Charles Blair Macdonald was a Chicagoan known by many as both the Father of Chicago Golf and the Father of American Golf Architecture. His life-long love affair with the game is a major reason why Chicago stands at the forefront of golf in North America. Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada on November 14, 1855 […]
Legendary Chicago Golf Course Superintendent Paul Voykin
May 2012 is the month when the TPC-Sawgrass will host the world’s best golfers competing for the PGA Tour’s biggest purse of the year ($9.5 million). But during this same month of May, Paul Voykin, the most recent inductee into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, the man who saw grass grow at Briarwood Country […]
Errie Ball, Chicago Legend, Elected to The PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame
Although he was not physically present to congratulate the 2012 Masters Champion, Bubba Watson, at Augusta National Golf Club, Errie Ball, the only living competitor from Bobby Jones’ first ‘Masters Tournament’, was undoubtedly watching this tournament on television. Yes, Errie Ball, age 101, was there seventy-eight years ago at the course in Augusta, GA, to […]
Chicago Golf Course Connections to the Masters
When Augusta National Golf Club opened for play in January of 1933, there were over 150 golf courses already in operation in the Chicagoland area. Among those Chicago golf courses was the first 18-hole golf course in the United States, Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton. By 1933, six Chicago golf courses had already hosted the […]