Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round2)

[disk]

I have been dealing with rib pain for a while and a week of no golf killed me, but drugs and stretching has my pain free so it was off the Mill Creek this morning. Nice enough place, just a little roughed up it looks like, the range and range balls were a joke but the course itself was certainly worth the price. My tee game decided to show up today but only hit a good approach on 9 and 18 so there were a lot of long two put pars and finished at 77, not too bad... maybe a week of was a good thing.

 

Now having said all that there is no way I'll ever go back, we passed the group ahead of us at the turn as they stopped for drinks at the bar, AFTER we tee off and we are on our way back to our carts they show up and things got out of hand fast. I won't go into what was said but bottom line is they weren't happy we played through, they clearly had too much to drink and my Brother and Dad have extremely short fuses so :russian_roulette: To avoid a complete sh*tshow we let them play through, BIG MISTAKE... they waited for us on every tee before they teed off and left every flag out, called the course on 12 and they refused to send anyone out, thanks for the round I guess, you won't be seeing me again.

[DavePelz4]

Ironically, we played Mill Creek yesterday as well. That is the worst conditions of any course we've played in years. Weeds growing on the tees and fairways, numerous barespots and walking in the 9th fairway, I stepped in a sinkhole and went down about a foot. Fortunate to not get injured.

 

We teed off at 9:40 and there had not been a group that teed off in an hour. We caught the group that started at 8:40 on the 10th tee. They were part of a small outing and the group in front of them was the slow group.

 

Not going back unless there are serious changes in the condition and management of the facility.

[jimwgt26]

Ironically, we played Mill Creek yesterday as well. That is the worst conditions of any course we've played in years. Weeds growing on the tees and fairways, numerous barespots and walking in the 9th fairway, I stepped in a sinkhole and went down about a foot. Fortunate to not get injured.

 

We teed off at 9:40 and there had not been a group that teed off in an hour. We caught the group that started at 8:40 on the 10th tee. They were part of a small outing and the group in front of them was the slow group.

 

Not going back unless there are serious changes in the condition and management of the facility.

 

Did you stop at the turn and have a few too many?

[DavePelz4]

Not only did I get water but ice too. It got nutty...

[MountainKing]

Played Harbor Shores yesterday up in Benton Harbor, MI and what a golf course. The TV does not do it justice. The course itself is cut into several different area's and has to be one of the most spread out golf courses in existence, In fact cart rides between the area's were 2-3 minutes each according to the videos we shot of them. The "dune" holes up along Lake Michigan were something really special and the finishing holes going 15-18 were awesome The amount of scenery on the course was just unreal, lots of elevation and it was cool seeing boaters/kayakers in the river as well as people just kind of jogging around and even on the paths on the course. I would probably put this in my top 5 courses after just one round on it. The course itself was in great shape and pace of play was solid at 4 hours considering all the distance you had to travel, gps shows 7.5 miles. My game was dead on for the front 9, 2 bogies and 2 birdies lead to an even par 9 which I was happy with given the amount of trouble you could end up in and also considering I took penalty strokes on 8 and 9. I actually almost birdied 9, took a drop after my drive went into the water left and put my third shot about 15 feet and lipped out the putt. The back 9 is without a doubt the tougher of the two 9s and my game fell off the rails a bit bogeying 10-14. I had a 15 foot eagle putt on 15 and managed to 3 putt that then a nice double bogey on 18 to top off the back. I'm still happy with my score and it was a fun day on the links. Sadly it's back to golf in Illinois this week after a couple of weeks of some good out of town golf.

[PuttCurseRepeat]

Brought a couple of friends out to Big Run. I enjoyed the round there, as usual, but my buddies found much to complain about. They are good golfers, the both of them, but they both had problems making their way through the Big Run. I've seen this course frustrate many golfers, as they get a lot more course than they bargained for. Then the course being poorly marked/unmarked becomes an issue. And there shows up hardpan areas of fairway are like "hitting off of asphalt". "The greens are too slow." Putting on the 11th is "clown golf". Actually, those may be legit gripes, but gripes which probably would have been ignored or downplayed with 10 fewer strokes on the card. In fairness though, one friend's home club has the smoothest, truest greens which regularly stimp 13+, and BR's slow but severely sloped greens were quite an adjustment. All in all, I didn't see any good shots unfairly punished and for the money ($45 w/cart), conditions were very good. The round also included two of my top highlights of the year - an eagle on #5 and a birdie on #17 after driving the green.

 

I'm going to try and sneak out to Village Links this evening if my family (read: wife) allows.

[Chicago Lefty]

Those all sound like legitimate gripes but you forgot the asinine 9th and the unbearable slow play and lack of course marshals.

[zer0]

but on a plus side, that bacon egg and cheese sandwich.

[PuttCurseRepeat]

At $45/round, who can afford rangers? ;) And if the greens were any faster, 5 hour rounds would be the minimum. They did roll true. Nobody was able to complain about that. Hole #9 is a Chicagoland icon - everybody loves it (that's a lie) - that and #13 (true story).

[zer0]

Played both courses at Lawsonia over the weekend. They are currently in the process fo getting f***** by Golfnow. So they paid Golfnow so they could be the banner course on top of the page when you look for courses in their area, but in exchange they had to give a block of afternoon tee times to Golfnow. Golf now is turning around and selling them for as low as $10. I saw that Friday and grabbed 2 on the Woodlands course for me and the wife for $20, had a $20 coupon so ended up paying $7.00 for 2 on a course that usually costs $190 for 2. The next day I found a golf now hot deal on the links for $30 and grabbed it.

 

I enjoyed the savings, but when I found out from the pro about how its golfnow and not them setting those prices I felt bad. Especially when the pro greeted me the next day ( i came there early in teh morning) and he's like "what are you doing here, its not Golf now o'clock yet?" I won't be using those tee times in the future despite the savings. Don't like doing that to my favorite course now that I know its not their doing. Personally I don't think they need to be at the top of the page since in their area the page consists of about 10 courses. And its not like people dont know about Lawsonia.

 

Also it brings in some rif raf. PLayed with 2 guys Saturday on the Links who had no business being on a real golf course. Knew something was wrong when they introduced themselves to me by asking my handicap. I said, it was 9ish at the moment with the caveat that I could shoot anywhere from breaking 80 to nearly breaking the wrong side of 100. One guy responded like this, "oh well we're an 8 handicap, but its our scramble handicap and we play on a course that is barely a golf course." I didn't really know how to respond to that so off we went. First issue happened on the first shot. I put mine left into the rough/driving range. One of them did too. I go to look for my ball and I see the guy holding a ball so I say, oh you found your ball. He says "no but I found this one." I asked him if it was a ProV1 with a sloppy red zero marked on it. For a second he thought I was a mind reader, but then he slowly realized that he was holding my ball. He handed it to me, I asked him where he found it and he said "I don't know, somewhere over there."

 

Got worse from there. Very nice guys, but jesus were they bad and slow. One of them put it in the fescue on shot 1 and then took 5 tries to get out, each one requiring a hunt for his ball. This happened on every hole. Got to 3rd tee box and we were already 2 holes behind with a group sittin in the fairway on 2 behind us for 10 minutes. Finally ditched them at the turn after a 2:15 front nine. We finished the back in like an hour and then went in and had prime rib dinner in the clubhouse, came out after dinner and saw our old buddies had finally made it to 17th hole.

 

Needless to say, I'll be skipping Golfnow o'clock in the future.

[Drew_G]

Got out to Prairie Landing yesterday, my first visit. I saw they had some open slots in the 1 o'clock hour (the price drops at 2pm) so I figured I pay the extra to avoid any crowds. Guy at the pro shop let me out as a single immediately and at the post-2pm rate, score! Flew through the first 6 holes until I caught a 2-some who were waiting on a 3-some ahead of them. At the turn those two groups joined up (one of the twosome just rode) and it was a death march the rest of the way. Interestingly enough, a gal with the course rode up as I was waiting on the 12th tee and apologized for the slow play and gave me a coupon for free cart fee on my next visit. I thought that was nice. Also had the ranger (Don) join me in the 16th fairway while I waited and we had a nice chat, very cordial fellow.

 

As for the course, I caught it on a non-windy day and can see how it could be a beast with the wind blowing. Some fun, picturesque holes with options off the tee and options for approaches. I like options. Got caught out of position on a few holes, mostly from unfamiliarity and had some shots miss from wacky GPS yardage (or I hit it pure. naw, wacky yardage!) but I'd definitely go back. Greens were in great shape and I liked the large areas of short grass around the greens too. Would like to see those areas play a little firmer for a more linksy feel.

[putts4bogey]

I have been dealing with rib pain for a while and a week of no golf killed me, but drugs and stretching has my pain free so it was off the Mill Creek this morning. Nice enough place, just a little roughed up it looks like, the range and range balls were a joke but the course itself was certainly worth the price. My tee game decided to show up today but only hit a good approach on 9 and 18 so there were a lot of long two put pars and finished at 77, not too bad... maybe a week of was a good thing.

 

Now having said all that there is no way I'll ever go back, we passed the group ahead of us at the turn as they stopped for drinks at the bar, AFTER we tee off and we are on our way back to our carts they show up and things got out of hand fast. I won't go into what was said but bottom line is they weren't happy we played through, they clearly had too much to drink and my Brother and Dad have extremely short fuses so :russian_roulette: To avoid a complete sh*tshow we let them play through, BIG MISTAKE... they waited for us on every tee before they teed off and left every flag out, called the course on 12 and they refused to send anyone out, thanks for the round I guess, you won't be seeing me again.

Ironically, we played Mill Creek yesterday as well. That is the worst conditions of any course we've played in years. Weeds growing on the tees and fairways, numerous barespots and walking in the 9th fairway, I stepped in a sinkhole and went down about a foot. Fortunate to not get injured.

 

We teed off at 9:40 and there had not been a group that teed off in an hour. We caught the group that started at 8:40 on the 10th tee. They were part of a small outing and the group in front of them was the slow group.

 

Not going back unless there are serious changes in the condition and management of the facility.

 

 

Wow, this saddens me to hear. I no longer live in the area but was a "member" at Mill Creek in its hay day and played it as my home course for about 8 years. I left the area and my old group moved to Bowes Creek.

[geochitown]

has anyone here played Glen Flora country club up in Waukegan?

 

Yes, I know it's private, but I'm curious to know about the course.

[DavePelz4]

has anyone here played Glen Flora country club up in Waukegan?

 

Yes, I know it's private, but I'm curious to know about the course.

 

Have only played it twice but it was in immaculate condition both times and the greens were as fast as any others in the Chicago area, if not faster. Tree lined, parklands but very playable...around 6,500 yards and a par 70. One of the par 5's was reachable but the other was beyond my length. Nice mix of holes with shortish par 4's but 7 and 8 are in the 425+ range. Will be surprised if it's anything less than perfect condition.

 

Enjoy!

[Waterboy]

has anyone here played Glen Flora country club up in Waukegan?

 

Yes, I know it's private, but I'm curious to know about the course.

 

Have only played it twice but it was in immaculate condition both times and the greens were as fast as any others in the Chicago area, if not faster. Tree lined, parklands but very playable...around 6,500 yards and a par 70. One of the par 5's was reachable but the other was beyond my length. Nice mix of holes with shortish par 4's but 7 and 8 are in the 425+ range. Will be surprised if it's anything less than perfect condition.

 

Enjoy!

 

I have a relative that was a member. I never went out there but from the street (where they allow people like myself) it always looks great.

 

I do get membership open house cards in the mail every year so I'm not sure how things look from that perspective.

[mauiman]

has anyone here played Glen Flora country club up in Waukegan?

 

Yes, I know it's private, but I'm curious to know about the course.

Just played Glen Flora yesterday. It was in good shape but the greens were slow...probably rolling 8-9. It was pretty wet out there, several drives hit and came back. The greens looked like they'd be super quick but they must be leaving them long because of the heat. Maybe they'll cut them lower for the members during the week. It was just us and the caddies out there. Pretty good layout for an old course.

[golfer912]

First time playing Cantingy yesterday. Finished Woodside at 2 under then blew up on Lakeside to finish with a 76. Awesome course, great condition! Only gripe was for how pretty the greens looked, they were pretty slow.

[Argonne69]

Slow greens are the order of the day. With the heat, the courses can't cut them close and risk losing them. I love fall golf, with the cooler temps, and quick greens.

[disk]

Slow greens are the order of the day. With the heat, the courses can't cut them close and risk losing them. I love fall golf, with the cooler temps, and quick greens.

 

If not for the abundance of leaves and the possibility of losing a ball anywhere, it is the best time of year to play in my opinion.

[deadsolid...shank]

At $45/round, who can afford rangers? ;) And if the greens were any faster, 5 hour rounds would be the minimum. They did roll true. Nobody was able to complain about that. Hole #9 is a Chicagoland icon - everybody loves it (that's a lie) - that and #13 (true story).

 

My son and I played there today. I enjoyed the course very much. I thought the same, the greens rolled well but were slow(ish). I thought hole #9 was "challenging". I liked it. Is #13 the picturesque par three over water?

 

If I ever make it back here again, it's a course I would play again.

[cane700]

Slow greens are the order of the day. With the heat, the courses can't cut them close and risk losing them. I love fall golf, with the cooler temps, and quick greens.

 

If not for the abundance of leaves and the possibility of losing a ball anywhere, it is the best time of year to play in my opinion.

I play my best golf in the fall. Courses are empty, my game is fully grooved. Only bad part is the aforementioned leaves

[propman]

Probably going to get beat up at Big Run this p.m. Looking forward to it. :swoon:

[PuttCurseRepeat]

My son and I played there today. I enjoyed the course very much. I thought the same, the greens rolled well but were slow(ish). I thought hole #9 was "challenging". I liked it. Is #13 the picturesque par three over water?

 

If I ever make it back here again, it's a course I would play again.

Yes #13 plays downhill, over a creek with more water left and behind. A big ridge spits the green into a left and right side. Very nice hole.

[VNutz]

My son and I played there today. I enjoyed the course very much. I thought the same, the greens rolled well but were slow(ish). I thought hole #9 was "challenging". I liked it. Is #13 the picturesque par three over water?

 

If I ever make it back here again, it's a course I would play again.

Yes #13 plays downhill, over a creek with more water left and behind. A big ridge dead elephant spits the green into a left and right side. Very nice hole.

 

Fixed that for ya. ;)

 

Played there for the first time this summer. I loved it, but I knew what I was in for ahead of time, I could see not loving it otherwise.

 

I birdied #13 from the tips, so I don't mind it. :)

[deadsolid...shank]

My son and I played there today. I enjoyed the course very much. I thought the same, the greens rolled well but were slow(ish). I thought hole #9 was "challenging". I liked it. Is #13 the picturesque par three over water?

 

If I ever make it back here again, it's a course I would play again.

Yes #13 plays downhill, over a creek with more water left and behind. A big ridge dead elephant spits the green into a left and right side. Very nice hole.

 

Fixed that for ya. ;)

 

Played there for the first time this summer. I loved it, but I knew what I was in for ahead of time, I could see not loving it otherwise.

 

I birdied #13 from the tips, so I don't mind it. :)

 

That's a lot of hole from the tips. We played one up, pin was just over the water at 174 yards. Tough shot when you're coming from almost 4'000 of elevation and you don't know how far any of your damn clubs go here!

[VNutz]

My son and I played there today. I enjoyed the course very much. I thought the same, the greens rolled well but were slow(ish). I thought hole #9 was "challenging". I liked it. Is #13 the picturesque par three over water?

 

If I ever make it back here again, it's a course I would play again.

Yes #13 plays downhill, over a creek with more water left and behind. A big ridge dead elephant spits the green into a left and right side. Very nice hole.

 

Fixed that for ya. ;)

 

Played there for the first time this summer. I loved it, but I knew what I was in for ahead of time, I could see not loving it otherwise.

 

I birdied #13 from the tips, so I don't mind it. :)

 

That's a lot of hole from the tips. We played one up, pin was just over the water at 174 yards. Tough shot when you're coming from almost 4'000 of elevation and you don't know how far any of your damn clubs go here!

 

Not saying I could do it again by any means, I'm just as likely to pull in a 6 next time. Had 230 something, but into the wind, which helped hold the green. When we first walked up to the tee I had no idea what I was looking at, looks more like a mini par 4 than a par 3. Knocked it to 20 feet pin high and rolled it in.

[propman]

My son and I played there today. I enjoyed the course very much. I thought the same, the greens rolled well but were slow(ish). I thought hole #9 was "challenging". I liked it. Is #13 the picturesque par three over water?

 

If I ever make it back here again, it's a course I would play again.

Yes #13 plays downhill, over a creek with more water left and behind. A big ridge dead elephant spits the green into a left and right side. Very nice hole.

 

Fixed that for ya. ;)

 

Played there for the first time this summer. I loved it, but I knew what I was in for ahead of time, I could see not loving it otherwise.

 

I birdied #13 from the tips, so I don't mind it. :)

 

That's a lot of hole from the tips. We played one up, pin was just over the water at 174 yards. Tough shot when you're coming from almost 4'000 of elevation and you don't know how far any of your damn clubs go here!

 

Not saying I could do it again by any means, I'm just as likely to pull in a 6 next time. Had 230 something, but into the wind, which helped hold the green. When we first walked up to the tee I had no idea what I was looking at, looks more like a mini par 4 than a par 3. Knocked it to 20 feet pin high and rolled it in.

 

Played Big Run yesterday. Had a disaster on #13. From the tee, it was 208, In middle of my swing, a bee buzzed me around my head, blocked my tee shot to the right, short of the water. Then a lob wedge over the water and rolled in a bunker, then proceeded to blade my bunker shot and ball rolled into the water. Chipped on short of hole and proceeded to 3 putt for a lovely snowman. Had a 8 on hole #9 with another 3 putt. Ended up with a 96. I have never broken 90 on Big Run. Love it though (must be a masochist). :stink:

[B-Man]

And now for something completely different. I'm not playing GDN tomorrow. I'm playing GDN Sunday instead.

[VNutz]

And now for something completely different. I'm not playing GDN tomorrow. I'm playing GDN Sunday instead.

 

Smart move.

[Chicago Joe]

Ruffled Feathers at 8:30 this A.M. and The Ravines at 3:00 P.M.........with lunch in between. Looking like I might be driving down there just to eat......... f%#@in rain.....