Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round2)

[games]

 

 

That's great news! However, I wonder how long it'll take before they become crater filled from people not fixing their ball marks and such...

.

 

Unfortunately you can't fix stupid.

 

Was that directed at me???

 

Pfft, rolling chips don't damage greens.

 

This will end well.

[Buddha]

First visit to Whitetail Ridge on Saturday morning. Is this course walking friendly, or do they "encourage" electric carts?

 

... I would not call it an easy walk but I have walked worse. The front 9 is flat and not too many long walks from green to tee but a few little treks. The back 9 has a ton of elevation changes and again a few good treks from green to tee. I walked it once and would not walk it again.

 

Much appreciated. I'll likely take a cart then.

 

First visit to Bloomingdale GC on Sunday morning. I think this one is a bit more walkable.

 

BGC will be my 143rd local course played. I was browsing through Chicagoland Golf magazine, and took a look at the golf course directory in the back. Ugh. I counted at least 50 18 hole courses in the area that I've yet to play. Lol. I have a ways to go before I hit them all. I'm thinking that I might have to start planning one night hotel stays out in the distant burbs, and play two rounds on Saturday, and another on Sunday. There are some clusters of courses in the Rockford and Morris/Ottawa areas that could be grouped together fairly easily.

 

If they are ever nw burbs, I got an extra room I could rent for greens fees hah

[Waterboy]

Anyone done oak grove lately? Might go out there later today. I might be the only car in the lot.

[games]

Anyone done oak grove lately? Might go out there later today. I might be the only car in the lot.

 

Is Oak Grove the old Plum Tree National?

[Waterboy]

Anyone done oak grove lately? Might go out there later today. I might be the only car in the lot.

 

Is Oak Grove the old Plum Tree National?

 

No. Plum tree national is a campground or something. Keep driving west to get to oak grove

[YoungJedi]

Just got back from playing TPC Deere run, Butler National, Medinah #3, and The Glen Club.

 

Holy cow that was the best 3 days of my life...

[disk]

Just got back from playing TPC Deere run, Butler National, Medinah #3, and The Glen Club.

 

Holy cow that was the best 3 days of my life...

 

Doesn't sound like a bad way to spend a couple of days...

[jimwgt26]

Got an email from Cog Hill this week. For the 90th Anniversary of Dubs, you can play it for $90 on 8/29. There's 8am and 1:30 shotguns. I'm playing the 1:30.

[Argonne69]

A very nice morning walking 18 at Whitetail Ridge. The 100 minute drive home? Not so much. It was a my first visit to the course, and I was very pleased. Pace of play was good on the front, but bottled up on the back. We finished in 4:40.

 

The front nine is a basically flat prairie style layout. Lots of native grasses, and numerous of hazards that don't really come onto play unless you're flailing away. The front plays rather short. I hit 3 wood off the tee on 4 holes. The greens are fairly benign, but they rolled nicely with moderate speeds. The fairways are very generous, so it really takes a bad shot to miss them.

 

The back nine was better. More hills. More trees (somewhat), and a bit more danger. The 12th and 13th require a well positioned tee shot, or you'll have tree trouble.

 

Very solid day ballstriking. Missed two fairways and three greens. I made the turn at one under, stumbled on two holes on the back, but sank a very nice 15 foot birdie on 18 to shoot even for the day.

 

Overall I enjoyed the layout. Nice views of the surrounding area. I'm not sure I'd make a 2nd trip out there, but it's certainly worth a visit if you're looking for something different. It was walking friendly, although there were a few spots on the back where I was a bit winded.

 

[St Jimmy]

Anyone done oak grove lately? Might go out there later today. I might be the only car in the lot.

 

I went this morning. To be honest, I play there just about every Sunday.

It's in good/normal shape.

They've gotten pretty busy since the flooding. They were still open and relatively dry and people were flocking in there.

Since then I'd say their business seems to have doubled.

[St Jimmy]

Anyone done oak grove lately? Might go out there later today. I might be the only car in the lot.

 

Is Oak Grove the old Plum Tree National?

 

Plum Tree is/was in Woodstock, IL.

Oak Grove is in Alden, IL with a Harvard, IL address.

[Scratch2Plus]

Taking Tuesday off...Anyone want to play? I'd like to try and play The Preserve and somewhere else but I'm open to suggestions.

[Argonne69]

First, and last, visit to Bloomingdale GC this morning. I remember now why I haven't played there before. The a**hats don't allow walking on weekend mornings. What a bunch of buffoons. If any course deserved to be walked, it was this one. A nice rolling parkland layout, with small hard greens, and plenty of mature trees, it was a tough course to score on. Conditions were less than ideal. The fairways were shaggy, and good lord the greens were pot marked with un-repaired, or poorly repaired ballmarks. The sand in the bunkers was more dirt than sand.

 

A bit wild off the tee today, and the iron play wasn't a whole lot better. With the small, firm greens, it was a day of scrambling. A very forgettable round.

[MountainKing]

A very nice morning walking 18 at Whitetail Ridge. The 100 minute drive home? Not so much. It was a my first visit to the course, and I was very pleased. Pace of play was good on the front, but bottled up on the back. We finished in 4:40.

 

The front nine is a basically flat prairie style layout. Lots of native grasses, and numerous of hazards that don't really come onto play unless you're flailing away. The front plays rather short. I hit 3 wood off the tee on 4 holes. The greens are fairly benign, but they rolled nicely with moderate speeds. The fairways are very generous, so it really takes a bad shot to miss them.

 

The back nine was better. More hills. More trees (somewhat), and a bit more danger. The 12th and 13th require a well positioned tee shot, or you'll have tree trouble.

 

Very solid day ballstriking. Missed two fairways and three greens. I made the turn at one under, stumbled on two holes on the back, but sank a very nice 15 foot birdie on 18 to shoot even for the day.

 

Overall I enjoyed the layout. Nice views of the surrounding area. I'm not sure I'd make a 2nd trip out there, but it's certainly worth a visit if you're looking for something different. It was walking friendly, although there were a few spots on the back where I was a bit winded.

 

I like the course but pace of play is always an issue out there. For a decent golfer it's a pretty straight forward course but I think there's just too much trouble that does come into play for the weekend warrior slowing things up. I try to avoid rounds there unless it's a weekday or spring/fall when the course will be fairly empty.

[DavePelz4]

We've played WTR at least 50 times. Generally, we're in the prime time slot on Saturday. The "worst" it's ever been is 4:30. We've waited on 2 but after that...it's been good. We've waited on 14...but I think the longest wait has been for a beer on 19.

[dhartmann34]

Anyone done oak grove lately? Might go out there later today. I might be the only car in the lot.

 

Is Oak Grove the old Plum Tree National?

 

Plum Tree is/was in Woodstock, IL.

Oak Grove is in Alden, IL with a Harvard, IL address.

Plum tree is no longer open unfortunately but was in Harvard. . Dad passed away and kids want to sell it for housing or something. Such a wonderful course.

 

I'm playing Oak Grove next weekend. Should be fun.

[chisag]

Taking Tuesday off...Anyone want to play? I'd like to try and play The Preserve and somewhere else but I'm open to suggestions.

 

... I would have joined you as I really want to play The Preserve but already playing in a 4 some at Prairie Landing Tuesday.

[MountainKing]

We've played WTR at least 50 times. Generally, we're in the prime time slot on Saturday. The "worst" it's ever been is 4:30. We've waited on 2 but after that...it's been good. We've waited on 14...but I think the longest wait has been for a beer on 19.

 

 

That's kind of funny, I think 4:30 is the best It's ever been for me. Two years ago we had a 3 hour back 9, the front was only marginally better so we kind of gave up on weekend golf there.

[ldchristopher]

The next time any of you are invited to a wedding in Southern California, make sure it isn't dry. Learn from my errors and heap criticisms on the aunts, uncles and cousins of my wife who allowed this atrocity to occur.

Anyway, I played Ledges and Aldeen with The Bear on Saturday. It was my first round in two weeks after I was told in no uncertain terms not to bring my clubs (oh, the sacrifices I make) to L.A. Ledges was actually in pretty decent shape for the amount of rain they had recently. The fairways didn't have any standing water, the bunkers were all playable, and the greens were, well, better than the putting surfaces on most $20 courses. 78.

Aldeen was pretty solid. Bear hates it for the target golf on the front and I could do without the repetition on the back. However, it's well-manicured, the pace is good, and the closing hole leaves me with a fond recollection of the course. 77.

[saggysag]

Just got back from playing TPC Deere run, Butler National, Medinah #3, and The Glen Club.

 

Holy cow that was the best 3 days of my life...

 

how do you rank them?

[Waterboy]

Anyone done oak grove lately? Might go out there later today. I might be the only car in the lot.

 

Is Oak Grove the old Plum Tree National?

 

Plum Tree is/was in Woodstock, IL.

Oak Grove is in Alden, IL with a Harvard, IL address.

Plum tree is no longer open unfortunately but was in Harvard. . Dad passed away and kids want to sell it for housing or something. Such a wonderful course.

 

I'm playing Oak Grove next weekend. Should be fun.

 

Course was in good shape. Greens were soft but receptive. I haven't been out there in a few years but was out that way for family and played. I think I got around in about 3:30 and didn't really run into traffic until the 13th hole.

 

Don't know what I have in store for playing this week but have a tentative date next week for one of the Medinah courses.

[stasek]

Why do courses setup their regular weekend pins like it was a Sunday of the USOpen and wonder why it takes 5 hours to play? Played Ruffled Feathers yesterday morning and I swear whoever setup the course must have been auditioning for USGA. With the exception of couple holes, everything was tucked away in corners, 2-3 paces from the fringe. I generally don't have a problem with tough pin placements, but this was ridiculous. The worst offender was by far par 5 15th. Even before reaching the hole I knew they put the pin in front right corner on severe slope. Sure enough, I hit one of my best drives right down the middle and find myself 125 yards out. I get to my ball and start watching the foursome in front (part of our group) playing the hole out. 1 putt, 2 putt, 3 putt.... until they all said f-it and picked up. They were all putting from below the hole and every single putt trickled down off the green. Off course I get cute with my shot (didn't want to be long), and hit it short into the hazard but my ball is playable. I chip it out onto the green and the putt-putt contest begins. I wound up picking up after 3 putts and so did my playing partner.

Unless the ball somehow found an old ball mark or some minute indentation (or the bottom of the cup), there was labsolutely no way to stop it around the hole!

 

Tough is good... unplayable is a different story...

Other than that, the course was in good condition from tee to green (some bunkers were full of water, but I didn't find any of them). The greens were pretty quick and true, but they did have a ton of old ball marks that were either not repaired, or repaired incorrectly.

 

Rant off...

 

[jimwgt26]

Guess RF's the greens keeper got in a fight with his wife.

[Scratch2Plus]

Out at the Preserve and I happen to see Gary down the tee line. He was pretending that he didn't know me...:(

 

 

[dhartmann34]

The next time any of you are invited to a wedding in Southern California, make sure it isn't dry. Learn from my errors and heap criticisms on the aunts, uncles and cousins of my wife who allowed this atrocity to occur.

Anyway, I played Ledges and Aldeen with The Bear on Saturday. It was my first round in two weeks after I was told in no uncertain terms not to bring my clubs (oh, the sacrifices I make) to L.A. Ledges was actually in pretty decent shape for the amount of rain they had recently. The fairways didn't have any standing water, the bunkers were all playable, and the greens were, well, better than the putting surfaces on most $20 courses. 78.

Aldeen was pretty solid. Bear hates it for the target golf on the front and I could do without the repetition on the back. However, it's well-manicured, the pace is good, and the closing hole leaves me with a fond recollection of the course. 77.

I love Ledges. Kind of a hidden gem if you ask me.

[Argonne69]

Best three courses in the Rockford area not named Aldeen?

[chisag]

... We had an outing at Ruffled maybe 5 years ago and they put the pin right on the slope of #7. Literally impossible to stop the ball unless it hit the hole. Luckily I was in the the first group and dictated an automatic 2 putt and let the group behind us know and to pass it on. Stopped at the clubhouse and told the HP and they caught up with me mid way thru the back 9 to tell me they fixed it. LOL, little late for that.

 

... Then we played behind an outing last fall and at 4:15 pulling up to #12 with 3 foursomes in front of us we left. I am guessing it took 6 hours or more to finish. Never saw a ranger. I won't be going back.

[DavePelz4]

Out at the Preserve and I happen to see Gary down the tee line. He was pretending that he did t know me... :(

 

 

 

Well now that's just harsh. Thank you for not commenting on my new knee high socks.

[dhartmann34]

Best three courses in the Rockford area not named Aldeen?

I like Timber Pointe and The Ledges.

[ldchristopher]

Best three courses in the Rockford area not named Aldeen?

I like Timber Pointe and The Ledges.

I'll second those two. I've never played Atwood-Homestead but Elliot is kind of a dog track and Sandy Hollow and Ingersoll are uninspiring. They all have good wildlife if that's more your thing (it's why my dad still talks up Sandy Hollow) but in terms of golf course quality TP and Ledges are pretty stellar.