On the Tee

Even as he approaches 80, Arnold Palmer retains a youthful vigor and passion for the game of golf that you’d expect to find in a man just beginning his journey as a touring professional.

So it makes you wonder how phenomenal a golf venue must be in order to further awaken an old soul like Palmer’s and create a renewed enthusiasm within a living legend for a game he’s built his life around; a game that’s been the beneficiary of his greatness, undeniable charm and grace under fire. 

The period of Ravisloe Country Club’s existence spans more than a century, 108 years to be precise. To put that into perspective, consider that one of America’s oldest 18-hole golf courses, Wheaton’s Chicago Golf Club, preceded Ravisloe by only six years.

And following the opening of Ravisloe Country Club in 1901, another six years elapsed before the Cubs won the first of back-toback World Series Championships. Obviously, some traditions weren’t supposed to reach the century mark. 

ORLANDO – The golf course maintenance project which began this spring at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge continues on schedule, with the course looking to fully re-open this October.

In May, Bay Hill began refurbishment work on its Championship Course, resulting in temporary closure of that course over the summer. While the primary focus of the project is to re-grass the greens, other key elements include the addition of a few more runoff areas and the elimination of some unnecessary bunkers in exchange for new sand traps which will be more visible from the tee areas. 

INDIANAPOLIS - Golfers can become rather irascible when confronting the creations of legendary golf course architect Pete Dye, cursing their luck upon finding a ball buried in one of his pot bunkers or flipping a club after watching a shot splash land in the moat surrounding No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass.

But for all the fury and frustration Dye draws out of both hackers and professionals, we can’t help but love the man who’s provided us with so many wonderful places to play golf. 

SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. - Course knowledge may be two of the most over-used words in a professional golfer's vocabulary, but it translates to volumes of vital information when you are about to play championship golf in the high desert at approximately 5,052 feet above sea level.

That is the setting for a 312-player field this weekend, as they converge upon Twin Warriors and Santa Ana Golf Clubs for the 42nd PGA Professional National Championship, June 28 through July 1, in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. The Championship returns to Santa Ana Pueblo after a 2003 visit when Twin Warriors served as sole host. 

SAINT HELENA ISLAND, S.C. - Representatives of Dataw Island Club announced that the club has approved a renovation project that will involve both the Cotton Dike and Morgan River golf courses.

Dataw Island Club will close the Cotton Dike golf course in March 2010 for the renovation project, with a planned reopening in October 2010. The Morgan River course will close in March 2011, with a targeted reopening of October 2011. 

A blissfully brisk early morning chill eventually gives way to a sun-drenched mid-afternoon, and as you stand in the fairway on the par-5 16th hole at Edgewood Tahoe, annual site of the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship, you’d swear those piercing rays of sunshine prohibiting you from tracking your ball as it sails toward Lake Tahoe are being beamed down directly from heaven.

But it’s just another day in one of America’s most scenic regions, an area known for world-class skiing, abundant outdoor recreational opportunities and unsurpassed natural beauty that aspires to plant its flag at the golf destination summit.   

ISLE OF PALMS, SC - Golfers can once again enjoy one of the Charleston area's most acclaimed par 5 finishing holes at Wild Dunes Resort, with the reopening of the famed oceanfront 18th hole of the award-winning Links Course on June 12 following a redesign led by golf architect Tom Fazio.

The reopening closes the chapter on the beach erosion cycle that temporarily shut down the signature hole that's brought critical acclaim to the Charleston golf resort for three decades. Following a months-long building project to restore the hole, Wild Dunes' Links Course once again offers two stunning finishing holes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

At a time when many of the nation's recession-weary country clubs are cutting back, Medinah Country Club is stepping up with a view toward the 2012 Ryder Cup.

By a margin of more than 4-1, Medinah's membership voted Saturday (June 13) to spend upwards of $3 million on a multi-faceted renovation that would see the club's famed No. 3 Course close August 15 and re-open next June.

The U.S. Open returns to Bethpage State Park's Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., for the second time in seven years, June 18-21, with Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) Class A member Craig Currier becoming just the second superintendent to host more than one U.S. Open at the same facility.

Paul Jett, CGCS at Pinehurst (N.C.) No. 2 was the first, hosting in 1999 and 2005.