At 23, Mike Foy of South Elgin can say that he has played golf his entire life and learned how to teach it and run a golf business. Ultimately, it can be very beneficial to local golfers that Foy chose to run such a business in St. Charles.
As a youth in Elkhart, Indiana, Foy began playing at the age of 7 and ended up playing at Methodist University in North Carolina, where he also completed professional golf management courses.
After years of internship in college and directing a golf program in New York after graduating in 2019, Foy decided to come home to the Midwest.
And he chose St. Charles to open Mike’s Golf Center, a large indoor golf training and practice facility located at 731 N. 17th Street in the Foundry Business Park near Dean Street.
“Teaching junior players is my big thing, but I teach all ages and levels of ability,” said Foy, who is committed to long-term memberships and coach-student relationships.
“I do a student evaluation, watch the whole game, and put together a game plan of how someone can be successful quickly,” said Foy.
“I give private lessons, but if you give a class and the student goes out and plays badly, you may not see them come back for a while,” he added. “I want it to be long-term where you work on the game all the time, not just every few months.”
Mike Foy, of South Elgin, owns Mike’s Golf Center at 731 N. 17th Street in St. Charles.
– Brian Hill | Employee photographer
In addition to eight course simulator stations, each with access to more than 200,000 golf courses from Augusta National to local ones like the St. Charles Country Club, the center also has a 1,000 square meter putting and chipping practice area with various artificial cuts To chop grass.
“It’s a really good area to work on your game because not many courses have practice areas to go to,” said Foy. “This is a great practice area for the winter.”
Those who rent one of the simulator stations for an hour also get access to the putting and chipping area.
Foy said he was fortunate to have “a great mentor of mine” from Batavia, local youth golf instructor Rich Flores, who shared his decades of experience on the local golf scene. Flores, who undergoes regular chemotherapy for a blood disorder, has scaled back some of his own teachings.
“Rich isn’t a business partner or anything, but we talk at least once a week and he brings a group of his students over here and I’ll let him do his thing,” said Foy.
Above all, Foy would like to present a public facility for golfers, which is aimed in particular at the age group from 5 to 13 years. He wants the membership feeling of a country club without the restrictions of a country club.
“I’ve never had a place like this when I was growing up and I want people to be in here and I’m here to help them,” said Foy. “I like it here in the St. Charles area and I want to be more involved with the community and the schools – and stay here for a long time.”
No new restaurant yet
There was a lot of excitement on social media sites about a small sign on the front door of the former Claddagh Irish Pub in the Geneva House of Commons saying “New restaurant is coming”.
Until last week, the city had neither seen plans nor issued building permits for this site. That little sign didn’t seem to reveal any other information for some reason.
The same goes for the former Houlihans restaurant in the same area of the Commons. There is no activity to suggest that a new business would be emerging anytime soon.
We’d all love to see these buildings filled with new restaurants. This would be especially good for those shopping in Geneva Commons.
While it’s a fading concept, it just makes sense for restaurants to locate near shopping areas.
But there is still a reality that restaurant owners and investors are struggling with: although it is slowly improving, it is still difficult to find chefs, cooks, waiters and hostesses for these places.
For toys and food
Bill White, owner of State Street Collision in Geneva, had a great idea last year when he worked in his shop at 802 E. State St.
With the pandemic making life difficult for restaurants in the area, he hit upon the idea of buying a few gift cards at local restaurants and giving one to those who drop off a new, unwrapped toy in the body shop.
“Last year we gave out about 80 gift cards that we bought at Tri-City restaurants,” said White. “I did it because I felt we were a lot less affected than so many restaurants that were completely closed or trying to survive on takeout.”
He’s doing the same thing again this year, and Nicole Verone of the Villa Verone restaurant has volunteered again to do most of the “walking around and buying tickets,” White noted.
This is not surprising. Anyone who has spoken to the Verone family knows that they want to see all of the restaurants in the area, that things are going well, and believe that all boats go up with the positive tide when residents realize how many good restaurants there are operated on site.
The State Street Collision toy ride runs through Tuesday, December 7th.
The last flea market
Last week I mentioned that the November flea market at the Kane County Fairgrounds was the last for 2021. Flea market goers quickly let me know that the last flea market is actually December 4th and 5th.
It makes sense that flea market organizers and sellers would want one last hurray with the holidays in December. Plus, a strong December this year could help make up for the lost time – and visitors – over the past year related to COVID-19 setbacks.
I also mentioned that the entrance to the garage sale parking lot is on Prairie Street. It’s actually down to the Oak Street extension.
I suspect the errors are due to a tangent during my conversation with Irv Brummel about his furniture store at the flea market. We both grew up in Naperville and took a little trip back in time.
Extraordinary is more like that
I know it’s been over a year since construction began on a new restaurant in downtown St. Charles, but considering some other projects in the area take forever, this project went quickly.
Graceful Ordinary is slated to open its doors on Friday, November 12th, and it’s a welcome addition for those who in the past few years may have wondered what might be happening in the former BMO Harris Bank building along Main Street.
Chef Chris Curren and Ms. Megan bring a wealth of restaurant game experience to their upscale restaurant, which they describe as a “tavern dish through a cook-oriented lens”.
It’s called Graceful Ordinary, but a look at the menu with small plates and interesting main courses, plus a range of new and old wines and a craft beer menu with local distilleries, we can expect this to be an extraordinary experience for patrons.
A chance to win a competition
Tri-Cities Exchange Club members are switching to a raffle-only draw with a $ 2,000 jackpot in lieu of the pre-pandemic drawing event.
Funds raised through the raffle will be donated to local organizations and will support the club’s efforts to continue to focus on preventing child abuse and promoting patriotism.
Those interested in purchasing raffle tickets can contact club member John Arthur Anderson at (630) 267-6008 and he will even deliver tickets.