drink specials. If you want to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, come out to the Brickyard and play our “greens.”
The PGA Tour this week is in Miami for the World Golf Championships, and the rest of the tour is in Puerto Rico. Our own Chad Collins is in New Zealand playing the Nationwide Tour. He made the cut and is 29th after two rounds.
From reading Chad’s blog, I think he is ready to come home and just might show up here at the Brickyard for St. Paddy’s Day.
Down in Puerto Rico, Jim Gallagher Jr. is making his first start of 2009 on the PGA Tour. Jim represented the Brickyard on Tour back in the late 90s and has been a good friend of ours as well as IMS and racing. Jim is nearing 50 and wants to stay competitive for the Champions Tour, as many familiar names will come out for that tour in the next few years.
Last weekend, I got my 15 seconds of fame. I did a really short piece for a segment on “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” and NBC’s “Today” show. (Click here to watch segment.) They shot a little footage of the Brickyard at daybreak as we switched over to Daylight Savings Time last Sunday. They asked about how it has affected our business and how it has affected me personally from a physical standpoint.
Daylight Savings has been good for us since more golfers are using our facility later in the day by practicing or getting in a round before dark. From a physical standpoint, I have not noticed anything different other than we go to work in the dark and go home in the dark, which is part of being a golf professional.
Last Monday and Tuesday, we had our Indiana PGA educational and special awards meeting. I’m happy to report that we were awarded the Section Merchandisers of the Year for the resort category. This is the eighth award we have received and will be the last in that category, as we are no longer a resort due to the closing of the motel this spring.
That’s it for this week. Good luck to all our Indiana pros competing in tour events. Take advantage of an early spring and hit the links Tuesday at the Brickyard.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
Cold weather has slowed business down here for the last week or so but a promising forecast for this weekend should bring some golfers out. Like most courses in our area we have aerated our course. I know all golfers hate this fall ritual but it is one of those necessary evils that we must do so that we can achieve optimum turf conditions next spring. With that being said a lot of courses have dropped their rates for the fall and there are some bargains to be had.
Focus on the PGA tour now is players attempting to keep their cards and stay in the top-125 money list. Fellow Hoosier and Brickyard Crossing blogger Chad Collins is in that mix as he tries to win enough money these last 2 events to jump up to the 125.
Another Hoosier, Jeff Overton, was in the top 125 and playing really well, that is, until he went to Phoenix for the PGA Tour stop and had to have an emergency appendectomy. What a terrible break, as Jeff had played really well this fall and was well on his way to securing his card for the 2009 season. But the main thing is that Jeff recovers and gets well soon.
If you don’t get to the top 125 you then get to try Q-School. It is the most grueling tournament in golf. There are two stages and then the finals where only 25 players get their tour cards for 2009.
Our good friend and former Hoosier Jim Gallagher Jr. is going to give it a try again this fall. Jim is just about as old as I am and wants to stay competitive to give the Champions Tour a chance here in a few years. Speaking of the Champions Tour, Hal Sutton made his senior debut last week. Some interesting players are turning 50 here in the next year.
In a few weeks I head off to San Luis Obispo, Calif., for a tournament hosted by Mike Rowley, president of Straight Down Clothing Company. The tournament is a scratch Pro-Am. My partner is Joe Hillman from Wolf Run Golf Club. This tournament is one of the biggest and best tournaments I play in.
Mike invites about 40 club professionals from around the country and then has 20 or more touring pros from the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour. I have not seen the list of players yet but I know the last few years Tom Lehman, Charley Hoffman and Paul Goydos have competed. When the field is set I will let you know who is playing.
‘Til then get out and play some golf and check out the Brickyard!
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing