Playoffs Road Trip: On the way to the Windy City

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Previous stop: TPC Boston, Norton, Mass., and the Deutsche Bank Championship

Two legs of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup road trip down, two to go, and the distances between stops keeps growing. New York to Boston was easy. Boston to Chicago and the 728 miles between the two cities on a short week, not so much. But it's do-able. According to MapQuest, that's 11 hours, 42 minutes of driving ... and there's a lot of golf in between.

Two worthwhile stops along the way for a quick round: Ravenwood Golf Club, just off the New York Thruway in Victor, N.Y., and Mill Creek Golf Club, also just off the Thruway in Churchville, N.Y. Ravenwood was voted the No. 5 Best New Public Course in America by Golf Digest in 2003, while Mill Creek's Championship Course has views of the Rochester skyline and the Finger Lakes. Before exiting New York, you might want to stop for lunch along Lake Erie, which the Thruway borders for a bit.

Once you get through the northwest corner of Pennsylvania and on through Ohio and Indiana, it's on to Lemont, Ill., a suburb 28 miles southwest of Chicago, and Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. This isn't the same Cog Hill we've seen in the past, though, with Rees Jones having come in and ripped up all the greens and added tee boxes with the idea of bringing a U.S. Open here at some point.

The BMW Championship

When it comes to golf -- or restaurants -- in Chicago, the player to talk to is Luke Donald. He's a native of England, of course, but he's called Chicago home ever since his days at Northwestern University. Donald is a member of nearby Conway Farms, which hosted the Western Amateur earlier this year. Though he doesn't get to play them often, Donald also likes Chicago Golf Club and Skokie Country Club.

And when it comes to where to dine, Chicago comes in second on our road trip, behind only New York. A personal favorite of Donald's is Gibsons in the Rush and Division Street area in the West Loop of the city. It should be -- they stock Donald's wine, which he collaborated with Napa Valley-based Rutherford Hill winery on. It's not all high-end fare for Donald, though.

"For pizza you really can't go wrong with Gino's East or Giordano's," Donald said.

And you can't go wrong with a Cubs game, either, says Donald, a devoted fan of the team. They're pretty much out of the pennant and playoff race this year, but they are in town the weekend of the BMW Championship with a three-game series against the Reds starting on Friday. All three games are in the afternoon, though, so the best bet is to get to the golf course early before hightailing it into the city for a game. Otherwise, it's wait 'til next year.

Next stop: East Lake Golf Club in in Atlanta, Ga., for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.