The Metropolitan Match Play Championship trophy has many familiar names etched on it, including such amateur standouts as Don Bliss, Jim Holtgrieve, Skip Berkmeyer and Justin Bryant.

Having lived and worked in St. Albans for 22-years, Melinda McCarthy has seen the area grow from a rural retreat to a much more active community. “My kids are grown now, and my oldest son lives in Chicago and hasn’t been back here for years,” she says. “He came home not long ago and said, I can’t believe all the stuff they have now, why didn’t they have all of this when we were growing up? If you’ve been here before and you think you’ve seen St. Albans, you haven’t: You need to come back. Everything has changed—but the beauty remains constant.”

Often thought of as a game for the privileged, PGA REACH flips that generalization of golf on its head. PGA REACH serves underprivileged youth by working to increase their academic—and ‘Beyond 18’ life—success.

MAY

It's getting closer…soon, St. Louis will be hosting the top senior professional golfers in the world.

I’ve been putting off writing this story for some time—too many things to tell you about and too little space. Yes, San Diego has a brilliant blue ocean and blue skies most of the time, mild temperatures year-round, a strong Spanish/Mexican heritage that permeates most of its architecture and culture, a huge U.S. Navy presence, amazing beaches and golf courses, a wealth of public and private universities and a world-famous zoo. You knew all this already, didn’t you?

A 3-bedroom, 3-bath home in the Parkway School District is listed for $734,000.

Salish Lodge and Spa is one of those places that the travel gods sometimes reward you with. Booked at the tail end of a driving tour of the Northwest, I wasn’t expecting much. Boy, was I surprised!

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some higher temps and warm sunshine. Of course, the best way to enjoy all spring has to offer is in a convertible automobile. Convertibles come in all shapes, sizes and prices these days, with attractive options for just about anyone seeking some open-air fun.

Executives from some of the city’s largest corporations will hit the greens for a good cause during the St. Louis Arc Golf Tournament May 20 at The Country Club of St. Albans. 

Tee time approaching? You had better hope you’re heading to one of these spectacular Missouri golf courses. Never sub-par, these local courses offer some of the best views and amenities to golfers—and have the rankings and professional events to prove it.

CITY ACADEMY received a $1 million gift from the Crawford Taylor Foundation for endowment. The gift supports the school’s efforts to offer an expanded Early Childhood Program. With the help of this grant, plans to expand to a total of 175 students by 2014 are in place. Pictured: D’Niya Ammons, Chantell Johnson and Chontell Johnson of City Academy's new Early Childhood Program.

St. Louis native Scott Langley enjoyed a solid debut on the PGA Tour. Langley, a Parkway South and University of Illinois graduate, earned a spot on the tour this year.

SOCIETY

You voted, we listened! Ladue News readers know what they like; and with this year's Platinum List, you've made your voices heard. This list compiles the best of St. Louis. 

A two-and-a-half story home in Town & County with 11 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 4 full- and 2 half-baths is listed for $2.695 million.

Residents of the Creve Coeur area for almost 14 years, Jill and Sean Hunt originally moved to their neighborhood to gain access to the Ladue school district as they began having children. Now parents to 11-year-old Lauren, 9-year-old twins Shannon and Connor and McSorley, the family’s Cavalier King Charles spaniel, the couple enjoys the area and the closeness of the location to other family members. Sean is a director at Express Scripts while Jill works at her family’s property management company, RM of Missouri. We spoke with Jill to learn more about life in Creve Coeur.

For the second year, in a tight competition with less than 20 votes separating the top two churches, St. Paul's Catholic Church, Fenton, beat out St. Dominic Savio, Affton, to win Friendship Village Sunset Hills' Fourth Annual Quilting Competition. Several hundred voted in the week's competition and display of quilts from area churches at Fountain View, the freestanding assisted-living community at Friendship Village Sunset Hills. Pictured: Erlinda Madridondo, Ruth Finder, Donna Robinson and Mary Haukap (kneeling) proudly display their winning quilt.

St. Louis will say its final goodbye this weekend to hometown hero and Cardinals Hall-of-Famer STAN MUSIAL, who passed away at his Ladue home Saturday, Jan. 19, at the age of 92.

When Jimmy Loomis III was in fifth grade, he watched a movie that would spur him toward a life of community involvement. The movie was An Inconvenient Truth, and the moment took place just seven years ago. Called to action by the film’s message about climate change and its consequences, the then 10-year-old stood before the Ladue City Council and successfully proposed the creation of a municipal recycling program. “That’s when I first became really interested in politics,” he recalls. “I realized that no matter who you are, what you have and where you come from, you can make a difference. I was able to witness actual change taking place and that has motivated me ever since.”