ARCHITECT TOM DOAK GETS THE CALL TO RENOVATE MEDINAH #1 AFTER THE RYDER CUP
(DOAK SEEN HERE AT BANDON DUNES)

IT'S SUNNY 80 DEGREES AND WE ARE PLAYING GOLF IN CHICAGO,...Okay Happy
April Fools Day. It's also opening day at Wrigley Field, no Joke. If baseball can be
played, golf can too.

Happy Birthday to one of the Gog Blog Guys favorite golf partners, the Quad Cities
very own Rich Garrett. Hit'em straight over at TPC Deere Run, and leave the course
in one piece. The John Deere Classic will be here before you know it.

IN THE YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST COLUMN...or in case you missed it. Tom Doak
above was selected by Medinah to renovate it's mens #1 course, with work to start
right after the Ryder Cup ends in September of 2012. The French Lick Resort will
host the 2012-13-14 Mens and Womens Big Ten Golf Championships.

The first school to lose out on the mens event is the University of Illinois which was
scheduled to host the event in 2012, but that is not bothering mens golf coach Mike
Small.

"It's good for the Big Ten to go play our conference championship every year, on a
consistent basis at a consistent venue."

Small along with Northwestern coach Pat Goss who were both reached at airports
(Small and team heading to the Augusta State invite, while Goss was off to Florida
to help his star pupil Luke Donald prep for the Masters) shared the fact that this
idea has been proposed before.

A few years back the athletic directors shot it down, but with other spring sports like
baseball now doing it the time might have been right. While the vote to do this was
11-0 by the coaches, the driving force was the Indiana and Purdue coaches who
had ties with French Lick. Small also factored in having won the 2010 PPNC there.

The option that was shot down was a move to Crooked Stick GC site of the 2012
BMW Championship. But both Small and Goss agree that further south in spring
might lead to better weather and playing conditions for the student athletes.

"The biggest reason for this move is to upgrade the quality of our tournament,"
said Goss." We also wanted to keep the event in the region where the Big Ten is,
here in the midwest." Some conferences like the Big East are still playing their
conference event in Florida.

"Some of the power conferences already have moved to a neutral site and a
quality golf course," Small said." Plus there is no home court advantage in
sports any bigger than on a golf course."

SMALL ANNOUNCES EQUIPMENT CHANGE AND ILLINOIS AND PGA TOUR
SCHEDULE..."I'm very excited to play the new Wislon irons this coming season,"
Small said. "My contract was up with Srixon and I had no problem with them,
but Wilson is a Chicago company and I'm a Chicago guy. The Wilson irons are
beautiful and they are moving back in the direction of where they were, when
they were number one on the tour.

Small will get to those irons plenty this season with his full playing schedule
for 2011. Small will play the Illinois Open, and Illinois PGA locally. He will defend
his PPNC title at Hershey this summer, and his hoping to make the field at the
PGA Championship in August at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

From winning the PPNC last year, Small gets spots in several PGA Tour
events. Small used one already this year in Mexico. In addition he will play
in the John Deere Classic, The Viking Classic, Reno-Tahoe, Disney, with one
event still undecided. The last event will be either Wells Fargo, or St. Jude
in Memphis.

Small by way of winning the PPNC is already a member of Team USA for this
years PGA Cup to played this fall in California against the team from Great
Britian, Ireland, and Scotland. But Small's schedule could be a problem. "I'm
on the team, but not sure if I will play or not," Small said. "I still need to look
at my schedule and see if it matches up correctly."

ERIN HILLS IN ERIN WISCONSIN..site of the 2011 US-Amateur will open for
the season on Friday April 29th. A new building with overnite rooms should
be ready in May, with the new clubhouse opening in late June. For more info.
on Erin Hills www.erinhills.com .

SCOTT PAVALKO IS THE NEW GREENS SUPERINTENDENT..at Cog Hill with
his efforts to be focused on course #4 Dubsdread. Longtime super Ken Lapp
is cutting his workload down after 61 years of working for the Jemseks. Pavalko
comes over from Muirfield Village and starts this Monday.

"Ken and I are working on a program to make things better than they have been,"
Pavalko said. "First and foremost we plan to have healthy turf. We will work on
the greens and bunkers too. My first goal is to make the patrons, the Jemseks,
and the PGA Tour happy."

Pavalko calls himself an open book, and is willing to take questions from Cog
Hill's customers should they have them. Pavalko says Muirfield Village uses
18-20 fans, to move air around the greens. Cog Hill has added a few in recent
years, and Pavalko indicated he will work with the Jemseks on maybe adding
a few more.

BILL COORE AND BEN CRENSHAW HAVE BEEN RUNNING COAST TO COAST,
from Pinehurst #2, Now Open, to Bandon Dunes in Oregon for work on the fifth
course. The new course scheduled to open in 2012 is a 13 hole par 3 course
called the Bandon Reserve. Info www.bandondunes.com. If you are headed
east and want to play the site of the 2014 Mens and Womens U.S. Opens,
www.pinehurst.com. Early reports on the renovations are very good.

OLYMPIA FIELDS..has begun work on it's entrance because of deterioration
on it's bridge over Butterfield Creek. As a result the driveway will be moved
and golfers playing the back tees on the 17th hole of the North Course, will
no longer have to hit over the clubs driveway.

"Our North Course architect Mark Mungeam has designed a new back tee,"
said club president Jeff Goldman. "The tee will be re-angled and the hole will
now play about 450 yards."

That add's length to the north course which might get even longer due to a
water drainage project, the club will have in conjunction with the city of Olympia
Fields. A new drainage pipe will run along the edge of the parking lot, that
could disrupt play on the first and tenth tees. As a result those tee's could be
moved back adding more yardage to the course.

Goldman says south course architect Steve Smyers will be in at some point
to inspect the course. Smyers might consider some minor changes in advance
of the 2015 US-Amateur.

Goldman added that the USGA has inspected the south course in advance of
this summers USGA Junior Girls Championship. "The USGA said the course
is good to go and no changes are needed," said Goldman.

Olympia Fields is also in full agreement with the USGA in moving up the dates
of the US-Amateur in the month of August. The USGA is trying to get college
players back to school and with their teams on time for their fall events.

THE ILLINOIS PGA..has added Frank Bruno to it's board of directors. Bruno
replaces Mark Miller the former pro at Sportman's Country Club, who has had
a recent career change. Bruno is the head golf professional at Oak Park CC.

100 YEAR OLD PRO EERIE BALL..the last remaining player from the first
Masters field in 1934, will enter the PGA Golf Museum in Port St. Lucie FL. 
on Nov. 2. Ball was the head professional at Oak Park CC for 24 years and
a three time winner of the Illinois PGA Championship.

NEED TO SELL YOUR HOUSE...The resorts of Tullymore and St. Ives in
Stanwood Michigan will buy it. One condition, you have to be buying a house
or condo at Tullymore. The resort will pay you the appraised value. Visit
www.tullymoregolf.com for more information.

VDARA HOTEL AND SPA LAS VEGAS...has deals on golf with a two-night
minimum stay at Vdara. The courses are the Walters Golf Courses, including
Bali-Hai and Royal Links. (888)-427-6678 for your vegas golf package.

TREETOPS OF GAYLORD MICHIGAN...has some early spring golf deals
at great prices. (888)-TREETOPS to reserve your golf and stay.

GOLF SEASON STARTS TODAY...on the North Course at Eagle Ridge Resort
and Spa. For other spring deals visit www.eagleridge.com or call Eagle Ridge
at (800)-892-2269.

GOLFWEEK MAGAZINES..annual Greatest 100 and "Best of"  lists are out.
#1 Best you can play in Illinois went to Cog Hill Dubsdread. With the Glen
Club in at #2. The Jemsek's northern facility Pine Meadow ended up 8th.
The Highlands of Elgin made the big new splash at #4. Cantigny is #12,
and Shepherd's Crook is now at 14.

SEVERAL NATIONAL GOLF PUBLICATIONS...handed out awards to courses
in Michigan. The Inn at Bay Harbor, Harbor Shore in Benton Harbor, Sweetgrass
GC, and Manitou Passage were among the award winners. Please visit the
websites or www.michigan.org for more information.

CONGRATS TO LIBERTYVILLE ARCHITECT RICK JACOBSON..on 20 years
of bringing design excellence to the game of golf. Jacobson's Bowes Creek
design in Elgin is 9th in state best you can play. Jacobson is also doing
several projects in China and the far east, several have been award winners.
www.jacobsongolfcoursedesign.com to see more of Jacobson's hardwork.

THE FRENCH LICK RESORT..will host the Fourth Annual United States
Hickory Open Championship July11-13.  The event is run by the Society of
Hickory Golfers, and will be held on the resorts Donald Ross Course.

"We are very proud to host this historic event on our Donald Ross Golf
Course," said French Lick Resort's Director of Golf Dave Harner. For more
information visit www.ushickoryopen.com or www.frenchlick.com. The event
is two days and 36 holes, the field is expected to be about 70-100 players.

WILSON GOLF..is reporting a 23% increase in U.S. sales and 10% increase
in global sales in 2010, over the sales figues for 2009. Several tour players
have signed new equipment deals with Wilson, including Paul Lawrie who
won his first event in over nine years two weeks ago.

THAT BEING SAID...the weather is warming up. The Gog News Blog will return
 about May 2nd, with more stories in between...GOG Radio will return in May.
NOW GO PLAY..courses are open.