By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
John Billiter was introduced to the game of golf by his dad, who took him and his brother to the driving range when John was just six years old. They started playing at Greenshire Golf Course, a Par 3 layout in Beach Park, Illinois, and eventually graduated to the regulation nine-hole Shiloh Golf Course in nearby Zion, Illinois once they were old enough to hit the ball farther and keep up their pace of play.
Billiter played high school golf at Warren Township High School in Gurnee, Illinois and played their home matches at Bittersweet Golf Club. Bittersweet was not only the team’s home course, but it was Billiter’s first job in golf.
“I started working the bag drop and driving range at Bittersweet when I was 16,” he recalls, “and worked seasonally throughout my college years.”
Billiter played collegiately at Western Illinois University. He says his summer work experience at Bittersweet made it clear to him that golf would be his career path and that being a PGA of America Golf Professional would be in his future.
“Our head professional, the late Kelly Holmes, and PGA of America Teaching Professional, Dino Lucchesi, gave me guidance and motivation to pursue a career in golf,” he says fondly. “They were both great players and teachers, with charismatic personalities that made every golfer look forward to interaction at the course. I was determined to be like them!”
Today, Billiter, a 2025 GRAA Top 50 Clubfitter, is the PGA of America Head Golf Professional at Heritage Oaks Golf Club, a 27-hole municipal facility in Northbrook, Illinois. Heritage Oaks is a busy facility, hosting over 70,000 rounds per year, with a high volume practice range that is home to the Northbrook Golf Academy. Their practice range features Trackman Range technology on all 28 hitting bays, and their Northbrook Golf Academy is equipped with multiple state-of-the-art resources, including Trackman, Foresight GC3, Full Swing KIT and Full Swing indoor golf simulators.
The teaching team, led by four-time GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professional Michael Wenzel, utilizes both Trackman and Foresight for indoor and outdoor clubfitting, with the help of applications such as PING Co-Pilot and iPING Putting.
“We offer custom clubfitting services to a wide range of customer demographics and skill levels, including junior golfers, new players and competitive adults,” Billiter, a PGA member certified in Teaching & Coaching and Golf Operations, says.
With a range full of technology, an academy brimming with expertise, a short game area that enables golfers to practice chip shots, bunker shots and 20-yard pitch shots and a nine-hole short game complex called Anetsberger Golf Course that has holes ranging from 95 to 190 yards, golfers have all the tools they need to excel in the game of golf and to enjoy it for a lifetime. The team’s custom fitting expertise ensure their golfers are playing clubs suited to their body type and skill level.
“The equipment industry has reached a level of excellence where nearly every driver produced by a major manufacturer can be very good when properly fit,” Billiter explains. “The competition from brand to brand is tight. Technology trends will continue to advance, and consumers will be better educated with opportunity to test products and learn on their own. Fitters are going to be challenged to find new ways to get golfers to swing the club faster, find the perfect strike to optimize ball flight and close sales.”
Billiter says the future of clubfitting will likely offer consumers the opportunity to measure swing and ball data on their own, visiting Trackman Range or Toptracer facilities, potentially using AI to recommend specs for their next club purchase.
“The PGA of America Golf Professional needs to maintain credibility as the expert of the game, and lead the education and golf experiences for the consumer,” Billiter concludes.
To check out everything that Heritage Oaks Golf Club has to offer, log on to its website today.
