Golf booming in Chicago, of course // Area's 18 new sites not nearly enough

Within the next two years, the Chicago area will have at least18 and maybe as many as 37 new golf courses.

Eighteen new courses have just opened or are scheduled to openby next spring. Others are in various stages of planning andconstruction.

Those figures come from the National Golf Foundation, coursearchitects and club pros. They admit there may be courses going upthat they don't know about - but they are certain of one thing: Thecourses being constructed won't be enough.

The area course shortage is part of a world-wide trend. TheNational Golf Foundation calculates the United States needs 400 newcourses annually through the year 2000 to keep up …