The ambitious $30 million renovation of two public golf course facilities on Chicago’s South Side is designed to attract a major tournament to the city while also creating a new attraction for growing the game through youth and public participation. As part of the effort, a new nonprofit Chicago Parks Golf Alliance fundraising organization is being formed.

With Banyan Cay Resort & Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Via Mizner Golf & Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla., in the works, Nicklaus has more than a dozen course designs in his home county, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

The Hockley, Texas facility will hold a grand opening on November 12 for its new tennis clubhouse and six tennis courts with a plexipave surface and stadium LED lights for night-time matches. The resort has hired three-time Olympian Liezel Huber and her husband Tony Huber to run the tennis club, and they have already organized several tennis leagues, tournaments, camps and events.

Woods officially launched his post-playing career this week with the unveiling of TGR, which consolidates all of his businesses, including TGR Live, the new name of the arm of his corporation that organizes tour events; TGR Design, his golf course design company; his charity, the Tiger Woods Foundation; The Woods restaurant; and future businesses.

Nike learned a lesson in the 14 years it sold golf equipment that took me 30 years to figure out: You can’t buy a golf game with a new driver or set of irons.

The project, which would combine the Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses into an 18-hole layout that could also include a short course, has a “two in three” chance of succeeding, Keiser predicted. Woods is in talks to be the architect, though it’s not yet “a done deal,” and might be willing to waive his design fee, given that the course would benefit The First Tee of Greater Chicago.

In September, the golf equipment maker will release a 10-minute film showing the rapper, who plays 300 rounds a year, being fit for clubs and using them on the course, as part of its efforts to capitalize on Nike’s exit from the market by making golf “a little more cool and a little less country club.”

The manufacturer will stop making clubs, golf balls and golf bags, instead devoting its resources to shoes and apparel. “We’re committed to being the undisputed leader in golf footwear and apparel,” said Trevor Edwards, president of Nike Brand. “We will achieve this by investing in performance innovation for athletes and delivering sustainable profitable growth for Nike Golf.”

Trinity Forest and Bluejack National are garnering global attention for the state, while projects at Maridoe GC and Squaw Creek GC are also of note.

Already known as the only lighted course in the county and the place where Tiger Woods won a Junior World title, the executive course designed by Ted Robinson and owned by the city of San Diego may now be dramatically reconfigured to help restore lost marshland in Mission Bay. But its closing is also an option for addressing the situation.

The 795-acre tract in Fairview, N.C., was supposed to be home to the first Tiger Woods-designed golf course in the U.S. back in 2007, but the original development failed and the golf course was never built. The land is listed at $24 million. A representative of The Cliffs released a statement noting that “only a small portion of the land is for sale, and this fraction is not currently owned by The Cliffs.”

The $150 million mixed-use golf community will likely include an 18-hole golf course designed by Tiger Woods, who worked with Beacon Land Development on Bluejack National, which recently opened in Montgomery, Texas.

The year counted 24.1 million players in the U.S., after two years at 24.7 million. But positive signs can be found, according to the National Golf Foundation, in strength among committed golfers, beginning golfers and those interested in taking up the game. Attrition in the overall number continues to be confined mainly to those “who never really got into the game,” the organization says.

In 1981, the businessman began to pursue his goal to build a world-class facility that would bring major championships to the Louisville, Ky. region. The club has hosted three PGA championships, two Senior PGAs and the 2008 Ryder Cup on its Jack Nicklaus-designed course. Valhalla GC was sold in 2000 to the PGA of America.

After his perfect attendance record at school earned Taylor Crozier of Corpus Christi, Texas a chance to play with Woods at the opening of the Montgomery, Texas property’s new short course, the youngster stepped up and scored an ace on the 81-yard, par-3 first hole.