Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[Argonne69]

1 hour ago, ldchristopher said:

Stonehenge this morning. Oppressively humid out there. Temps in the high 80’s and the dew point in the low 70’s. I love this miserable weather. Take one practice swing on the first tee and I’m nice and loose. The course is in pretty solid shape. The rough has kind of a gold hue to it and the lush fairways and firm rough creates a nice contrast. Greens were smooth and rolling at a standard 9. I played well. Hit 12 greens and had 2 birdies on 6 and 10 to go with two bogies on 2 and 3 for a 72. 

 

I'd kill for temps in the 80s. Lol. The heat index in Lynchburg, VA the other day was 105. Finished walking my morning round and it was 107 in the parking lot. Oy.

 

[Gdane]

Am I the sucker for paying $25 for a big bucket of balls at a range with no targets and questionable mowing (Deerpath)?  I'll hang up and listen.

[Holy Moses]

8 minutes ago, Gdane said:

Am I the sucker for paying $25 for a big bucket of balls at a range with no targets and questionable mowing (Deerpath)?  I'll hang up and listen.

$25 is too high unless it has targets, grass tees, and really nice range balls. How big is this bucket?

[ldchristopher]

Broken Arrow this morning. I was supposed to go East to North but there were two foursomes of cart bros in front of me. No thanks. Went South to North and didn’t stop once. What? It’s my birthday. I’ll do as I please one day per year. Was it somewhat soul crushing to go from Hemlock and Blackthorn to Stonehenge and BA? Only a little bit. And I say that as a big fan of Stonehenge. Anyway, I played awesome. 14 greens, 3 birdies on 1 and 8 South and 2 North, and only one bogey (7 South) for a 70. 

[MountainKing]

Flossmoor is always such a treat.  It's quietly becoming one of my favorite golf courses. It's private,  so conditions are pristine.  Due to the heat the greens were slowed down to a 12.  We had nobody in front of us  but even taking our time we still got around in 3:30.   Days like today make me want to join a club and be done with the public nonsense.   Once we figure out where we're gonna plant ourselves, I'll make the jump.  17 pars, and a card busting triple for a 75.

[DavePelz4]

6 hours ago, ldchristopher said:

Broken Arrow this morning. I was supposed to go East to North but there were two foursomes of cart bros in front of me. No thanks. Went South to North and didn’t stop once. What? It’s my birthday. I’ll do as I please one day per year. Was it somewhat soul crushing to go from Hemlock and Blackthorn to Stonehenge and BA? Only a little bit. And I say that as a big fan of Stonehenge. Anyway, I played awesome. 14 greens, 3 birdies on 1 and 8 South and 2 North, and only one bogey (7 South) for a 70. 

 

Congrats on an awesome round LD and happy BDay? Thought you were stopping by for a birthday beverage! How'd you play 8? Where was the pin?

[parbung]

8 hours ago, Gdane said:

Am I the sucker for paying $25 for a big bucket of balls at a range with no targets and questionable mowing (Deerpath)?  I'll hang up and listen.

Kind of lol

 

Used to go there during lunch. Even the punch card prices are kinda high 

 

I love their short game area tho. 

[Holy Moses]

Whisper Creek today. The breeze was nice even though it wasn’t 95 out. Greens were in good shape, but very slow. They have new carts with GPS, but the GPS only gives you the yardage and has no map. That’s a first that I’ve seen. Love their PB&J sandwiches at the turn. 

[ldchristopher]

3 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Congrats on an awesome round LD and happy BDay? Thought you were stopping by for a birthday beverage! How'd you play 8? Where was the pin?

Thanks! Had to take my dad to the dentist after the round. The kids take care of the parents these days. Maybe a beverage next time. I hit 3 wood off the tee and 7 iron just short of the gulley in front of the green. Then flipped a wedge to 8 feet and made the putt. 

[ldchristopher]

Stonehenge with Bear this afternoon. Not much different to report since it was the same conditions: baked rough and giant greens that are getting slower as summer wears on. Ball striking was a little off with 9 fairways, 10 greens, 1 birdie (13) and 4 bogies (1, 8, 12, and 16). 75. 

[@_the_crook]

Holy Sunscreen Batman....

Played yesterday & this morning, both times in the first slot at Sunset Valley.

Was hoping to beat the heat.  Nope - it was my constant companion.

Not even the hint of a breeze.

Bet I downed over half a gallon of Gatorade & water each round.

Course played really well. The greens are fast & a little too much oomph would run right past the breaks.

Made some good pars and settled for bogey on others. Nothing brutal & only one blow up out of 36. I'll take that any day. 

 

Highlight today was birdie on #4. My tee shot was a few feet from the hole.

 

Please stay hydrated and find some shade when possible.  As courses remove trees, it can be hard to get out of the sun for a minute.

Think I'll bring the umbrella for next weekend.

[ldchristopher]

Brighton Dale Blue this morning with Bear and our buddy who was visiting from Pittsburgh. The course was in fine shape, sans the overwatered tee boxes (a BDale staple). They’ve scaled back the speed of the greens. Can’t run bluegrass greens at 10+ in the heat. I played well with 12 greens and some solid par saves but couldn’t buy a birdie putt. 74. I’ve got a week in Wisconsin with the family coming up but I’ll definitely be playing on the 3rd, 4th and 5th at twilight while my fellow FIBs are blowing their fingers off. 

[Holy Moses]

26 minutes ago, ldchristopher said:

Brighton Dale Blue this morning with Bear and our buddy who was visiting from Pittsburgh. The course was in fine shape, sans the overwatered tee boxes (a BDale staple). They’ve scaled back the speed of the greens. Can’t run bluegrass greens at 10+ in the heat. I played well with 12 greens and some solid par saves but couldn’t buy a birdie putt. 74. I’ve got a week in Wisconsin with the family coming up but I’ll definitely be playing on the 3rd, 4th and 5th at twilight while my fellow FIBs are blowing their fingers off. 

They have bluegrass greens?

[TBone0576]

5 hours ago, ldchristopher said:

Brighton Dale Blue this morning with Bear and our buddy who was visiting from Pittsburgh. The course was in fine shape, sans the overwatered tee boxes (a BDale staple). They’ve scaled back the speed of the greens. Can’t run bluegrass greens at 10+ in the heat. I played well with 12 greens and some solid par saves but couldn’t buy a birdie putt. 74. I’ve got a week in Wisconsin with the family coming up but I’ll definitely be playing on the 3rd, 4th and 5th at twilight while my fellow FIBs are blowing their fingers off. 

Been able to get some balls to bounce up to front pin positions the last couple of weekends.   They do like to water the tees.  It’s a shame they didn’t put sand and seed out on the par 3s until about a month ago.  They have a couple tees that have really taken a beating like #3 Blue.  Hell, even #1 Blue looks really rough which is odd for a par 5.  

[VNutz]

Bartlett Hills Saturday for my 3rd round of the year. I'm usually a walker, but thank goodness for carts this weekend. Just so hot and stuffy, relentless heat. But still great to get out and see old golf buds.

 

Course was in fine shape, greens were quite quick and hard to figure out. Pins in really tough spots, either on or near ridges making putting a bit treacherous. Chipped in for eagle on 4, but about the only highlight en route to an 80. Only issue of the day were multiple golf balls left behind by groups prior. Anywhere you hit a tee shot odds were there was a ball or two around that you had to check against.  That and there was a serious foot dragger in one of the groups ahead. Must have had non spikeless shoes, and with the humidity they were simply tearing up patches around the cup.

[MountainKing]

Phillips Park yestrday, like to get out there once a year or so.  Always found it to be a fun little course.  Conditions were great tee to green, although the greens were rolling at about a 9, which was some culture shock coming from my last few rounds at Floss, Arrowhead, Makray etc.  With that, the green speeds were fully expected, it's not a course known for blazing greens. Pace was great at 3:30, but based on what things looked like when we were leaving I would bet the pace was easily 5 hours by the afternoon.  Despite the heat, I still hoofed it around by foot, wasn't too bad but I'm one of those crazies that enjoys the heat.    Had 4 eagle looks of under 20 feet on 8,9, 15 and 18, made none of em, but did convert the birdies.  Had one more birdie in the mix, but in typical me fashion I balanced that out with 5 really bad bogies for an even par 71. 

[ldchristopher]

5 hours ago, TBone0576 said:

Been able to get some balls to bounce up to front pin positions the last couple of weekends.   They do like to water the tees.  It’s a shame they didn’t put sand and seed out on the par 3s until about a month ago.  They have a couple tees that have really taken a beating like #3 Blue.  Hell, even #1 Blue looks really rough which is odd for a par 5.  

The golfer in me wants to say that since #1 Blue is a short 5, guys hit iron off that tee. But the realist in me sees guys taking divots with their driver. 

[DavePelz4]

Interesting 3 days of golf. The usual Friday/Sunday at Silver Lake with a comp group round, with VNutz, sandwiched in at Bartlett Hills.

 

Friday was the worst round I've played all year, by far.  After a solid par to open and a drive that just leaked into the rough on 2, I made the mental mistake of playing the wrong ball. Who knew that someone else marked their ball the same way I do, but has a dot at the end of the red line on the ball. We were a yard or two apart and honestly, I never think about the ball number I'm playing. Well, the playing partner picked up my ball as he has every right to do and said he was playing a PV1 number 2 and that was a 1 plus it was missing the dot. That 2 stroke penalty got stuck in my head as the last time I did that was 20+ years ago. Sheesh. Between that and a driver that just wouldn't cooperate, terrible round. Shocked to see a few others played ever worse than me as I expected to be DFL in the standings. No envelopes coming this Friday.

 

Saturday Bartlett Hills was in great shape, albeit with some pin positions on tiny shelves in places I'd never seen the pins before. As VNutz pointed out, there were so many balls just abandoned in the fairway, WTH. Thankfully, the driver reappeared and behaved the entire round. Shot 4 under my index which included a 7 on #16 being just 30 yards from the green in 2. Such a display of ineptitude. Rolled in a 25 foot putt on 11 for a birdie and absent 16's disaster, the short game was on point. 

 

Sunday was a 4 man team comp at SL. ABCD with points earned for net birdies or better as the scoring method. The team was carried by the D player who shot his personal best. We didn't sniff anything close to the lead as our "A" player had a rough day, as in really rough. My "highlight" of the day was the 249 yard par 3 9th. The group in front of us graciously waved us up. After the first 3 guys hit and weren't close to the green, I hit a shot, with my driver, thought it was on a good line, but didn't see any response from the guys on the green. It was literally as good as I could have hit it. Hmmm...no idea where it finished, but it wasn't in the hole. As I walked up to green, there was a ball on the green, about 15 feet past the hole.  Wow, mine? Clearly the senior steroids are working. Left the downhill putt on the lip, but a 3 on that hole is a solid score.

 

Post round enjoying a beverage, one of the guys asked me about our comp group and where we played. He asked for course names and I threw our Bowes Creek, HoE, Randall Oaks and a few others and the group looked at me like I was speaking French. They had never heard of any of them, and these are people who play 75 rounds a year, nearly all at Silver Lake. Told them they needed to get out of Cook County and north of 88 and see the rest of Chicago's golf scene.

 

Usual Friday/Sunday tournaments upcoming with a fun round at Hughes Creek on Saturday.

Edited June 30 by DavePelz4

[DavePelz4]

Have to add another post to mention one of the players at SL. He's 88, plays every event, and on Friday, playing the North Course which for him is still 6,000 yards and he shot 81.  Simply amazing, and a nice guy as well. Perhaps golf is the game that can keep us all young?

[TheBear95]

32 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

Interesting 3 days of golf. The usual Friday/Sunday at Silver Lake with a comp group round, with VNutz, sandwiched in at Bartlett Hills.

 

Friday was the worst round I've played all year, by far.  After a solid par to open and a drive that just leaked into the rough on 2, I made the mental mistake of playing the wrong ball. Who knew that someone else marked their ball the same way I do, but has a dot at the end of the red line on the ball. We were a yard or two apart and honestly, I never think about the ball number I'm playing. Well, the playing partner picked up my ball as he has every right to do and said he was playing a PV1 number 2 and that was a 1 plus it was missing the dot. That 2 stroke penalty got stuck in my head as the last time I did that was 20+ years ago. Sheesh. Between that and a driver that just wouldn't cooperate, terrible round. Shocked to see a few others played ever worse than me as I expected to be DFL in the standings. No enveloped coming this Friday.

 

Saturday Bartlett Hills was in great shape, albeit with some pin positions on tiny shelves in places I'd never seen the pins before. As VNutz pointed out, there were so many balls just abandoned in the fairway, WTH. Thankfully, the driver reappeared and behaved the entire round. Shot 4 under my index which included a 7 on #16 being just 30 yards from the green in 2. Such a display of ineptitude. Rolled in a 25 foot putt on 11 for a birdie and absent 16's disaster, the short game was on point. 

 

Sunday was a 4 man team comp at SL. ABCD with points earned for net birdies or better as the scoring method. The team was carried by the D player who shot his personal best. We didn't sniff anything close to the lead as our "A" player had a rough day, as in really rough. My "highlight" of the day was the 249 yard par 3 9th. The group in front of us graciously waved us up. After the first 3 guys hit and weren't close to the green, I hit a shot, with my driver, thought it was on a good line, but didn't see any response from the guys on the green. It was literally as good as I could have hit it. Hmmm...no idea where it finished, but it wasn't in the hole. As I walked up to green, there was a ball on the green, about 15 feet past the hole.  Wow, mine? Clearly the senior steroids are working. Left the downhill putt on the lip, but a 3 on that hole is a solid score.

 

Post round enjoying a beverage, one of the guys asked me about our comp group and where we played. He asked for course names and I threw our Bowes Creek, HoE, Randall Oaks and a few others and the group looked at me like I was speaking French. They had never heard of any of them, and these are people who play 75 rounds a year, nearly all at Silver Lake. Told them they needed to get out of Cook County and north of 88 and see the rest of Chicago's golf scene.

 

Usual Friday/Sunday tournaments upcoming with a fun round at Hughes Creek on Saturday.

 

Have you played Hughes Creek before? I have only played it once and thought it had some odd holes.

 

I don't know what it is about that area of Kane Co. Tanna, MILF Creek, Hughes Creek.... The courses are.... Special. 

[DavePelz4]

2 minutes ago, TheBear95 said:

 

Have you played Hughes Creek before? I have only played it once and thought it had some odd holes.

 

I don't know what it is about that area of Kane Co. Tanna, MILF Creek, Hughes Creek.... The courses are.... Special. 

 

Played it once about 5 years ago. The only reason I'm going back, as I'd agree there are some funky holes, is we have our comp group playing a round there and I need to refresh my memory. My favorite part of HC was the bar, felt very Friday night Fish Fry in Wisconsiney.

[TheBear95]

6 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Played it once about 5 years ago. The only reason I'm going back, as I'd agree there are some funky holes, is we have our comp group playing a round there and I need to refresh my memory. My favorite part of HC was the bar, felt very Friday night Fish Fry in Wisconsiney.

 

Makes sense. HC is not as bad as Tanna or Mill, but what is.

[parbung]

On 6/27/2025 at 7:57 PM, Holy Moses said:

Whisper Creek today. The breeze was nice even though it wasn’t 95 out. Greens were in good shape, but very slow. They have new carts with GPS, but the GPS only gives you the yardage and has no map. That’s a first that I’ve seen. Love their PB&J sandwiches at the turn. 

How were the bunkers?

 

Last time I played, they were nothing but rocks and pebbles. 

[TheBear95]

Just now, parbung said:

How were the bunkers?

 

Last time I played, they were nothing but rocks and pebbles. 

 

I played Whisper earlier in the month. Greenside, the bunkers were surprisingly good. They definitely have added new sand.

 

Now, the fairway bunkers are another story. Some are labeled GUR, but frankly they all should be. 

[VNutz]

18 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Played it once about 5 years ago. The only reason I'm going back, as I'd agree there are some funky holes, is we have our comp group playing a round there and I need to refresh my memory. My favorite part of HC was the bar, felt very Friday night Fish Fry in Wisconsiney.

Gotta keep your head on a swivel on the 3rd tee box. 

[Holy Moses]

1 hour ago, TheBear95 said:

 

I played Whisper earlier in the month. Greenside, the bunkers were surprisingly good. They definitely have added new sand.

 

Now, the fairway bunkers are another story. Some are labeled GUR, but frankly they all should be. 

Yep, they are just letting the fairway bunkers become waste bunkers which I’m fine with. Just don’t hit in them if it’s not GUR. Greenside bunkers were in good shape. 
 

Still can’t hit driver on 3/4 par 5s because the fairway runs out which is dumb. 

[TBone0576]

2 hours ago, ldchristopher said:

The golfer in me wants to say that since #1 Blue is a short 5, guys hit iron off that tee. But the realist in me sees guys taking divots with their driver. 

 

Yes I believe your realist opinion is likely the correct one.   More people probably should lay up with an iron or hybrid on that hole, but I'm thinking that the everyman believes he can get it right up near the green in two after hitting a big drive on that hole.  

[DavePelz4]

51 minutes ago, TBone0576 said:

 

Yes I believe your realist opinion is likely the correct one.   More people probably should lay up with an iron or hybrid on that hole, but I'm thinking that the everyman believes he can get it right up near the green in two after hitting a big drive on that hole.  

 

The first hole on Silver Lake south is a 570ish par 5. They're running out of places to put the tee markers as there are SO many divots. We were just having this conversation yesterday. That box is worse than some of the par 3 tees.

[MountainKing]

18 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

The first hole on Silver Lake south is a 570ish par 5. They're running out of places to put the tee markers as there are SO many divots. We were just having this conversation yesterday. That box is worse than some of the par 3 tees.

 

What really gets me, and further proof many are on the wrong tee boxes, is how many divots I see from 6700+ tee boxes....if you're playing that far back you should not be chunking driver. 

[psygolf]

B-Day tomorrow…afternoon round at Marovitz with best bud, right into the Cubs nite game with son.

 

Perfect.