Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round2)

[PuttCurseRepeat]

Has anyone played both Lawsonia and Glen Oak in Glen Ellyn, both Langford designs I believe, and compare the two?

[Argonne69]

Deerfield GC tomorrow morning. I hope the pace of play is reasonable. I've been avoiding the place because of the horror stories, but I was running out of options.

 

What a frustrating week trying to book a walking round as a single for Saturday morning at a mid-level course. With the great weather forecast tomorrow, there were simply no slots available in the early morning. I guess the players with permanent tee times are going to get their money's worth. 'Way too many courses that don't allow singles to book, even though they had plenty of openings for 2 or 2-4 players.

[ldchristopher]

Here is an under the radar course in the area I would recommend: Spring Valley in Salem, WI. It's also a Langford course like Lawsonia, but it much rougher shape. If you are interested in a Langford course that has really interesting greens and routing, this is your spot. However, the condition is average, greens have shrunk a lot in the past 80 years, and there is not a bunker on the property. But you can play it for $20 or so.

 

If you're looking for a well manicured course, don't go here. But it you want something different, this might be up your ally.

Every once in a while, Spring Valley shows up in the "What's Your Favorite Dogtrack?" thread. I've played it twice and like it for what it is: an original and untouched Langford design that can be played for $20 on a weekend because it has an equal amount of weeds and blades of grass. Interestingly, it's never had bunkers on the course, as apparently that was in keeping with the wishes of Langford and Moreau when it was originally established. I like the layout a lot, and as a 6400 yard par 70, it feels like it plays longer than what's listed on the scorecard. I've seen some really funny stuff there, as well. When I made the turn at 8:30 AM one time, I saw a guy who had 8 empty Coors Lite's lined up. I couldn't figure out how that was even possible, but I suppose where there's a will, there's a way.

[WindyCitySPN]

Played the preserve at oak meadows yesterday. Fairways and greens are still filling in but was really impressed with the lay out. Think this will be a great course in a couple of years.

[Scratch2Plus]

Played the preserve at oak meadows yesterday. Fairways and greens are still filling in but was really impressed with the lay out. Think this will be a great course in a couple of years.

 

Im finally playing it tomorrow....

[jimwgt26]

I might be the only man who smiles when his wife informs him he's visiting his mother in law first thing tomorrow morning. Translation, I'm playing either Brown Deer or Washington County. Yippee!!

 

I usually hit balls at Golf Center Des Plaines. When I pulled in today I saw they're closed for renovations. Kind of like John Candy in Vacation, "Sorry folks, the park is closed." So I went around the corner to Harry Semirow. I've past it many times, but never hit balls there. It's a typical county driving range. But, you can hit unlimited balls for $12.

 

 

[St Jimmy]

Whisper Creek and Aldeen on Saturday. Last time we booked Aldeen we had too much time in between rounds and bailed on favor of Timber Pointe. This time the two are spaced apart better. It's gonna be almost 90 this weekend so I'm expecting a crowded course for round two.

 

Hope your playing Whisper Creek early. It was the slowest round of my life when I played there a month ago. #8 had five or six groups on it waiting to tee off when we pulled up.

Greens were pretty beat up too.

[ldchristopher]

Whisper Creek and Aldeen on Saturday. Last time we booked Aldeen we had too much time in between rounds and bailed on favor of Timber Pointe. This time the two are spaced apart better. It's gonna be almost 90 this weekend so I'm expecting a crowded course for round two.

 

Hope your playing Whisper Creek early. It was the slowest round of my life when I played there a month ago. #8 had five or six groups on it waiting to tee off when we pulled up.

Greens were pretty beat up too.

6:32 tee time. The greens there are junk but it's a solid weekend value at $35 to walk.

[stasek]

Pleasant round at Dubsdread. The course was in overall great condition (well, except for some work being don on the first par 5). The greens were rolling probably at 10 and were very true. Didnt play bad, but a triple and a quad (on 18, compliments of an OB tee ball and green side aqua) did the damage.

Pleasant surprise was the pace of play - we finished in roughly 3:45.

[Argonne69]

'Wonderful day at Deerfield GC. A bit steamy, but the mild breeze helped keep things in check. The course was in great shape. The fairways were lush, bunkers were sandy, and the greens looked fantastic. They were a bit on the slow side, probably because they saw the forecast with temperatures in the high 80's and decided not to cut them. Pace of play was excellent, as we finished in 3:50. 'No complaints there. I still don't like the constant din of the tollway, but the layout is decent.

 

One of the best rounds of the year. Solid ballstriking, with 9 fairways and 14 greens. I managed even par on front with one birdie, and one bogie, and then lit up the back with a 33, birdieing 12, 14, 15, and 17. The best hole of the day was the birdie on the long par 4 12th, which was playing 435 yards. With a helping breeze behind me, I hit the best drive of the day, leaving me with 155 to a center pin. My 7 iron was perfectly struck, and release to 7 feet from the pin. After birdieing 17 with a sweet 15 foot putt, I double crossed myself on the par 5 18th trying to hit a fade. Luckily the ball hit the trees on the left, and kicked across the front of the forward tees. 'Probably managed 100 yards off the tee. My next shot was worse, topping a fairway wood another 75 yards. A solid 3rd left me a full sand wedge that I dropped 12 feet right of the pin. One putt for goofy par, and a 69.

 

I'm heading to Village Green in Mundelein tomorrow. A coworker took up the game last year, and has been itching to get out with me. $39 w/ cart, I'm not expecting much, but it'll allow me to cross another course off my list.

[jimwgt26]

Beautiful day at Washington County. The good: the course is in great shape, $45/walk is a steal. Played with some nice guys. The bad: 5:15 round, three groups on every hole. Guys behind us hit into us on half the holes:

 

[JFrew]

For those of you who like to play PrairieView, GroupGolfer has a deal for $18 for 18 w/ cart and range balls. Good any day and time.

[games]

Blackstone out in Marengo. Wow. Just wow. What a fun layout! Conditioning superb. Small gripe: Whole clubhouse shut down for a wedding. Still served our group via a beverage cart at a patio next to the driving range. Great day. Great course. Can't say enough good things!

[St Jimmy]

I'm heading to Village Green in Mundelein tomorrow. A coworker took up the game last year, and has been itching to get out with me. $39 w/ cart, I'm not expecting much, but it'll allow me to cross another course off my list.

 

 

I played Village Green once last year in mid summer. It's not that bad, but you'll probably wish you just kept driving to Steeple Chase.

Keep your head on a swivel, it's a bit of a shooting gallery!

 

Best part of the course is they were open all winter. I walked it a few times in February.

[TheBear95]

Beautiful day at Washington County. The good: the course is in great shape, $45/walk is a steal. Played with some nice guys. The bad: 5:15 round, three groups on every hole. Guys behind us hit into us on half the holes:

 

 

The weather been too nice. Courses have been jammed the past couple of weekends. Usually things start to open up after Labor Day, not this year. I'm actually looking forward to some fall weather.... 50s, breeze, maybe some light rain.

[Holy Moses]

Had a nice time at Blackstone today. Not many people on the course besides my foursome. Greens were as fast as usual, but they were extremely hard. I hit the ball pretty high, but I couldn't stop the ball like I normally do. On 14, the junk is 240. I hit a little 3/4 3 iron which normally goes 215 or so, but it went into the junk because the fairways were really rolling. Shot 79, but had a nice time.

 

There was a wedding right in the back of 18 as we were playing. After we hit our drives, my group decided to just pick up rather than accidentally wack one into the crowd. That would have made a pretty funny video if we had jacked someone in the "gallery."

[games]

On 14, the junk is 240. I hit a little 3/4 3 iron which normally goes 215 or so, but it went into the junk because the fairways were really rolling. Shot 79, but had a nice time.

 

Wow. Good shooting! 14 is one of those holes that is cool but quirky. I would be interested to know the distance to the junk down both the left side and the right.

[chisag]

Beautiful day at Washington County. The good: the course is in great shape, $45/walk is a steal. Played with some nice guys. The bad: 5:15 round, three groups on every hole. Guys behind us hit into us on half the holes:

 

 

The weather been too nice. Courses have been jammed the past couple of weekends. Usually things start to open up after Labor Day, not this year. I'm actually looking forward to some fall weather.... 50s, breeze, maybe some light rain.

 

... I play afternoon only and have found the opposite. The Mrs and I played Prairie Bluff yesterday and really never ran into another group until the 15th hole. and even then we slowed just a little. I love getting to play in a rhythm like that and had 4 birdies and 2 bogies. Mrs Chisag also shot a 96 which is the low end of her scoring so it was a great day other than a little more wind that I would like. Whenever I arrive at PB and see the orange wind sock look like a traffic cone, I know we are in for a tough day. Although it was the best kind of wind, hot and blowing straight down 9/3/17/18 and only really hurting on 1/4/10 which are some of the easier holes.

[Well Played]

Prairie Landing this morning... Always love the layout of this course, and pace was pretty good; however the greens were in really rough shape - beat to all hell with unrepaired ball marks everywhere, and slow, slow, slow! Rangers were out ensuring a good pace of play, which is good, but wish they would also pay attention to who is not repairing ball marks. And no idea why the greens would be running so slowly this late in the season in the heels of very little rain recently...

[Holy Moses]

Prairie Landing this morning... Always love the layout of this course, and pace was pretty good; however the greens were in really rough shape - beat to all hell with unrepaired ball marks everywhere, and slow, slow, slow! Rangers were out ensuring a good pace of play, which is good, but wish they would also pay attention to who is not repairing ball marks. And no idea why the greens would be running so slowly this late in the season in the heels of very little rain recently...

 

Been hot and dry. Watering them extra to keep them from getting heat stress.

[ldchristopher]

Whisper Creek yesterday was great. At $35 on a Saturday when it's still summer rates I'll deal with bumpy greens, though they seem to be recovering fairly well from when they were punched. We didn't stop once, got around as a foursome in four hours, and, after a rough first nine, I shot even par on the back. Solid line from one of the guys we played with: "The residents here refer to the waterfall on the ninth hole as "Viagra Falls." 76. On to Aldeen.

 

Before I begin this rant, I feel obligated to apologize in advance to DP4. I know he likes Aldeen and, honestly, there's a lot to like. The greens were extremely smooth, they space tee times apart by 10 minutes so in theory there shouldn't be any backups, and after the target golf on the first 8 holes, it has a very nice if somewhat repetitive layout on 9-18. If the human element is completely ignored, it's a great course. Alas, it's impossible to ignore the human element. The pace was complete fecal matter. We waited on every shot and sat on a few boxes for 30-40 minutes because, of course, old guys have gotta go in at the turn to chat, send the Browns to the Super Bowl, grab a bite to eat, etc. Every chubby middle aged guy in Rockford was out with his wife banging balls off of trees, and they didn't give any warning as they sliced and rope hooked tee shots two fairways over, even as the ball skidded in between my Clicgear and Bear's. Not to be outdone by the incompetence on display by others, the group in front of us waited for the green to clear for their second shot on every par five despite hitting tee shots well under 200 yards. Their second shot was always a ground ball anyway, followed by the requisite, "Oh, I just missed that." No pal, you didn't. Go home. The ranger drove around aimlessly telling people they were keeping pace (holy expletive deleted, they weren't) and when I told him we were getting stacked up on every tee box, he looked at me like I was crazy. Seriously, enough with the good weather. If it's 55 and windy, I can play 2 rounds and not stop once.

 

Okay, deep breath. Rant over.

[jimwgt26]

Prairie Landing this morning... Always love the layout of this course, and pace was pretty good; however the greens were in really rough shape - beat to all hell with unrepaired ball marks everywhere, and slow, slow, slow! Rangers were out ensuring a good pace of play, which is good, but wish they would also pay attention to who is not repairing ball marks. And no idea why the greens would be running so slowly this late in the season in the heels of very little rain recently...

 

That's a bummer. I played PL a few weeks ago, and the greens were in great shape.

[chisag]

Prairie Landing this morning... Always love the layout of this course, and pace was pretty good; however the greens were in really rough shape - beat to all hell with unrepaired ball marks everywhere, and slow, slow, slow! Rangers were out ensuring a good pace of play, which is good, but wish they would also pay attention to who is not repairing ball marks. And no idea why the greens would be running so slowly this late in the season in the heels of very little rain recently...

 

That's a bummer. I played PL a few weeks ago, and the greens were in great shape.

 

 

... Same here. Played about 3 weeks ago and the greens were very smooth and lightening fast. Had a putt from above the hole on the fringe of #3 and just started it in motion and it slowly picked up speed and then rolled off the bottom. Huge green and anywhere but above the hole would have left me with a decent putt at the hole. So slow greens at PL? Bummer indeed.

[DavePelz4]

@ldchristopher...no apologies needed at all. People either love or hate Aldeen...few are in the middle on it. We usually play it early in the morning and pace isn't an issue. Maybe once it was 4:30 but generally just over 4 and is chubby old guys walk it, too!

 

I guess my love of Aldeen is the conditions, the par 5's, the value, practice facilities, etc. I'm becoming more of a fan of Prairie View though.

[Well Played]

Prairie Landing this morning... Always love the layout of this course, and pace was pretty good; however the greens were in really rough shape - beat to all hell with unrepaired ball marks everywhere, and slow, slow, slow! Rangers were out ensuring a good pace of play, which is good, but wish they would also pay attention to who is not repairing ball marks. And no idea why the greens would be running so slowly this late in the season in the heels of very little rain recently...

 

That's a bummer. I played PL a few weeks ago, and the greens were in great shape.

 

 

... Same here. Played about 3 weeks ago and the greens were very smooth and lightening fast. Had a putt from above the hole on the fringe of #3 and just started it in motion and it slowly picked up speed and then rolled off the bottom. Huge green and anywhere but above the hole would have left me with a decent putt at the hole. So slow greens at PL? Bummer indeed.

 

Left several short from above the hole, including on #3! Was a head-scratcher for me, too.

 

[Argonne69]

A pleasant morning at Village Green GC in Mundelein. Yes, I was mildly surprised by the layout. It's not going to win any awards, but it was more than playable. A good mixture of short and long holes. A few patches in the fairways, but otherwise lush. I was almost shocked by the size and conditions of the greens. Normally these shorter courses have tiny greens, but these things were very large, and a number of them had quite a bit of slope. They were actually faster than Deerfield's, and rolled nicely. A few too many improperly repaired ball marks spotted the greens, but they were very playable. I don't quite understand how the par 70 course can have a rating of 72.7/118. 'Seems very over-rated. Pace was better than expected at 4:20.

 

Unspectacular round today. A bit too much chit chat with my coworker, and not enough focus on the game. I still managed 9 fairways and 11 greens, but really didn't give myself too many birdie opportunities. I almost certainly won't be back, but it was a very nice course for those learning the game.

[ldchristopher]

@ldchristopher...no apologies needed at all. People either love or hate Aldeen...few are in the middle on it. We usually play it early in the morning and pace isn't an issue. Maybe once it was 4:30 but generally just over 4 and is chubby old guys walk it, too!

 

I guess my love of Aldeen is the conditions, the par 5's, the value, practice facilities, etc. I'm becoming more of a fan of Prairie View though.

It's a weird situation because Aldeen is a modern course (yet another Dick Nugent design) and, with a few exceptions, most holes don't appear particularly tight. There's trees and all but it doesn't seem all that daunting of a layout to people with control. However, it's way too snug for the 20-25 handicappers who seem to frequent the course. I prefer Prairie View as well. Less target golf, more variety, and no major pace problems.

[Waterboy]

Finally got out to HOE this past weekend. Fun course, I would play it again, I don't think I would walk it again. I feel like they could have modified some of the routing so that you wouldn't have to walk some of the distances from green to tee they have out there. They punched greens a few weeks ago so they are still healing and the fairways were wet, almost as if it had rained wet. Few holes out there that you need to see more then once to understand what you can and can't hit and where you can and can't miss.

 

Overall it was fun. I'll definitely do it again.

 

I wish I would have hit the ball better but there is always that first round at a new course hesitation where I don't want to forcibly put myself into any problems, and while doing that, put myself into problems.

 

Thanks for the reference.

[atn86]

Finally got out to HOE this past weekend. Fun course, I would play it again, I don't think I would walk it again. I feel like they could have modified some of the routing so that you wouldn't have to walk some of the distances from green to tee they have out there. They punched greens a few weeks ago so they are still healing and the fairways were wet, almost as if it had rained wet. Few holes out there that you need to see more then once to understand what you can and can't hit and where you can and can't miss.

 

Overall it was fun. I'll definitely do it again.

 

I wish I would have hit the ball better but there is always that first round at a new course hesitation where I don't want to forcibly put myself into any problems, and while doing that, put myself into problems.

 

Thanks for the reference.

 

Shame to hear that they are continuing to over water the fairways at HofE. I mentioned it in this thread before, but that course is meant to play firm and fast...and in the past that was how the super let the course play. For some reason in the past season they have changed that practice and it's a real detriment to the course/design.

[Waterboy]

Finally got out to HOE this past weekend. Fun course, I would play it again, I don't think I would walk it again. I feel like they could have modified some of the routing so that you wouldn't have to walk some of the distances from green to tee they have out there. They punched greens a few weeks ago so they are still healing and the fairways were wet, almost as if it had rained wet. Few holes out there that you need to see more then once to understand what you can and can't hit and where you can and can't miss.

 

Overall it was fun. I'll definitely do it again.

 

I wish I would have hit the ball better but there is always that first round at a new course hesitation where I don't want to forcibly put myself into any problems, and while doing that, put myself into problems.

 

Thanks for the reference.

 

Shame to hear that they ate continuing to over water the fairways at HofE. I mentioned it in this thread before, but that course is meant to play firm and fast...and in the past that was how the super let the course play. For some reason in the past season they have changed that practice and it's a real detriment to the course/design.

 

Playing firm and fast makes sense. I had so many mudballs that it made me feel like I was playing in April. I'm not a highball hitter but even I was getting plugs.