Has been editor and publisher of Chicagoland Golf since founding it in
1989. Full bio here.
Len Ziehm
Len Ziehm has covered sports for the Chicago Sun-Times for over 39 years (38 as the golf writer) and has been a columnist with Chicagoland Golf since its first issue in 1989. He has covered soccer for the Sun-Times since 1984, making him the only golf writer to be inducted into the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame. He currently also covers the Chicago Black Hawks for the Sun-Times.
In golf, he has covered 10 Masters, 24 U.S. Opens, 15 PGA Championships and the last 34 Western Opens prior to the creation of the BMW Championship in 2007. Best memory in golf writing was Jack Nicklaus' final round to win the 1986 Masters -- the first time he covered that event. Len says his first U.S. Open was special, too. It was at Oakmont in 1973 and it concluded with Johnny Miller's final-round 63 (Johnny will NEVER let ANY of us forget that one.).
As a golfer he's had three eagles spaced over a 48-year period, starting with his lone hole-in-one when he was 15. His handicap has never been lower than 17, but that’s never diminished his enthusiasm to play.
Perhaps his greatest moment on golf courses also came the day of his darkest moment. As part of an eight-person media contingent, Ziehm played all five Chicago Park District 9-hole courses in a single day. He yanked his first tee shot at 5 a.m. at Waveland along Chicago's picturesque lakefront, slopped it around for nine holes and finished with an embarrassing 20-over-par 56.
Astoundingly, three courses later, Ziehm -- who had been dropping his trademark cackles all over Chicago as the day unfolded -- suddenly became deathly silent as he teed his ball on the ninth and final hole at Columbus Park. He found himself standing in uncharted territory -- at two-under-par! As the enormity of the moment set in, Ziehm became focused on getting his first-ever par-or-better score into the barn. He decided to lay up on the par-4, pitched to the throat of the green, chipped on and two-putted his way into the record books, marking a score not even the coarse sands of time could erase!
Ever since, he has been doing booksignings for his how-to tome How I Cut 21 Strokes Off My Nine-Hole Score In One Day.
Jack Berry
Jack Berry, of West Bloomfield, Mich., whose five decades of reporting
featured more than 70 of golf's major championships, was named recipient of the
2007 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. Berry is the 18th individual
to be recognized with this award.
The
PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism, first presented in 1989, honors
members of the media for their steadfast promotion of golf. Past Award winners
include: Dick Taylor, Herbert Warren Wind, Jim Murray, Frank Chirkinian, Bob
Green, Dan Jenkins, Furman Bisher, Jack Whitaker, Dave Anderson, Ken Venturi,
Jim McKay, Kaye Kessler, Nick Seitz, Renton Laidlaw, Bob Verdi, Al Barkow and
Ron Green Sr.
Berry's journalism career began as a correspondent for United
Press (1956-59), where he distinguished himself through his versatility,
covering professional and local sports as the wire service's sports editor for
the state of Michigan. Berry joined the Detroit Free Press in 1959, and spent
the next 12 years on the sports staff. He marked his first Tour event when he
covered the 1958 Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Mich.
His professional
sports "beat" featured the Detroit Red Wings of the then-six-team National
Hockey League; and he marked his first major Championship in 1961, at the U.S.
Open at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich.
Berry
joined the Detroit News in 1971, and remained its premier golf writer through
1993.
In 1984, Berry was named the 27th president of the Golf Writers
Association of America, making him the second journalist from the Detroit News
(preceded by John Walter in 1958-59) to hold that position. Berry also served as
GWAA secretary-treasurer from 1990-98.
Following his Detroit News'
career, Berry became one of the most prolific golf freelance writers, with
columns and features appearing in PGA Magazine, Chicagoland Golf and the
Michigan Golfer. He is the recipient of the 1997 Golf Association of Michigan
Distinguished Service Award. In 2003, he became the second journalist inducted
into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, joining the late John Walter. Also in the Hall of Fame are legendary five-time PGA Champion and founding PGA member Walter Hagen, and 1953 PGA Champion Walter Burkemo.
Berry joined the staff of Chicagoland Golf in spring,
1994.
Joanne
Miller
Joanne Miller
has been involved with golf her entire life. She worked on her family's public
golf course in Michigan, and for lack of a women’s golf team she competed on her
high school's boys golf team and eventually went on to play on the first women's golf team at Carthage
College. After working overseas for several years, she settled in Chicago and
accepted a position as public relations manager for a golf equipment
manufacturing company. She has been assistant editor for Chicagoland Golf since
January, 2003, and also serves as Illinois Women's Open tournament
manager.