Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[ldchristopher]

There’s no bigger shill for Lawsonia than Zer0. I could mention the rocks in the bunkers, the very pedestrian first 5 holes, or the fact that the fescue is often trimmed (hackers need to find their errant shots) to the point that I have yet to play LL with gold-topped fescue that actually frames the holes. But I don’t want to start anything.

[Argonne69]

Sheesh.

Sand Valley offers 50% off a 2nd round in the early season, so both courses can be played for $165.

'Same with Streamsong in the summer. You can play two courses for less than $200.

The Quarry at Giants Ridge (GD #31) is $89 during peak season.

Greens fees at The Prairie Club are daily, so one can play the Pines and Dunes courses for less than $200 combined.

Late Spring and early fall rates at Tullymore are $75 midweek.

Wild Horse charges less than $55 midweek during the peak season. 'Probably one of the best values in the top 100.

'Just walked Troy Burne for $65 last week.

The Virtues is $56 midweek.

World Woods Pine Barrens is $40 w/ cart weekdays.

Quintero is $64 w/ cart during the summer.

Pumpkin Ridge Ghost Creek is $90.

Belvedere is $89.

Boyne Highlands The Heather is $90.

 

[mci711]

World Woods in FL as well.

 

Edit: Missed it you had it.

[Shriner]

Playing Arboretum Golf Club Thursday; I think it has been 20 years roughly since my last round. All I remember is water everywhere. Anyone played it recently have any input on conditions?

[Cubswin]

Played Thunderhawk this weekend for the first time this year. The greens were bumpy and very slow.

 

What has happened to this great track? Did I happen to catch it on a bad day? Or has TH gone down in quality?

 

 

[chisag]

 

... I just remember too many blind shots. One of my pet peeves, especially playing a course for the first time.

[zer0]

LL is the only course in the top 100 that doesn't have a rate higher than $100 at ANY TIME.

 

All those courses you listed are discount rates or twilight etc. LL has discount rates as well, but the most you will ever pay there is under $100 and it comes with a cart. They claim to be the only course in the top 100 that doesn't have a green fee over $100.

[zer0]

$119 green fee.

 

You guys misunderstood. LL doesnt have a single green fee over $100. They're the only course in the top 100 that can say that.

 

 

[Argonne69]

The highest rate at Wild Horse is $78.67 for a weekend w/ cart. Walking on the weekend is $61.61. It's peak season in Nebraska.

Peak rate at Troy Burne is $88 on the weekend.

Peak rate at The Virtues is $100 to ride on the weekend. It's $76 to walk.

Lawsonia can claim anything they want. Doesn't make it true.

[mci711]

good not great course in the middle of nowhere... Why would it be over $100?

[Argonne69]

Lol. World Woods is $119 three months of the year. So play it during the other 9 months. Lawsonia isn't even open 9 months a year.

[ldchristopher]

Wait, wait, hang on. You’re saying a golf course made up a bunch of nonsense and then banked on people just taking their word for it? Lawsonia is good. However, it’s not great and shouldn’t be a top 100 course in the country in my opinion. The green complexes are interesting and it’s a reminder that courses can be laid out without going bulldozer crazy. However, it’s not very difficult and rewards people for mishitting shots that end up as ground balls. Then they claim they were “playing the ground game.” No you weren’t. You hit a low screamer that rolled up. It’s also got objectively bad bunkers with giant rocks in them. I’ll deal with that at a place like Redtail. They aren’t winning any awards or building an army of golf course marks. But Lawsonia’s maintenance should match its reputation.

[TheBear95]

Played ThunderHawk a month ago. Greens were in nice shape. That said, I find ThunderHawk's greens to be very hit or miss. Been that way for a few years now.

Sometimes nice, other times, ah not good. For one of the area's better courses, it is disappointing that you never know how the greens will be.

[geochitown]

I echo Bear's statements.
My buddy is playing it Friday, so I'll have some info to report.

[geochitown]

Don't know when it went private, but it was probably well over 10 years ago.

[@_the_crook]

board is up.....

[geochitown]

and the thread resurfaces...

[TheBear95]

35 minutes ago, @_the_crook said:

board is up.....

On a unrelated note, do you know how the construction is going at Sportsman's? I feel that the weather for most part has been pretty good this summer for a construction project. Not too wet. Hopefully, they are on-pace. Don't know if they have been slowed by COVID restrictions though.

As we move quickly towards the end of summer, I have found myself missing the course the past few weeks. While I wasn't a regular, I would play Sportsman's around 3-5 times a season.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Edited August 18, 2020 by TheBear95

[taylorx300]

Played Prairie Isle today and was surprised by how many leaves were on the ground. Not because of the storm. These were dried/dead leaves. It was trouble finding your ball even in some fairways.

[Dashfast]

Played Harborside Starboard this morning and shot one of my best rounds of the year. Greens were kind of beat up (as was the range), which was strange. Usually, the course is in great shape, so this threw us off a bit (maybe the weekend warriors?). The bunkers were also a little wet and hard, which is exactly how I turned a great round into just a pretty good one. Was sitting at 73 coming into the par 5 18th and blew it. My tee shot ended up going left, but finding a good level lie, sitting up in the rough. I then played a conservative 9i straight into a fairway bunker. After that, I found two more greenside bunkers (a classic bunker shot to different bunker shot scenario) before carding a double. Painful finale.

 

 

[Schley]

On 7/11/2019 at 3:39 PM, mci711 said:

> @MountainKing said:

> Just got back from 54 holes down in the Indianapolis area, I put a full report on the main page. Great two days but **** my back didn't hold up and the heat was brutal.

 

How was Joliet GC when you went there recently - condition wise?

Joliet GC closed this spring.

[Argonne69]

 

Welcome back, everyone. 

 

Cary CC last Tuesday was a bit of a letdown. It's a wonderful piece of property with a ridge running through the northern end of the property. This gives it a number of elevated tees and greens. It's a tough walk, though. Conditions were quite poor, with plenty of dead spots in the fairways, and rough consisting of more weeds than grass. At least the greens were in nice shape. That said, it was $32 to walk, so I got what I paid for.

 

The Preserve on Thursday. The course is getting beat up. They had a number of tee boxes closed because of excessive wear, so it made for an interesting round with tees moved to the back or forward, giving some new looks. 'Probably one of the most frustrating rounds of the year. I was paired with two slow players, and with a foursome behind us playing a scramble, I felt constant pressure to speed things up. I usually don't mind playing with higher cap players, but these two crossed the line. One was a very short hitter with a very long preshot routine. Took forever to get to the green. The other talked constantly about his great game, but he lost over 15 balls. I think he managed 3 fairways all day. We spent a ton of time looking for errant shots.

 

Village Links on Friday. Conditions were very good. 'Played with three solid players, and had the best round of the week. It's nice to be able to simply hit the ball and go.

 

Glencoe yesterday. 'Nothing new to report there. Started the week with a very nice round, including four birdies. I put my new edges into play, and the added spin was just what I needed. They were custom ordered 2 degrees flat, and lo and behold I stopped tugging my approaches left. 'Go figure.

 

Off to Edgebrook CC in Sandwich in a few minutes. for my first visit.

[DavePelz4]

Last Wednesday a 20 year golf friend who I've play all over the country with, our own VNutz and I played Rich Harvest farms with the golf coach of my beloved NIU Huskies. Rich Harvest Farms is more like a resort with a world class golf course in the middle of it. In addition to golf which I'll get to in a sec, we toured the outdoor and indoor practice facilities and they are world class along with the study area, game areas, etc. What an incredible recruiting advantage to have something like that to draw in recruits in addition to the course.

 

We were a bit rushed on the range and instead of a normal warm up period, we maybe had 15-20 minutes so that we could get in front of several groups playing together which the NIU Golf coach acknowledged could be a bit slow.

 

On to the course. Having been bless to play Chicago Golf Club, all the Medinah courses, Erin Hills, Sand Valley and some of the other top public and private clubs in the country, I'd put RHF in the top 10 as far as a fun course to play.  We played it around 6,800 yards but because of the conditions and how fast it played, it was more than manageable. It's definitely a course you need to play a couple of times to understand the lines of play. The conditions as you'd expect were very good and how nice is it to play a course where there are no ball marks. Mr. Rich  is trying to let the course become a little more "natural" as opposed to a manufactured design so the traps had more old fashioned sand, and plenty of it. On the majority of the holes there is an ample area to hit driver. The par 3's were magnificent and just visually stunning as they incorporated natural features into the design.  Big fan of the green complexes and by no means were they easy.  You had to hit the ball in the proper spot to have a legit chance at making a putt. 

 

We had a forecaddie named Dave and he was a riot. He went out of his way to make the day fun; he had a lot of stories about the course of his loops etc. Dave and VNutz hit it off very well. Dave would tell V where to hit a shot or the line of a putt and V would execute. I'm sure he'll chime in but I think he was -3 going into hole 8 and had at least 4 if not 5 birdies for the round. There were a couple of other putts that could have gone in as well. 

 

For a perceptually high end club, it was very down to Earth and the entire staff went out of their way to be gracious and accommodating.  The clubhouse appeared to be smallish but in reality it was huge and you could have easily spent an hour going through all of the mementos and displays.  We also spent a bit of time in the car museum which has a huge meting area, gym and Mr. Rich's office. There are several other houses on the property where guests stay and I would have LOVED to toured those. The houses fit in so naturally with the overall visuals of the course.

 

Here's a couple of pics. Will share that on Silver #5 which we played around 170, my long time friend missed a hole in one by about 2 inches.  An amazing shot and memory.

[mci711]

11 hours ago, Dashfast said:

Played Harborside Starboard this morning and shot one of my best rounds of the year. Greens were kind of beat up (as was the range), which was strange. Usually, the course is in great shape, so this threw us off a bit (maybe the weekend warriors?). The bunkers were also a little wet and hard, which is exactly how I turned a great round into just a pretty good one. Was sitting at 73 coming into the par 5 18th and blew it. My tee shot ended up going left, but finding a good level lie, sitting up in the rough. I then played a conservative 9i straight into a fairway bunker. After that, I found two more greenside bunkers (a classic bunker shot to different bunker shot scenario) before carding a double. Painful finale.

I played Port this weekend. First time I believe being at Harborside since moving out of the city 3 years ago. I was very pleasantly surprised with the condition of the course. Everything was pretty good to above average for a public course in the area. The anchor hole is still one of the dumbest holes in Chicago...the US? How are you supposed to land a 5 iron and hold the green if it is back left. Pace was also dicey took over 4.5 but it was beautiful out and I played well so not a big deal. 

Rich Harvest Farms is a quirky gem, I have only been once but it was a great day. The owner's car museum is quite a site as well. 

 

1 hour ago, DavePelz4 said:

Last Wednesday a 20 year golf friend who I've play all over the country with, our own VNutz and I played Rich Harvest farms with the golf coach of my beloved NIU Huskies. Rich Harvest Farms is more like a resort with a world class golf course in the middle of it. In addition to golf which I'll get to in a sec, we toured the outdoor and indoor practice facilities and they are world class along with the study area, game areas, etc. What an incredible recruiting advantage to have something like that to draw in recruits in addition to the course.

 

We were a bit rushed on the range and instead of a normal warm up period, we maybe had 15-20 minutes so that we could get in front of several groups playing together which the NIU Golf coach acknowledged could be a bit slow.

 

On to the course. Having been bless to play Chicago Golf Club, all the Medinah courses, Erin Hills, Sand Valley and some of the other top public and private clubs in the country, I'd put RHF in the top 10 as far as a fun course to play.  We played it around 6,800 yards but because of the conditions and how fast it played, it was more than manageable. It's definitely a course you need to play a couple of times to understand the lines of play. The conditions as you'd expect were very good and how nice is it to play a course where there are no ball marks. Mr. Rich  is trying to let the course become a little more "natural" as opposed to a manufactured design so the traps had more old fashioned sand, and plenty of it. On the majority of the holes there is an ample area to hit driver. The par 3's were magnificent and just visually stunning as they incorporated natural features into the design.  Big fan of the green complexes and by no means were they easy.  You had to hit the ball in the proper spot to have a legit chance at making a putt. 

 

We had a forecaddie named Dave and he was a riot. He went out of his way to make the day fun; he had a lot of stories about the course of his loops etc. Dave and VNutz hit it off very well. Dave would tell V where to hit a shot or the line of a putt and V would execute. I'm sure he'll chime in but I think he was -3 going into hole 8 and had at least 4 if not 5 birdies for the round. There were a couple of other putts that could have gone in as well. 

 

For a perceptually high end club, it was very down to Earth and the entire staff went out of their way to be gracious and accommodating.  The clubhouse appeared to be smallish but in reality it was huge and you could have easily spent an hour going through all of the mementos and displays.  We also spent a bit of time in the car museum which has a huge meting area, gym and Mr. Rich's office. There are several other houses on the property where guests stay and I would have LOVED to toured those. The houses fit in so naturally with the overall visuals of the course.

 

Here's a couple of pics. Will share that on Silver #5 which we played around 170, my long time friend missed a hole in one by about 2 inches.  An amazing shot and memory.

 

 

 

 

 

[ME27]

Played Ravisloe last week and just really enjoy that course, it was in excellent shape and for some reason it seemed like we were the only people out there. Had a foursome at 1:40 in the afternoon and flew around the course. Odd for a beautiful summer afternoon. 

 

Played Palmira on Sunday and have never played there and decided to give it a try and boy was it disappointing. Course has some unique holes but it was in terrible shape. Fairways and rough all burnt out, weeds everywhere, bunkers had rocks in them. Greens were decent or maybe it just seemed decent compared to the rest of the course. Wont be heading back there anytime soon.  

[Dashfast]

@mci711Yeah, that Anchor hole is insane. Couldn't agree more.

 

@ME27Played Ravisloe on Sunday. I do love that place, but some of the tee boxes had crab grass and there were a lot of unrepaired ball marks/divots.

[chisag]

... I am in the northern section of Bolingbrook so basically DuPage County. I wondered why Covid is low in Dupage and high in Will County. I played Heritage Bluff yesterday and that seemed to answer the question. Prairie Bluff/Naperbrook have Covid protections in place. You MUST wear a mask to enter the clubhouse, there are donuts in the hole so you don't touch the flagstick. At Heritage there is a sign on the Pro Shop door that says you MUST wear a mask to enter. 3 employee's without a mask behind the desk. 2 guys in line in front of me without a mask and 2 guys behind me without a mask. They are talking loudly to each other with me in the middle. Another patron enters with a mask, sees employees without one and 4 guys in line and me, the only mask wearer, so he takes his off. I played alone but was shocked to see no donuts even though a sign says Do Not Touch Flag Stick?!?!? They literally force you to touch the flag stick and at the same place, inside the cup. 

... I will not be going back. 

[ME27]

6 minutes ago, Dashfast said:

@mci711Yeah, that Anchor hole is insane. Couldn't agree more.

 

@ME27Played Ravisloe on Sunday. I do love that place, but some of the tee boxes had crab grass and there were a lot of unrepaired ball marks/divots.

I played Wednesday or Thursday and greens were not bad. Some of the par 3 tee boxes were chewed up though. 

[DavePelz4]

Last week was quite the week with top notch courses. Our group was hosted on Saturday at Flossmoor.  Great weather and the ball was flying. The course was in amazing condition, the rough penal as my wrist will attest to and Flossmoor's greens could very well be the toughest in all of Chicago. They had to be rolling at least 13 and if you were above the hole, see ya. There isn't a hole that disappoints at Flossmoor although several people said the uphill, into the wind, 461 yard 17th fit that bill.  I just think it's a tough hole.

 

If you have the chance to play Flossmoor, do it.  Think it was $110 for the round and it's worth every penny of that.

[Shriner]

I played Arboretum for the first time in 21 years.  The layout was not as bad as I remember.  It is absolute target golf with just about any right or left shot in a penalty area.  However, at least you know that going in and the course is right in front of you...no blind shots.  Conditions were pretty good although greens were extremely slow.  Got paired up with a twosome that are regulars there and they were a blast to play with!

 

Played Pine Meadow Sunday morning.  Starter said they had 293 golfers with tee times, just awesome to hear.  Conditions were perfect, greens were amazing and relatively quick.  Not a bad hole on the course although some are more difficult than others.  I played awful but that is golf...

 

@DP4.  Agreed.  Flossmoor's greens are the most difficult I have played in IL.  You cannot stop the ball about hole 10.  Awesome layout and awesome conditioning.  

Edited August 18, 2020 by Shriner