I belong to multiple golf clubs in multiple states. While I just so happen to live in Northern California, I have roots in the Midwest and have some amount of a golfing history in places such as Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. It was exactly three years ago in mid-October that I just so happened to have two days of golf time in the Chicago area. I played one day at Cog Hill, a well-known high-end public golf course that was the site of Robert Gamez’ victory in the U.S. Public Links and Matt Kuchar’s win in the 1997 United States Amateur. It was also the host course of the Western Open on the PGA Tour from 1991 through 2006 and then the site of the BMW Championship for five years from 2007-2011 for stage three of the Fed Ex Cup playoffs.
Cog is one tough course. All you need to know about it is that Tiger Woods has won there five times. On the other day I played at Harborside International, a neat pair of courses alongside Lake Michigan with great views of Chicago’s downtown skyline.
While I had a great time playing two quality courses over the course of those two days, one principal theme comes to mind every time I look back and reminisce about that trip. My main memory is that although the calendar said it was mid-October, it just so happened to snow on me during both of my rounds three years ago. The temperatures were in the mid- to low-30s, and while the snow didn’t stick, it certainly did add to the strange ambiance of the day.
If you’ve ever wondered what avid golfers do in those parts of our country during the bad weather season that can sometimes last from November through April, I do have a partial answer for you. I have received several emails over the course of the past few weeks from Cog Hill Golf. While it is a 72-hole complex, it is located in Chicago’s southwest suburbs and will be having winter weather issues in the near future. However, I did receive an email last month from Cog Hill promoting their Winter Wednesdays Golf League.
I was intrigued. And then I read on. The Winter Wednesdays Golf League is an eight-week season that runs from Oct. 20 through Dec. 15. It takes one week off, specifically the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. For $500 you can sign up your two-person team and look forward to eight weeks of a competitive league format. Some weeks you’ll play better ball while other weeks will feature two-person scramble and two-person alternate shot. There’s a prize structure for those teams that play well with a season-ending playoff.
Of course, for anyone who is familiar with December in the Midwest, it’s hard to imagine playing in an alternate shot competition at Cog Hill. The caveat is that while Cog Hill is an outstanding golf course, you get to play courses in their Winter Wednesdays that are even more famous and iconic that Cog. The way the email read, weekly competition includes playing such courses as Pebble Beach and St. Andrews.
The Winter Wednesdays at Cog Hill are something that is occurring at hundreds of golf courses throughout the wintry East, Midwest and Rocky Mountain states. It is a virtual golf league located at the driving range of all of the host courses. In the case of Cog Hill, they promote the idea that the hitting bays on the driving range are not only protected from the elements on three sides, but they also have heaters above each golf mat.
The technology behind Winter Wednesdays and other winter leagues come courtesy of TopTracer Golf. TopTracer not only has those famous golf courses on separate screens at the hitting bays, but it also has high tech sensors that can ascertain how far you hit the golf ball as well as how well you hit the golf ball. Teeing it up on a Winter Wednesday, you could start the evening with your driver on the first tee at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf as well as host of multiple British Opens. After hitting your tee shot out into the snow-filled driving range at Cog Hill, the monitor will determine that you just pulled your tee shot into the 18th fairway at St. Amdrews, some 222 yards off the tee. TopTracer will let you know that you now have 161 yards to the green and have to clear the Swilcin Burn fronting the green some 146 yards away.
That’s not all that TopTracer will tell you. It will tell you how fast your swing speed is, how fast your ball came off the clubface, how far your tee shot carried, how far your ball rolled out after it landed, what the apex of your tee shot was at its highest point, and on and on. For some golfers this is really interesting stuff. For some golfers this bevy of information simply hurts the head. All in all I find it to be truly amazing stuff.
It is true that I can’t ever imagine living in a locale where the only golf option is to bang golf balls on a heated driving range. Yet there has to be some fascination while the simulator has me trying to chip in from the left side of the 17th green at Pebble Beach, just like Tom Watson did while winning the 1982 United States Open. I do find this to be a fascinating alternative for the vast majority of golfers in our country. It’s certainly a more creative alternative versus letting your golf clubs gather cobwebs in the corner of the garage for the next six months.
I initially stumbled onto TopTracer Golf several months ago while pounding golf balls at the Haggin Oaks 36-hole golf complex in Sacramento. Behind my hitting station was a screen that kicked out eight pieces of information about each and every shot I struck. Warming up with a gap wedge, I even learned that I was imparting back spin on several of those shots.
TopTracer advertises that they have golf monitors everywhere on the planet from Arizona to Abu Dhabi. Locally they have TopTracer hitting stations at Darkhorse in Auburn, McInnis Park in San Rafael, Harding Park in San Francisco, and at Bay Area driving ranges such as Mission Hills and Mariners Point as well as Haggin Oaks.
Technology has become a major part of golf with Evalumetrics and the like. It wasn’t all that long ago that we learned that Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly have their own heated mobile trailer that opened onto a driving range in Wisconsin for winter golf practice. Nowadays you can just go to your heated driving range, pound golf balls and decide whether to go for it in two at the 14th hole at Pebble Beach. Yes, this is all truly amazing stuff. The future is now.
