Chip Howell should have a little more pep in his step going around Cane Creek Golf Course this weekend in the 75th Calhoun County Golf Championship after snatching a big feather for his cap earlier this week.

Silver Lakes cleared a major hurdle in its restoration this week that puts the course safely on track for its projected Sept. 23 re-opening. Work has been completed on the par-5 Heartbreaker No. 1, the 10th hole in the Robert Trent Jones Trail facility’s traditional championship routing considered the most intensive element of the project.

Roger Rulewich likes lemonade. Mother Nature handed the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail a bushel of lemons when an April 27 tornado tore into Silver Lakes like a 9-iron ripping through thick rough, but instead of fretting about the aftermath, Rulewich fired up his ever-present pipe and found solutions to make the place viable again.