This will be a September to remember for all Americans because it marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack on Sept.r 11, 2001. For golfers, September is a month to remember because it marks a transition in the summer golfing season. The kids are back in school, the temperatures, frequently quite hot at the beginning of the month, will drop from the 80s to the 70s and even into the 60s by the end of month in Chicago, and there are plenty of bargains for the senior golfer.

I encourage you to take advantage of this time to make your pilgrimage to that golf course you've always wanted to play, but either couldn't afford or didn't want to spend all that time driving to it. Spend the money, invest the time, and enjoy these once in a lifetime golf adventures. My September golf journeys will be highlighted by three courses I'm really looking forward to playing. I will be traveling north to Erin Hills in Janesville, WI, the site of this year's U.S. Amateur and the 2017 U.S. Open. It's a long journey for people from the Southside of the city or suburbs, but not that bad from my home in Schaumburg. Erin Hills is a pricey course to play ($160) and is walking only. Given that it is a hilly course, I'm hoping for a cool September afternoon.

I'll spend a day heading to Lost Dunes in Bridgman, MI, which is just across the state line from Indiana. It's about a two-hour ride from my home, but it's a great tract of golf built on the sand dunes of Lake Michigan. According to my friend who invited me to play this course, I'm going t enjoy every hole from one through 18.

And finally, I'll be heading onto Northwest Indiana to play a tract of golf that my best golfing buddy calls home-Sand Creek in Chesterton. With three nines, Sand Creek offers the challenges of sand, water, and trees. There are no hidden holes at Sand Creek, but that doesn't mean there aren't many obstacles to a good score.

I'm also going to be spending some extra time practicing on some tips I've gotten from taking lessons. As much as I advocate taking lessons from your local PGA Professional, I have to admit that I don't follow my own advice. This year, however, things have gotten so bad that I didn't know where to turn, so I went to my local PGA Professional.

I took three half hour lessons. One was on driving the ball; a second on hitting my irons; and a third on itching and chipping. I won't go into all the things my pro discovered when he analyzed my swing, but I will share with you two things he wanted me to work on for the rest of the year.

On my driving, I was swinging way too hard, resulting in a swing that was out of balance. I hit drives that weren't close to the middle of the fairway. In analyzing my drives, the pro told me that that I was swaying away from the ball and sliding into the driving area instead of turning my shoulders. He said this won't be easy to solve, but one way to work on a shoulder turn is by crossing my arms from one shoulder to the other and simply rotate my shoulders to get the feel of being in balance.

For chipping and pitching, my problem was that I was trying to scoop the ball, instead of hitting down and letting the action of the clubhead put the ball into the air. The tip was to make the swing effortless by reducing the tension of my arms and actually turning on chips and pitches, instead of being a mechanical robot.

For all senior golfers, I would add one more tip. Remember that golf is just a game, but you will enjoy that game much more if you work at it a little harder. So, make September another month to remember!