Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[DavePelz4]

5 hours ago, MountainKing said:

 

That stretch over there has 3 short par 4's and 2 short par 5's.  PB had to turn it into mini golf.  Do they still have the reeds up on 16?  At one point they had them so high that even with being familiar with the hole you were still guessing where to hit it because you couldn't see anything over them. 

 

They were present, but you could at least see the target line.

[J3H]

Has anyone played the new 'The Evans at Canal Shores'?  Playing there tomorrow, wish I would have had an opportunity to play before the renovation but this will do.  Looks like they have a 60-70 yard par 3 hole where you tee off with a putter, tee box to green is all green so it can roll the whole way there.  Only 12 holes are open at the moment.

[MountainKing]

1 hour ago, J3H said:

Has anyone played the new 'The Evans at Canal Shores'?  Playing there tomorrow, wish I would have had an opportunity to play before the renovation but this will do.  Looks like they have a 60-70 yard par 3 hole where you tee off with a putter, tee box to green is all green so it can roll the whole way there.  Only 12 holes are open at the moment.

 

The pictures of it look cool, but it's still a short par 60 course.  The par 3 that is all green had to be done because they ran out of room for a proper hole, do what you will with that information, but that seems like something they would have done with the Tanna Farms layout.

[ldchristopher]

I’m in Michigan City for my school’s stupid staff retreat. Very tempted to play Grand Beach National before I leave tomorrow. 

[DavePelz4]

13 hours ago, ldchristopher said:

I’m in Michigan City for my school’s stupid staff retreat. Very tempted to play Grand Beach National before I leave tomorrow. 

 

Why did they pick Michigan City?  That would seem to be very low on the list unless this is all about $$$.

[ldchristopher]

1 hour ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Why did they pick Michigan City?  That would seem to be very low on the list unless this is all about $$$.

Because of the DNC, everything within 50 miles was booked well in advance for groups of over 150 people. 

[DavePelz4]

1 hour ago, ldchristopher said:

Because of the DNC, everything within 50 miles was booked well in advance for groups of over 150 people. 

 

Didn't realize that things get cranking so far ahead.  Will be staying out of the city for a while then. Was around for the madness with the 1968 DNC.

[chisag]

25 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Didn't realize that things get cranking so far ahead.  Will be staying out of the city for a while then. Was around for the madness with the 1968 DNC.

 

 

... Crazy story but I was visiting my Aunt in Schaumburg during the DNC. She wanted to take us downtown and see the city and the lake and we drove down North Ave. As a 15yr old in Greensboro NC I had never seen bars on windows so it was an eye opener. I had never seen so many cops and cop cars either and we were routed around Lincoln Park and the DNC. We had no idea it was even happening. I never thought I would end up in Chicago for 42 years but life is funny. 

[ldchristopher]

1 hour ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Didn't realize that things get cranking so far ahead.  Will be staying out of the city for a while then. Was around for the madness with the 1968 DNC.

My dad drove the delegates to the ‘68 Convention. Said the amount of tear gas CPD used was insane. I don’t anticipate that happening again. But I’ve learned to be ready for anything in this city. This year, from 8/19-8/22, everyone 18 and under has an 11:30 AM curfew. Not PM. AM. 

[ldchristopher]

The weather was too nice today. All the decent courses were booked hard in NWI and SW Michigan. I thought about just heading home but decided to play Scherwood. I said “good” courses were booked, not “all” courses. It’s a little sad that my last weekday, non-holiday round of the year might very well be at Scherwood but, on the other hand, it’s not an easy course and I did shoot a 34-39 73 with a birdie on 4 and a lot of great looks on the front. 

 

[Chicago Lefty]

Cantigny is a steaming pile of s***…how long has it been like this? What a dog track. 
 

For a course that used to have the best conditions and charged a premium price, it’s in full on shambles. 
 

what a shame

[ldchristopher]

I’ll preface this from today’s round with the fact that I am aware Scherwood is an objectively sh!tty course that cost me all of $25. That out of the way, I booked a 2:19 tee time and the starter/ranger told me I could go out early (about 1:50) and should just join up with whatever group I catch. Okay, cool. Well, I didn’t catch any other groups on the first four holes but as I’m coming off the 4th green at 2:20, the same ranger drives up to me and says, “We have an outing going off 10-14 at 3:00. You need to be done with 14 by 3:00.” So you’re asking me to play 9 holes in 40 minutes? Under 4.5 minutes per hole? Awesome. As I make the turn at about 2:50, my starter/ranger buddy says to me, “You better go right to 15…….YOU HEAR ME?!” I raised one solitary finger in the air (not my thumb), played up a couple of tees on 11 and 12, and was able to finish. 

[Holy Moses]

3 hours ago, Chicago Lefty said:

Cantigny is a steaming pile of s***…how long has it been like this? What a dog track. 
 

For a course that used to have the best conditions and charged a premium price, it’s in full on shambles. 
 

what a shame

What did you see that was so bad? 

[Chicago Lefty]

19 minutes ago, Holy Moses said:

What did you see that was so bad? 

 

The greens were running 8 maybe less.  Shaggy carpet, tons of unrepaired ball marks from multiple days, putts were zig zagging the turf was in such bad shape.  

 

Tee boxes were destroyed.  Front to back.

 

Grass was dying everywhere and weeds/crabgrass on greens/tee boxes all over the place.

 

It was bad...looked like they haven't touched the course in over a week.

 

I paid twilight rate and it still wasn't even close to being worth it.  If I had paid full rate I would have been livid.

Edited August 8, 2024 by Chicago Lefty

[sittonsideways]

8 hours ago, Chicago Lefty said:

 

The greens were running 8 maybe less.  Shaggy carpet, tons of unrepaired ball marks from multiple days, putts were zig zagging the turf was in such bad shape.  

 

Tee boxes were destroyed.  Front to back.

 

Grass was dying everywhere and weeds/crabgrass on greens/tee boxes all over the place.

 

It was bad...looked like they haven't touched the course in over a week.

 

I paid twilight rate and it still wasn't even close to being worth it.  If I had paid full rate I would have been livid.

That’s a bummer. Will mark that one off the list for the season. 

[MountainKing]

16 hours ago, Chicago Lefty said:

Cantigny is a steaming pile of s***…how long has it been like this? What a dog track. 
 

For a course that used to have the best conditions and charged a premium price, it’s in full on shambles. 
 

what a shame

 

Heard this from a couple of people - some of the courses that were trying to keep their greens & course conditions fast/firm early in the season are currently playing the price.  They're probably cutting some corners as well with the upcoming construction.

[DavePelz4]

1 hour ago, MountainKing said:

 

Heard this from a couple of people - some of the courses that were trying to keep their greens & course conditions fast/firm early in the season are currently playing the price.  They're probably cutting some corners as well with the upcoming construction.

 

Here's the most recent video...they've got quite a bit done.  https://player.vimeo.com/video/991048646

[MountainKing]

43 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Here's the most recent video...they've got quite a bit done.  https://player.vimeo.com/video/991048646

 

I guess I was more referring to the upcoming work on Lakeside and Woodside and not putting as much into them knowing they'll be torn up.

[DavePelz4]

This is intriguing...Oswego considering a CA company's plans to build an indoor 9 hole course and practice facility with nearly 1.1M sq ft.

 

https://www.shawlocal.com/kendall-county-now/2024/08/08/oswego-planners-to-review-next-month-plans-for-domed-golf-course-near-route-30/

[Chicago Lefty]

2 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Here's the most recent video...they've got quite a bit done.  https://player.vimeo.com/video/991048646

There was a lot of earth moving there yesterday. 

 

2 hours ago, MountainKing said:

 

I guess I was more referring to the upcoming work on Lakeside and Woodside and not putting as much into them knowing they'll be torn up.

It’s one 9 per year so to let the others go while one is being worked on would be silly. Especially to expect people to show up and play in those conditions for $125 or whatever the full rate is. 

[MountainKing]

29 minutes ago, Chicago Lefty said:

There was a lot of earth moving there yesterday. 

 

It’s one 9 per year so to let the others go while one is being worked on would be silly. Especially to expect people to show up and play in those conditions for $125 or whatever the full rate is. 

 

Don't disagree at all.   As forgiving as I can be on conditions,  once you're at a certain price point you need to provide top conditions daily.   I just wonder at this point they don't care about passing people off in the name of money knowing most will come back to check out the work.    Sucks to hear this.

[Springsteennut]

Bartlett Hills in the morning. It’s been 2 years since I’ve been there. I know a guy that works there and he was raving about how good the course is after some work when I ran into him a few weeks ago.  I remember some pretty nice greens and some pretty decent conditions except the traps which were pretty bare from when I was there last time. 

[ldchristopher]

Whisper Creek this morning with Bear. The fairways were very firm and I had some superball bounces on a few holes because of that. The management company there has clearly decided to just let a handful of bunkers become waste areas. However, the traps they decided to keep and take care of were in good shape and had plenty of sand. The greens were firm but slow, but that’s standard operating procedure at Whisper. My game was kind of sloppy. I’m back to being a weekend only golfer and the lack of sharpness on approach shots was evident. Wedge play was fine most of the time but I only had a handful of birdie looks all day. I guess moving off the tips also would have helped. 77

 

I thought it was funny that Bear got a new GPS that has slope and he chose to debut it at Whisper Creek. For kicks, I used the slope function on my rangefinder for all of my approaches today. Each one had exactly 0° of slope, making Whisper possibly the flattest course we play. The competition for that title is pretty fierce though. I’m inclined to give the edge to Wedgewood or GCI, but Whisper makes a compelling case. 

Edited August 11, 2024 by ldchristopher

[MountainKing]

Spent Friday night seeing Metallica, figured a great way to follow that up would be getting home at 2am and up st 5am for 36 holes of golf.  The wife and kid are out of town so who needs sleep?

 

Morning round was over at Prairie Landing.   Course was in solid condition,  greens were about as soft and slow as you'll see at Prairie Landing, but still rolled nice.   No issues with pace coming in under 4 hours.  4 birdies, a bad bogey and dumb double on 12 for a 71.

 

Next round was right up the road at Prairie Bluff.   Wind was howling by this round and coming right out of the west making for a tough day.   Bluff was also in great shape,  greens were pretty similar to PL, maybe a touch faster.   As usual pace was solid at almost 4 hours on the dot.   I was cruise along at even for the day when exhaustion just hit me like a wall on 17.  Found water on both 17 and 18 resulting in a super strong double double finish for a 76.

[Argonne69]

47 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

Spent Friday night seeing Metallica, figured a great way to follow that up would be getting home at 2am and up st 5am for 36 holes of golf.  The wife and kid are out of town so who needs sleep?

 

Morning round was over at Prairie Landing.   Course was in solid condition,  greens were about as soft and slow as you'll see at Prairie Landing, but still rolled nice.   No issues with pace coming in under 4 hours.  4 birdies, a bad bogey and dumb double on 12 for a 71.

 

Next round was right up the road at Prairie Bluff.   Wind was howling by this round and coming right out of the west making for a tough day.   Bluff was also in great shape,  greens were pretty similar to PL, maybe a touch faster.   As usual pace was solid at almost 4 hours on the dot.   I was cruise along at even for the day when exhaustion just hit me like a wall on 17.  Found water on both 17 and 18 resulting in a super strong double double finish for a 76.

 

Lol. Right up the road? Seems you were sleep deprived at that point. 😊 It's 34 miles between the two courses. 

 

[ldchristopher]

1 hour ago, MountainKing said:

Spent Friday night seeing Metallica, figured a great way to follow that up would be getting home at 2am and up st 5am for 36 holes of golf.  The wife and kid are out of town so who needs sleep?

This is 100% what to do when given a free day to play. Perfect. No notes. 

[MountainKing]

1 hour ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Lol. Right up the road? Seems you were sleep deprived at that point. 😊 It's 34 miles between the two courses. 

 

 

Lol yeah I know.  The out of town trip was last minute so we had to take what we could get. 

[jimwgt26]

I played Dubs for the first time since it re-opened.  It's excellent, all the bunkers are much improved and the third green is completely different.  There are also other subtle changes, however, we often said "This looks a little different," but we couldn't exactly say how.  I also played #2 a few weeks ago for the first time in years and have to say those greens are much improved.  

[DavePelz4]

College buds weekend which always starts and ends with golf. Started early Friday morning at Juday Creek in Grainger, IN. They definitely go down as one of the worst pro shops in terms of operational efficiency. Had pre-paid the round for a 3some, and let the mature woman know our 3rd would be there 15-20 minutes before our tee time.  She gave us range balls and off we went. The range is wonderful, if you prefer to hit off dirt, or practice shots out of the rough.  The balls were close to Oak Grove sucky.

 

We meet our third on the putting green a few minutes before our tee time and he complains about thinking it was a pre-paid round. It was, but he was still charged.  So I go back in the pro shop to question why he was charged. She responds with "you need to come in between 9s and talk to the GM." Well, OK, I guess.  Then she says, "The range is closed today, why did you go out there?" I suggested that she sold us balls, wasn't that the opportunity to tell us the range was closed?  What would we do with a bag of range balls if the range isn't open? She asks, "Didn't you see the sign?" I asked where it was, and it was conveniently located just before you reached the first tee, which is a 90 degree difference to the range.  

 

Stopped in between 9's to talk with the GM as requested.  It took her 12 minutes to come out of her office, so we're now out of position.  Explained everything, showed her the pre-paid reservations and she said she didn't know how to refund the extra tee time.  She offered a compromise of $31.00 of beers, waters, soda's, etc.  Ah, operational efficiency.

 

The course is a lot of target golf with the driver staying in the bag on quite a few holes. The fairways clearly aren't irrigated as the ball goes forever. Greens are smallish and were OK, probably rolling 9. The only bunker I was in had really soft sand and I was lucky to find the plugged ball, and more fortunate to get it out.  JC apparently doesn't care about group size as we teed off on 10, saw a 7some of ladies playing the a nearby hole. Nothing special about the course, just basic golf. But for $31.00, it's not fair to expect Augusta National.

 

Yesterday we played Indian Hills Lake in Eau Claire, MI. Another basic golf course where the driveable area on most holes could be 100 yards wide, but the rough was 2-3 inches deep and made up 85 yards of that.  The "fairways" which were cut in a way that left them shaggy, with very little roll.  Some variety in terms of length, including a 583 yard par 5, which is a lot of an old man to manage these days. Nice contouring and movement on some holes and in general, the course was in good condition. Par 3's were less than memorable. The defense of the course was the greens and also the wind, with a lot of sloping requiring you to be in the right place. Not a lot of bunkering to be found, basically wail away, hit it again and putt.

 

Still, fun as the college buds can till trash talk even at our advanced ages.

Edited August 12, 2024 by DavePelz4

[Chicago Lefty]

Played in the Saturday Classic at Village Links Saturday with @B-Man.  Nothing has changed with his game in the last decade...ho hum close to par.  

 

Hit some good shots and hit some bad shots, won some money and overall had a fantastic time.

 

Course was in very solid shape.  Greens were running a little quicker and smoother than I've seen them most of this year (I've played 10+rounds there this year).  18th hole is still as stupid as it ever was.