Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[ldchristopher]

Jeez. Retirement’s been good to you. I’m at 28 rounds. At this time the last two years I was at exactly 50. In 2017 on 7/22 I was at 68. A clear downward trend is emerging for me.

[Argonne69]

The lockdown in March and April certainly didn't help. Luckily I was getting in five rounds a week in January and February, and it's been four rounds a week since May 1st.

[AUTIGER07]

Jealous of you, Argonne. Pretty sure I haven't played 100 rounds total over the last 10-12 years.

Now if I can count Congo River with the kids, I'm easily over 300 rounds during that time period.

[Argonne69]

It's been pretty sweet. Four rounds of week seems to be the right amount. I could play five rounds a week like I did during the winter in Arizona, but it takes a toll on the body. Taking Wednesday off makes Friday much more enjoyable.

My plans to sell my place and hit the road in an RV have been blown out of the water by the pandemic. The RVs I'm looking to buy are generally located in the southern states, and I'm not keen on traveling to kick their tires. On top of that I don't really want to hit the road with all the restrictions in place. In addition to playing golf, I was planning to visit tourist hot spots, including national and state parks, brewpubs, etc, and with many of them closed or limited I won't get the full experience. So, it looks like I'll stay put for the remainder of the season. I may wind up in Arizona again this winter, but it will depend on the restrictions that may or may not be in place. Hopefully there will be a vaccine out by early 2021, and I can get back to the original plan.

[Shriner]

Annual Michigan trip is this weekend. Saturday will be first time playing Hawkshead, really excited based on some of the reviews on here. Sunday is always the same, Whittaker Woods so we can get our brains beat in before heading back home...weather looks great this weekend.

[Argonne69]

Curious why WW changed its name to The Woodlands Course at Whittaker Woods. Marketing?

 

[Shriner]

Maybe advanced notice that there are ALOT of trees on the course ?

[jimwgt26]

Maverik 10.5 driver and 15 3W with Mitsubishi shafts.

 

 

[cpeck12]

Hawkshead is a fun course, you'll enjoy it. It was in immaculate condition when I played in June.

[TheBear95]

To raise the rates. Sounds classier now, lol.

[Argonne69]

What a beautiful day. Unfortunately in my quest to save a few bucks I mistakenly booked a round at the always amazing Joe Louis The Champ GC. Lol. Oy. I grew up a few miles from the course, and it was one of my regular stops when I first started playing in grade school. It's also the place where I quit golf for 15 years after a 6 hour round in 103 degree heat. But that was then. It's actually not a bad layout, with a few long par 4s, a 600 yd par 5, and enough mature trees to test you if you're not hitting it straight.

Conditions were pretty bad. Teeboxes were awful. Bunkers were trash. The rough was actually quite good, at least compared to the fairways. I swear there was more hardpan, weeds, and dead grass in the fairways than turf on many holes. I know the course has mediocre drainage, but this was much worse than I expected. The greens looked very good, and were rolling a good 10. Sadly the unrepaired ballmarks made the surface of the Moon look like a pool table top. I think I fixed at least 6 ballmarks on every green, and could have fixed another half dozen if time allowed.

The highlight of the round was the 3:15 pace. I was joined by a twosome riding, and we only had to wait on a few shots. Nice.

Decent round today. 9 fairways, 12 greens, 1 birdie, and four bogies. The three scrambles on holes 2 - 4 helped me to to stay on track early.

Glencoe tomorrow.

 

[taylorx300]

Day 1 of the McHenry County Am. If anybody else signed up for this - play well and see you out there.

[jimwgt26]

Harborside Starboard yesterday. Beautiful day with some friends I haven't seen in a while. I used to play Harborside a lot. I lived and worked downtown, and we would play afternoon rounds at least twice a week. From 95' when it opened to 2010, I would estimate I played there at least 20 times a year. Anyways, I haven't been in two years and I have to admit I kinda missed it. It's going back on the list.

[chrisf60526]

I never had a good experience from CC. It's not their fault stuff is delayed but they need to keep you updated,

[Argonne69]

Another beautiful summer day. Can't get much better than this. Glencoe was in fine shape today. Nothing to complain about. Greens were rolling a good 10. Pace was excellent at 3:45.

Crazy up and down round today. Bogied the first after pulling my tee shot into the left trees. Birdied 2 and 3 after sticking wedges close. Bogied the 4th after hooking my approach into the pod of trees left of the green. Finished the front nine with a birdie on the 9th for three birdies, three bogies, and three pars. Sheesh. Three more bogies on the back going into the 17th, and I finished birdie birdie after making a nice 21 footer on the 17th, and a 15 footer on 18. Ballstriking was mediocre today with only 7 fairways and 9 greens, but my scrambling saved my butt, and I finally made the birdie putts when given a chance. Highlight of the day was the approach to the 18th. After driving it left into the rough, I could only get the ball advanced to the 150 yd marker. I normally hit a draw, but I've been working on fading the irons, so what the heck. With a bit of a breeze in my face I hit a nice cutting 7 iron that landed 3 feet short of the flag, and stopped 15 feet past.

Off to Minnesota on Sunday morning. I'm probably going to play The Jewel near Redwing on the trip up. It's rated 7th on Golfweek's 2019 Best in State list for Minnesota.

 

[mauiman]

72 holes at Lawsonia this weekend. First time up there and excited to see the courses.

[Guest]

They really need to cut some trees and make that course at least a little bit enjoyable.

 

[ldchristopher]

Redtail tomorrow. Bringing plenty of water and Gatorade and hoping for good pace. Hopefully the heat keeps the slow players away.

[Holy Moses]

Played Mount Prospect yesterday. Had a terrible range session, which usually means I’ll play great. I’m a 2 handicap, but I've never shot well there. Yesterday was my day.

I was -1 headed to the par 3 4th when I rattled a 9 iron from 157 into the hole. It went off the pin and wedged between the pool noodle and the cup. My first hole-in-one! I would up shooting 69, hit 17/18 greens, and had 3 three putts. I doubled 10 by going long and short siding myself in deep rough. Mount Prospect gave me a flag and took my picture. Overall, my best round ever.

[mci711]

Congratulations!

[chisag]

 

... Wow, what a double. HIO and Best Round Ever. Congrats on an epic day!

[geochitown]

Great hole in one!!! That's a great hole to do it on.

Holy Moses!

[Chanceman]

 

Well done! I hope you got home safely....

[chisag]

... I had a 3:30 at Naperbrook and played with a guy yesterday in 90* that was 30 yrs old and he was unbelievably playing 54 holes with a pushcart. He has done it once every year for the last 5 years starting at 6am and finishing a little before sunset. Granted this is one of the easier walking courses especially from green to tees but it has some elevation and I am tired after 27 with a remote controlled cart in that kind of heat. I could not imagine pushing for 54 holes in 90* heat.

[ldchristopher]

Nice day at Redtail today. It was in the mid 90’s in Lakewood with a real feel of 102° but the breeze made it excellent playing conditions. The course itself felt like it was playing about 6000 yards with how firm the fairways and rough were while the greens were stimping at like a 7.5. Firm from tee to green with absurdly spongy greens equals scoring conditions. I shot -1 on the front but bogied 10 and 18 for a 73. I usually play Redtail early in the mornings when it’s covered in dew and playing super soft so today’s round wasn’t at all what I was used to. I’ll take it though. We had to speed things up and play through two groups but were able to finish in 3 hours.

[DavePelz4]

Made the mistake of playing Klein Creek today. Sadly, if this is "better conditions" then one of us is in seriously need of help. Yeah, I'm sure it's me. I understand they're taking bunkers out but the way to do that isn't pull the sand out and pray that nature reclaims the area. Look at how Prairie Landing did it, first class job and you don't even know there were bunkers pulled out. The fairways were rough and in a couple of places they were sopping wet with standing water. The greens were inconsistent at best and several were rock hard. On #5 we were all within 50-75 yards going in, all hit high flighted wedges and no one was able to hold the green. The ball literally bounced at least 5 feet in the air. Several of the remaining bunkers had weeds and small evergreen shrubs growing in them. And what's up with the bounders in the bunkers? Not talking about large sized pebbles, although those were also present, but literal boulders in the bunkers.

Apparently they're not of the belief that COVID-19 is a thing. Rakes in bunkers although the young lady in the pro shop did wear a mask. I believe the new owner was there and he didn't wear a mask.

Need to say something good so I guess it's that the bathroom was clean.

[ldchristopher]

There were huge boulders in pretty much every bunker at Redtail today as well. Very similar to what we’ve seen at Oak Grove. Some courses just aren’t spending any money on bunker upkeep this year and it’s reaching a point that I have to treat some of these like ground under repair. It’s either that or damage my club. I realize courses didn’t get as much revenue with 15 minute times and twosomes only for a chunk of the summer but it’s not that hard to go out with a rake and get the huge rocks out of traps.

[Shriner]

Congrats Holy Moses, what a day for you!

 

Got back from the Michigan weekend and it was a blast as always. First time at Hawkshead and I really liked the layout. The conditions were pretty bad other than the bunkers, which were very nice. The fairways had ruts of dead grass, just dirt basically. Greens were somewhat rough as well. Overall a very nice property and a very relaxing round. I would go back.

 

Whittaker Woods yesterday and my goodness this course never disappoints. As someone above said, they need to start trimming trees. This may be the most difficult public course I have played, right up there with the Bull. Any wayward shot is penalized and there are two par 4's around 450 yards with penalty areas down the entire right and left side of the hole. Conditions were excellent. The scenery is second to none. Pace is as fast as you can play.

[Argonne69]

There doesn't appear to be a dedicated thread for Minnesota/Minneapolis, so I guess I'll post this here. I drove up to the Twin Cities yesterday, and stopped to play The Jewel GC in Lake City, MN along the way. It's roughly an hour south of St Paul along the Mississippi. The drive along the river on US 61 from La Crosse is a very scenic drive. For most of the trip I was the only vehicle on the road. My kind of driving.

The course is a hybrid prairie/parkland style. It's ranked in the top 10 public in the state by Golfweek. On the front the 1st, 2nd, 8th, and 9th are open prairie. The other holes are very wooded. The back nine is also a mixture, and has water coming into play on four holes. Good mix of short and long holes. Lots of elevation changes, and few flat lies. Someone had fun with the bulldozer on the flatter parts of the course. The landing areas are quite generous for the most part. Could use more fairway bunkering. Par 3s were tough, with two playing over 200 yds from the blue tees. I walked the course, and it was a tough walk. In addition to the elevation changes, there were a few long hikes between holes. Also, there were no walking paths cut from tee to fairway. A few holes had some trampled grass that somewhat served as a path, but you were still walking through prairie and marsh. Late in the round I mentioned this to the ranger when he came by and asked how the walking was going, and he replied that they want the course to keep its "natural" look. I simply shook my head and asked him what's natural about 6 miles of concrete cart paths?

Conditions were wet, but playable. There was a two hour rain delay in the morning, leading to a cart path only directive. The higher parts were fine, but the low areas did have some standing water. Fairways were lush, and we were getting little rollout. Bunkers were wet, but had enough sand to be playable. The greens were very soft and receptive, and rolling 9 at best. The pace was OK for a CPO day at 4:20. Unfortunately my threesome was stuck behind five foursomes that were part of an outting, so there was nowhere to go.

Decent round. With generous fairways I managed 11 hit, but with little rollout I was hitting a lot of longer clubs into the greens, and only managed 9. A handful of scrambles and two birdies helped, but six bogies sank the round. Still, after a 5 1/2 drive, and a long hike in very humid conditions, I was pleased with the round.

Overall I was pleased with the course. It was my first round played in Minnesota, so I don't really have anything to compare it to. Based on other courses I've played in other states I don't quite see how it's a top 10. Still, if you're heading up this way, and looking to play a different course that's not in The Dells area, it's worth a visit.

The long par 3 11th.

[cpeck12]

That's too bad about the conditions at Hawkshead. It was in great shape when I played last... the heat wave and lack of rain must've done a number on the fairways and greens.