Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round2)

[ldchristopher]

Bear and I had two really solid rounds today at Cinder Ridge and Heritage Bluffs. They added up to 14 miles of walking (thanks, suburban mom pedometer) but only a few holes had significant elevation change. I was a stupid ground ball three wood away from shooting even par at Cinder Ridge but I can't complain too much about a 73. I only had one birdie (on the second hole) but had all pars on the back nine. The greens at Cinder Ridge weren't fast but they were decent. However, they overwatered the fairways so neither one of us got much roll. Putting my Vokeys back in the bag was a good idea. The T5's are great around the greens but full wedge shots were a bit too inconsistent. That wasn't the case at all with my SM5's. It might be time to change back full time. Oh, Bear found an E6 on the 17th hole. It looked like it had been recently lost.

 

Heritage Bluffs was in pretty good shape from tee to green. The bunkers have lost a noticeable amount of sand in them and the rough was kind of burnt out in a few spots but the fairways were green and they were fairly firm and overall I think it's held up alright over this season. The greens, on the other hand, were covered in ball marks. They were rolling at about the same speed as Cinder Ridge (around 8), but no one else was fixing their marks and there were some absolute craters out there. I'm not sure if that's on the course, the clientele, or both. My guess is both. I finished with a 75 but lost my driver pretty early in the round. I can hit fairway woods off the tee just fine so it wasn't an issue, but it was a little disconcerting that I've had to hit three and five wood for two of my last three rounds. 63 rounds in the books so far this year.

 

That found e6 - was it along the right fence line? Could not see where I hit my drive (it was hit so so solidly :taunt: but figured it might be frontage road)..

Yep. We figured that was yours

[PuttCurseRepeat]

... I don't know why ball marks have become epidemic. Played Naperbrook today because it is $20 and it was in surprisingly good shape with the exception of the greens that are rolling nice but look like people blew up 20 or 30 firecrackers on every one of them. I seem to fix 2 or 3 deep ball marks on every green looking like they came from someone that should know better, but it is still just a drop in the bucket as I can't walk around and fix another 27 shallow ball marks, some that have been there at least two days.

 

It's gotten out of control and I'm sick and tired of it. I'm changing my avatar to a divot repair tool for the rest of the summer. I encourage everyone to do the same and if anyone has other ideas on how to raise awareness and get people to start fixing ball marks, I'm all ears.

 

I'm guessing Brett and Rachel are serving tomorrow. What's your brothers name? I've met most of the investors. There's a beer in there named after me but I don't believe it's being served right now.

 

Brother-in-law, Doug. Some damn strong beers at Metal Monkey. I did try the Fonkey Mucker. I was pretty wiped after a morning at Big Run and an afternoon at MM. Brett and Rachel were working - that's who my BiL knows. I like the vibe there. Funny bathroom - with the sticker on the mirror, "Employees Must Carve Slayer Into Their Forearms Before Returning To Work. * "

 

I'm happy with my round at Big Run. My last two rounds there, I've a total of 3 putts on the 11th green. One of the highlights of my round was standing on the 18th tee with my brother-in-law, and watching guys putt off the 11th green with a back pin placement. :taunt:

 

The pro shop didn't indicate that the course was going anywhere despite the recently rumored sale. As a matter of fact, they talked about flattening the 7th tee area - replacing the stepped tees, and moving the 6th tee to the left, all to accommodate the road construction taking place.

[ldchristopher]

... I don't know why ball marks have become epidemic. Played Naperbrook today because it is $20 and it was in surprisingly good shape with the exception of the greens that are rolling nice but look like people blew up 20 or 30 firecrackers on every one of them. I seem to fix 2 or 3 deep ball marks on every green looking like they came from someone that should know better, but it is still just a drop in the bucket as I can't walk around and fix another 27 shallow ball marks, some that have been there at least two days.

 

It's gotten out of control and I'm sick and tired of it. I'm changing my avatar to a divot repair tool for the rest of the summer. I encourage everyone to do the same and if anyone has other ideas on how to raise awareness and get people to start fixing ball marks, I'm all ears.

 

I'm guessing Brett and Rachel are serving tomorrow. What's your brothers name? I've met most of the investors. There's a beer in there named after me but I don't believe it's being served right now.

 

Brother-in-law, Doug. Some damn strong beers at Metal Monkey. I did try the Fonkey Mucker. I was pretty wiped after a morning at Big Run and an afternoon at MM. Brett and Rachel were working - that's who my BiL knows. I like the vibe there. Funny bathroom - with the sticker on the mirror, "Employees Must Carve Slayer Into Their Forearms Before Returning To Work. * "

 

I'm happy with my round at Big Run. My last two rounds there, I've a total of 3 putts on the 11th green. One of the highlights of my round was standing on the 18th tee with my brother-in-law, and watching guys putt off the 11th green with a back pin placement. :taunt:

 

The pro shop didn't indicate that the course was going anywhere despite the recently rumored sale. As a matter of fact, they talked about flattening the 7th tee area - replacing the stepped tees, and moving the 6th tee to the left, all to accommodate the road construction taking place.

When courses offer complimentary divot repair tools, people magically use them. Laziness is a big time problem at most munis and it's compounded by a bunch of other factors (tee times 7 or 8 minutes apart, thereby putting groups on top of each other and giving the sense of groups feeling rushed on the greens, courses insisting on slowish greens to speed up play but then being faced with far more ball marks since every approach that hits the green leaves a mark, etc.). However, if it's implied that the course expects players to repair marks and doesn't force people to pay the extra $2 for a repair tool, the repair tools will be used.

[PuttCurseRepeat]

... I don't know why ball marks have become epidemic. Played Naperbrook today because it is $20 and it was in surprisingly good shape with the exception of the greens that are rolling nice but look like people blew up 20 or 30 firecrackers on every one of them. I seem to fix 2 or 3 deep ball marks on every green looking like they came from someone that should know better, but it is still just a drop in the bucket as I can't walk around and fix another 27 shallow ball marks, some that have been there at least two days.

 

It's gotten out of control and I'm sick and tired of it. I'm changing my avatar to a divot repair tool for the rest of the summer. I encourage everyone to do the same and if anyone has other ideas on how to raise awareness and get people to start fixing ball marks, I'm all ears.

 

I'm guessing Brett and Rachel are serving tomorrow. What's your brothers name? I've met most of the investors. There's a beer in there named after me but I don't believe it's being served right now.

 

Brother-in-law, Doug. Some damn strong beers at Metal Monkey. I did try the Fonkey Mucker. I was pretty wiped after a morning at Big Run and an afternoon at MM. Brett and Rachel were working - that's who my BiL knows. I like the vibe there. Funny bathroom - with the sticker on the mirror, "Employees Must Carve Slayer Into Their Forearms Before Returning To Work. * "

 

I'm happy with my round at Big Run. My last two rounds there, I've a total of 3 putts on the 11th green. One of the highlights of my round was standing on the 18th tee with my brother-in-law, and watching guys putt off the 11th green with a back pin placement. :taunt:

 

The pro shop didn't indicate that the course was going anywhere despite the recently rumored sale. As a matter of fact, they talked about flattening the 7th tee area - replacing the stepped tees, and moving the 6th tee to the left, all to accommodate the road construction taking place.

When courses offer complimentary divot repair tools, people magically use them. Laziness is a big time problem at most munis and it's compounded by a bunch of other factors (tee times 7 or 8 minutes apart, thereby putting groups on top of each other and giving the sense of groups feeling rushed on the greens, courses insisting on slowish greens to speed up play but then being faced with far more ball marks since every approach that hits the green leaves a mark, etc.). However, if it's implied that the course expects players to repair marks and doesn't force people to pay the extra $2 for a repair tool, the repair tools will be used.

 

Good points.

 

I suspect that rather than a matter of cost of the tool, courses are hesitant to encourage repair in that way figuring more damage may be done by improper repair than it's worth. Village Links is particularly a victim of ball marked greens, and it's a shame because they are a really good set of greens when they run as intended.

 

I'm all for firmer greens as a solution. I played Lawsonia Links last month and a finer set of greens I haven't played. Smooth, very firm and nary a ball mark to be found.

[Argonne69]

Another fine day on the links. Harborside Starboard in nice shape, other than the unfilled divots. Ball marks and divots. Yes, it's apparently too much to ask to take a few seconds to fix yours, and another one near by. The new bunkers are wonderful, or should I say brutal. Until the sand settles in, they're going to be the toughest, fluffiest greens around.

 

Another solid round. 12 fairways, and 10 greens. I scrambled for 5 pars, so the misses weren't that punishing. The highlight of the day was sticking my tee shot on the the par 3 13th to 2 feet for an easy birdie. Next to the Anchor Hole, I find the 13th on Starboard to be the hardest par 3 on the course.

 

Clubs are packed, and now I have to avoid breaking my leg before my flight on Saturday. Lol.

[Holy Moses]

Played Old Wayne yesterday. I had played it once before, but a long time ago. Easy, open layout. Very quick pace at 3.5 hours. Greens were slow and spongy, but somehow due to the slope I would putt way past the hole nearly every time. I shot a 78 with 37 putts - one of my worst putting days. I'll come back with some friends who are members. I like this course as a change of pace club.

[jimwgt26]

Another fine day on the links. Harborside Starboard in nice shape, other than the unfilled divots. Ball marks and divots. Yes, it's apparently too much to ask to take a few seconds to fix yours, and another one near by. The new bunkers are wonderful, or should I say brutal. Until the sand settles in, they're going to be the toughest, fluffiest greens around.

 

Another solid round. 12 fairways, and 10 greens. I scrambled for 5 pars, so the misses weren't that punishing. The highlight of the day was sticking my tee shot on the the par 3 13th to 2 feet for an easy birdie. Next to the Anchor Hole, I find the 13th on Starboard to be the hardest par 3 on the course..

 

Starboard 13 is a really good and challenging par three. I think the Anchor hole is stupid. It's only playable if the hole is front right, otherwise, it's ridiculous.

 

Glad to hear they've done good job with the bunker renovations.

 

Have a great, I can't wait to hear the details.

[stasek]

Great morning at Harborside Port. First time playing either of the courses and I must say I'm a believer. All around top notch facility. I was really curious about the sand bunkers , so I kept hitting the ball into them. As Argonne mentioned above - yup, they suck. I must have visited at least 10 of them, sometimes 2 per hole. Driver and 4i were spotty off the tee (I did manage to play the entire round with 1 ball, so the misses weren't too bad). 3 idiotic doubles offset by 3 birdies and another meh round of 80.

Btw, the fescue is MUCH more penal then i.e. Prairie Bluff. You're basically 50-50 whether you can find your ball, and good luck advancing it. Also, the rough off the fairways is some of the thickest I've ever played out of.

I'll be back for sure!

 

[Buddha]

Anyone hear/read anything on the "Preserve at Oak Meadows?" The plan a while back was for a July opening but they're not taking tee times on line as of yet.

 

Thanks!

 

From the email they sent out on Sunday. Not committing to a date yet, claiming end of July they'll announce on their website when it will be open. So it sounds like August/Sept. to me.

 

 

LOVE the cart (number) they selected to highlight the visage GPS units.

[chisag]

... We played Wedgewood today and the greens looked like a private country club. A little on the slow side but more than a few greens had ZERO ball marks other than mine and my sons, that we of course repaired. A few times I found a lone ball mark and repaired it but only 2 or 3 greens. For a blue collar community course I was extremely impressed. My son continues his freshman year on the course shooting a 94 but hit 5 drives over 300 yds. It was so enjoyable to just bomb a tee shot 295, hitting it as good as I can, and then find his ball 20 yards in front of me. And with my Epic and new Heavenwood. I was finally able to reach #15 in two, actually putting from the back fringe.

[Argonne69]

Great morning at Harborside Port. First time playing either of the courses and I must say I'm a believer. All around top notch facility. I was really curious about the sand bunkers , so I kept hitting the ball into them. As Argonne mentioned above - yup, they suck. I must have visited at least 10 of them, sometimes 2 per hole. Driver and 4i were spotty off the tee (I did manage to play the entire round with 1 ball, so the misses weren't too bad). 3 idiotic doubles offset by 3 birdies and another meh round of 80.

Btw, the fescue is MUCH more penal then i.e. Prairie Bluff. You're basically 50-50 whether you can find your ball, and good luck advancing it. Also, the rough off the fairways is some of the thickest I've ever played out of.

I'll be back for sure!

 

The fescue was actually cut down a few weeks back. It must have been really brutal before the haircut. Yeah, the Port course is two to three strokes tougher than Starboard. I find that reasonable shots are punished more on the Port course.

[TheBear95]

Without question firmer greens would alleviate some of the ball mark issues, but I understand why that's not a real option for many courses.

 

I think a big part of the solution is getting the course regulars (members, the early tee timers, the permanent times, etc) to buy-in. If marks are being fixed early on, especially on busy weekends, I believe that trend will carry on throughout the rest of the day. But, the opposite is certainly true as well. Not saying I do this, but say you are playing late morning and the green is already peppered with unfixed marks. What difference will it make if I fix my mark. It is easy to brush off and not hard to see how things spiral down from there.

 

We played Heritage Bluffs late afternoon/early evening. The ball marks were as bad as I've seen this year at any course. I would love to have seen how the greens looked at 6 a.m. compared to 6 p.m. Certainly a Saturday of heavy play will stress any greens, but it was obvious to me that laziness early in the day just passed on from group to group as the day proceeded.

[AUTIGER07]

Got out and played Buffalo Grove on Saturday morning. Pace was a little slow at 4:40 but overall the course was in good shape and the greens were actually in good shape. Shot a 73, again with a poor putter, but holed out a bunker shot for eagle on #16 to help cover some of the 4 footers I missed.

 

On a side note, the new restaurant there looks nice; didn't have a chance to eat there but the new owners really moved the look / feel of the place upscale. They need to train their beverage cart girl though. She drove the course in 1/2/3/... instead of in reverse and other times you would see her shooting across fairways going to no one in particular. Either she was on LSD or genuinely has no idea what the hell she is supposed to do out there.

[fanofsaosin]

Kind of bummed the new owners didn't put the chicken tenders on the menu.

 

Got out and played Buffalo Grove on Saturday morning. Pace was a little slow at 4:40 but overall the course was in good shape and the greens were actually in good shape. Shot a 73, again with a poor putter, but holed out a bunker shot for eagle on #16 to help cover some of the 4 footers I missed.

 

On a side note, the new restaurant there looks nice; didn't have a chance to eat there but the new owners really moved the look / feel of the place upscale. They need to train their beverage cart girl though. She drove the course in 1/2/3/... instead of in reverse and other times you would see her shooting across fairways going to no one in particular. Either she was on LSD or genuinely has no idea what the hell she is supposed to do out there.

[Argonne69]

I snapped this at the 9th tee at Coyote Run on Saturday. Someone wasn't pleased with their drive.

 

[zer0]

Taking some time off of golf. Been battling the shanks for a couple weeks and can't deal with it anymore. When making a tee time gives you 24 hours of anxiety its time to walk away

[geochitown]

had a great time at Pine Meadow again on Friday...

 

nice piece on the Preserve at Oak Meadows that aired last night (Sunday, July 9).

 

http://wgntv.com/2017/07/09/the-preserve-at-oak-meadows-ready-to-tee-it-up-again/

[ldchristopher]

Taking some time off of golf. Been battling the shanks for a couple weeks and can't deal with it anymore. When making a tee time gives you 24 hours of anxiety its time to walk away

Turn your hat around backwards, put all your change in your left pocket, tie your left shoe in a double knot, and put a tee behind your left ear. It worked for Tin Cup.

[chisag]

Taking some time off of golf. Been battling the shanks for a couple weeks and can't deal with it anymore. When making a tee time gives you 24 hours of anxiety its time to walk away

 

... Had some back issues and found myself turning my body too quickly protecting my spine, which ironically just makes it worse. I knew what I was doing wrong but just seemed unable to stop myself. Due to some heavy rain, high winds and allowing the back to rest for 4 days, I came back rested and found my normal swing again. Sometimes a few days off can do wonders.

[DavePelz4]

Taking some time off of golf. Been battling the shanks for a couple weeks and can't deal with it anymore. When making a tee time gives you 24 hours of anxiety its time to walk away

Turn your hat around backwards, put all your change in your left pocket, tie your left shoe in a double knot, and put a tee behind your left ear. It worked for Tin Cup.

 

And will Zer end up with Renee Russo?

[geochitown]

Without question firmer greens would alleviate some of the ball mark issues, but I understand why that's not a real option for many courses.

 

I think a big part of the solution is getting the course regulars (members, the early tee timers, the permanent times, etc) to buy-in. If marks are being fixed early on, especially on busy weekends, I believe that trend will carry on throughout the rest of the day. But, the opposite is certainly true as well. Not saying I do this, but say you are playing late morning and the green is already peppered with unfixed marks. What difference will it make if I fix my mark. It is easy to brush off and not hard to see how things spiral down from there.

 

We played Heritage Bluffs late afternoon/early evening. The ball marks were as bad as I've seen this year at any course. I would love to have seen how the greens looked at 6 a.m. compared to 6 p.m. Certainly a Saturday of heavy play will stress any greens, but it was obvious to me that laziness early in the day just passed on from group to group as the day proceeded.

 

Count me as another who is bothered to no end by unrepaired ball marks on greens!

 

I have also seen isolated cases of greens with damage cause by people who repaired ball marks incorrectly and there were small brown marks all over the green (this was end of season).

 

At Wilmette Golf Club, I saw an employee on the 13th green doing something to the green with a tool some 3 feet long.

 

We were in the fairway waiting to play and he was on the green between the group ahead of us and ourselves.

 

Turns out he was repairing ball marks with something like this

 

 

I think having volunteers go through at the end of the day or at some point during the day and repairing marks might be a good way to go.

 

I don't have much hope for the golfing population to repair their own ball marks.

[ldchristopher]

Without question firmer greens would alleviate some of the ball mark issues, but I understand why that's not a real option for many courses.

 

I think a big part of the solution is getting the course regulars (members, the early tee timers, the permanent times, etc) to buy-in. If marks are being fixed early on, especially on busy weekends, I believe that trend will carry on throughout the rest of the day. But, the opposite is certainly true as well. Not saying I do this, but say you are playing late morning and the green is already peppered with unfixed marks. What difference will it make if I fix my mark. It is easy to brush off and not hard to see how things spiral down from there.

 

We played Heritage Bluffs late afternoon/early evening. The ball marks were as bad as I've seen this year at any course. I would love to have seen how the greens looked at 6 a.m. compared to 6 p.m. Certainly a Saturday of heavy play will stress any greens, but it was obvious to me that laziness early in the day just passed on from group to group as the day proceeded.

 

Count me as another who is bothered to no end by unrepaired ball marks on greens!

 

I have also seen isolated cases of greens with damage cause by people who repaired ball marks incorrectly and there were small brown marks all over the green (this was end of season).

 

At Wilmette Golf Club, I saw an employee on the 13th green doing something to the green with a tool some 3 feet long.

 

We were in the fairway waiting to play and he was on the green between the group ahead of us and ourselves.

 

Turns out he was repairing ball marks with something like this

 

 

I think having volunteers go through at the end of the day or at some point during the day and repairing marks might be a good way to go.

 

I don't have much hope for the golfing population to repair their own ball marks.

Nor do I. In my super early morning rounds I've seen maintenance guys out using the long tools to repair marks. If they don't do that first and just cut and roll the greens, the mark gets run over by the green rollers but not fixed. Eventually the spot just dies and is screwed until the winter when everything on the greens dies. However, blaming strictly golfers is both pointless and not completely accurate. Public courses that have tee times 9 or 10 minutes apart (HOE, Cantigny, Arrowhead, etc.) tend to have better greens and it's not just because the greens are faster. The courses with tee times that are 7-8 minutes apart in the Chicago area generally won't have markless greens because groups end up right on top of each other. Go ahead, try to find a Billy Casper managed facility that has greens with no marks on them in June and July. It's not possible and golfers not repairing aren't the only reason why. I want to love Village Links a lot more than I do, but with tee times 8 minutes apart, the greens are gonna have ball marks on them. I've reached an acceptance stage at this point. When I'm booking a round, I know if the times are closely packed together the likelihood of marks all over the greens will be extremely high.

[disk]

I haven't noticed any difference this year in terms of un-repaired ball marks, seems to always be a problem. Not my problem anymore as I found out I might have a torn shoulder labrum so it's PT for now and an MRI for later... golf was not in the prescription unfortunately.

[chisag]

I haven't noticed any difference this year in terms of un-repaired ball marks, seems to always be a problem. Not my problem anymore as I found out I might have a torn shoulder labrum so it's PT for now and an MRI for later... golf was not in the prescription unfortunately.

 

... It seems like a sheep mentality. As I stated earlier almost no ball marks at all on Wedgwood Sunday. So any ball mark was obvious and repaired. Naperbrook had so many it was almost impossible to find yours, so I think the sheep just don't bother since there are so many. I repaired 3 on each green unless there were obvious very deep ones and I appeared those too. Two Muni's with vastly different ball repair but pretty much should be the same kind of golfers on each course.

 

... So sorry to hear about our shoulder. I have been battling a partially torn labrum since last September and am still in PT, which has been a life saver. The torn labrum developed into a frozen shoulder and that was really tough to overcome. Had a cortisone shot in Jan that really helped and I have avoided surgery. Too painful to play last fall but this spring has gotten better and better and last few rounds I have had zero pain. Still bothers me for certain movements but thankfully the swing is not one of them. Hang in there, don;t rich your recovery and best of luck!

[Scratch2Plus]

Havent played since the 4th...

 

36 at HoE on Thursday. New putter in play...

[propman]

I know they are not considered great courses by any means. But if you want to just get out, play cheaply and as many holes as you want - try Gleneagles during the week. In the last couple of week, have gone out there on Monday/Tuesday around 2:00 and played until dusk. Courses are not crowded and if you run into a group, skip a hole or two. Great for practice, imho.

[cane700]

Played Dubs Dread for the first time on Friday. I was underwhelmed by it. The service or lack thereof really was a turn off. The pro shop staff was rude. We had booked a twighlight round. We showed up 40 minutes before our tee time to warm up and they wouldn't check us in on the assumption that we would sneak out before twighlight. An odd assumption especially since you have a starter managing this stuff. Insulting to customers dropping $100 for twighlight. The kid at the driving range told me I had to share my complementary bucket with my playing partner. That's gotta be a first. I complained to the manager and basically was told they were doing me a favor giving me a medium bucket. I never get service this bad playing 1 and 3. As far as course conditions go, the fairways and greens were in good shape. The rough was thin and rutted in need of some scotts turf builder. Greenside bunkers were nice. The course felt long from the blues but I didn't feel overwhelmed by the course. The front nine looked like a longer version of nearby Gleneagles. The back was slightly more interesting. The iconic 18th wasn't so iconic in person. I've played more difficult layouts than Dubs. Seven Bridges is a tougher layout IMO. George Dunne provides a similar experience IMO but for less. Cantigny and Mistwood blow Dubs out of the water as far as service and overall enjoyment are concerned. Overall Dubs was a dud. Overhyped and over priced. I was warned but had to see for myself. The Ed Debevics business model needs to change.

[jstone17]

Arrowhead 9 West course this afternoon. Walked it in 1 hour 20 minutes. Excellent conditions, course is in great shape. Will only play it on weekday afternoons if I can. Weekends, if you can get on, are 5+ hour rounds, ain't got time for that.

[ldchristopher]

Chalet Hills and Blackstone tomorrow, then off to the JDC. Hopefully the weather holds up.

[johngalt312]

Arrowhead Thursday, Dubsdread Friday, Hinsdale Country Club Saturday. Work has its perks!