Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round2)

[zer0]

Deerfield this afternoon and then Thunder Hawk tomorrow. Sunday with the wife, not sure where we're gonna play yet.

Billy Caldwell is offering up night golf on Friday nights starting tonight at 8. $23 and they give you 1 LED glow ball. Not going tonight, but gonna check it out one of these weeks. Anyone ever done that? Is it fun or does it suck?

I'll probably skip the one shot over water just in case...after all, one ball is just one ball.

[apprenti23]

I've done them before and LOVE night golf! My wife who isn't a golfer even enjoys night golf. The balls generally float, so you shouldn't have a problem getting it unless it's far out.

[DavePelz4]

Anyone played Orchard Valley lately? Playing tomorrow...fingers crossed that the conditions are better than last year.

[chrisf60526]

Over the last week, i have rounds in at:

Klein Creek - Very good condition and good pace No goose poop to be found. I like this course
Schaumburg - Surprise course of the year. Reasonable price, great pace and the conditions (especially the greens) were very nice.
George Dunne - Decent conditions and greens were VERY slow with fairway spots slightly beat up. Pace was decent on front nine but back nine clock in at 3 hours.

[jimwgt26]

[quote name='zer0' timestamp='1437752889' post='12012560']
Deerfield this afternoon and then Thunder Hawk tomorrow. Sunday with the wife, not sure where we're gonna play yet.

Billy Caldwell is offering up night golf on Friday nights starting tonight at 8. $23 and they give you 1 LED glow ball. Not going tonight, but gonna check it out one of these weeks. Anyone ever done that? Is it fun or does it suck?

I'll probably skip the one shot over water just in case...after all, one ball is just one ball.
[/quote]

Bring extra bug spray for Billy Caldwell.

[jimwgt26]

The Odyssey is a dump. I guess it's an ok layout, but it's in horrible shape. I can't believe I let the group pick this place.

[Waterboy]

I got lucky and played Aloha Falls tonight. 18 hole mini golf track in Libertyville. The greens were rolling quick today. Some might even say "rolling like concrete." Played it as a 4-some with a couple young kids and another lady. She kept pace but really struggled with some of the short putts. The kids played well. They picked up when they hit it into the pond or the flowers, stayed out of my line and didnt step on my through line.

I'll probably get out there again soon. The $7 price tag was a little steep, but overall it was a good round.

WB

[dhartmann34]

[quote name='Waterboy' timestamp='1437791190' post='12015960']I got lucky and played Aloha Falls tonight. 18 hole mini golf track in Libertyville. The greens were rolling quick today. Some might even say "rolling like concrete." Played it as a 4-some with a couple young kids and another lady. She kept pace but really struggled with some of the short putts. The kids played well. They picked up when they hit it into the pond or the flowers, stayed out of my line and didnt step on my through line.

I'll probably get out there again soon. The $7 price tag was a little steep, but overall it was a good round.

WB[/quote]
Tough course!

[MountainKing]

[quote name='Waterboy' timestamp='1437791190' post='12015960']
I got lucky and played Aloha Falls tonight. 18 hole mini golf track in Libertyville. The greens were rolling quick today. Some might even say "rolling like concrete." Played it as a 4-some with a couple young kids and another lady. She kept pace but really struggled with some of the short putts. The kids played well. They picked up when they hit it into the pond or the flowers, stayed out of my line and didnt step on my through line.

I'll probably get out there again soon. The $7 price tag was a little steep, but overall it was a good round.

WB
[/quote]

Be careful of Lost Mountain in Woodridge, weekend afternoons the pace of play out there can get pretty brutal.

[Waterboy]

Did anyone do the lake county am this weekend? I was going to but I have a few things on my plate at the moment. It looks like it's going to be a sticky day.

[Argonne69]

Harborside Starboard this morning. Same old, same old. Greens were running rather quick, which was a pleasant change of pace. Thankfully the rain stayed away, too.

[geochitown]

[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1437755486' post='12012812']
Anyone played Orchard Valley lately? Playing tomorrow...fingers crossed that the conditions are better than last year.
[/quote]

curious to hear your report on conditions there

[ReinyDays]

[quote name='geochitown' timestamp='1437857036' post='12018840']
[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1437755486' post='12012812']
Anyone played Orchard Valley lately? Playing tomorrow...fingers crossed that the conditions are better than last year.
[/quote]

curious to hear your report on conditions there
[/quote]

i played there about a month ago and the course was in good condition. greens were fast and the rough was quite long. my only problem was they didn't mow the practice green so the speed there was alot slower then when you actually got on the course. other then that no problems

[Scratch2Plus]

That's good to hear as Orchard Valley use to be one of my favorites before BCG took it over and the conditions went to poop.

[zer0]

Played Deerfield yesterday afternoon. The morons who run the place decided it was a good idea to give us a 2:37 tee time when a 18 hole scramble started at 2:15. I've never heard of a course doing that. 5 hours later, we were done playing our round....and that was only cause a group in front of us decided to call it quits after 16 holes so instead of a 20 minute wait at the tee box it was a 10 minute wait.

Played ok, had a solid front going before blowing it to card a 41 and then more of the same on the back for a 43-84. Don't think I'll be going back to that dump this year.

Thunder Hawk today, probably the wrong day to wear black. Course was in great shape, more sand in one bunker than you'll find on the entire Harborside property. Greens were smooth and rolled at a good speed. Course is pretty unforgiving. Tough to get off the tee in spots and tough to get to some greens. Got off to a rough start with two doubles and a bogey in the first 5 holes, but then parred out to finish with 41. Then the wheels came completely off to start the back. On #10 was 85 yards out in the middle of the fairway in 1 and one bad club selection and 5 strokes later i was in for a double. Bogeyed next hole with a skulled SW from 40 yards that went 80. Walked up to tee box at 12 with hybrid and driver, knew I should hit hybrid and instead hit driver OB. comedy of errors later I had a quad. Doubled the next hole to go 9 over on the first 4 holes on the back. Regrouped and parred the next 4 holes before bogeying 18 for a 46-87. All things considered i was quite happy to play in the 80s out there. My partner was just south of 100 and the two guys we got paired with didn't even finish cause it was so hot out there.

Tomorrow cashing in my golfnow free $40 hot deal reward and taking the wife to Bowes Creek. $75 for two after the rebate.

[dhartmann34]

[quote name='Waterboy' timestamp='1437846546' post='12018306']Did anyone do the lake county am this weekend? I was going to but I have a few things on my plate at the moment. It looks like it's going to be a sticky day.[/quote]
I wanted to but I had a good friends wedding tonight which the party is still going. :-) Need sleep to golf well. Haha.

[DavePelz4]

[quote name='ReinyDays' timestamp='1437872225' post='12019858']
[quote name='geochitown' timestamp='1437857036' post='12018840']
[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1437755486' post='12012812']
Anyone played Orchard Valley lately? Playing tomorrow...fingers crossed that the conditions are better than last year.
[/quote]

curious to hear your report on conditions there
[/quote]

i played there about a month ago and the course was in good condition. greens were fast and the rough was quite long. my only problem was they didn't mow the practice green so the speed there was alot slower then when you actually got on the course. other then that no problems
[/quote]

This is exactly what we experienced. The course is way better than last year and the greens were very good.

[Argonne69]

My newbie buddy called and asked if I wanted to play, so we decided to keep it close to the city. Took another crack at Sportsman's CC, and played the maroon tees. 'A lot more manageable, although they gave us the middle finger on #9, and put the maroon tees 10 yards in front of the black tees. Thanks. 440 yards is so much more manageable.

'Had very nice book end birdies on #1 and #18 to shoot a solid 5 over. #17 continues to plague me, though. I put my drive into the right fairway bunker, and I had a crap lie, requiring one foot out of the bunker. There was no way I was going to clear the hazard, so I hit a solid sand wedge to the 175 mark in front of the hazard. However, I fanned my trusty 6H, and couldn't get up and down to save par. The birdie on 18 helped forget 17, though.

With no rain this week I thought the greens would be quick, but they were slower than last week.

Lastly, why the hell can't the weatherman get *anything* right? Just before I left the house at 8 am this morning, the forecast was for sunny skies, and 3% chance of rain. I didn't see the sun the entire round, and we had sprinkles for 4 holes on the back nine. A**wipes.

[zer0]

Arg, my guess on why the greens were slow today at Sportsman is cause they already used up their alloted greenskeeping budget for the week on Wednesday when they hosted the US Am girls qualifier and they cut and double rolled all the greens as well as manicured all the rough and fairways. Played there Wed night in my golf league and I've never seen the course in such good shape. All of us in the league were sending putts well past cause we were used to the usual shaggy conditions, not the Augusta-lite they had going out there Wednesday.

I asked them why they don't just keep the greens that nice all the time and I was told that its bad for the greens to keep them that maintained. Seemed like a BS answer to me since there are plenty of public courses that have much faster greens than Sportsman. Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

[zer0]

My summer of revenge continued yesterday, this time the opponent was Bowes Creek. Played there last year in the GWAT in the B division and finished second to last with a 97. Lowlights of the round included taking 2 shots to get to the fairway on #1 in front of about 25 other competitors. Also managed to triple bogey 5 straight holes.

I knew things would be different yesterday when I rolled in a 15 footer for birdie on #1. Rolled in a par saving 12 footer on 2. Had a double on 4 and a triple on 7, but wasn't unhappy with the 42 on the front. Gave one back on 10, but 4 pars and 2 bogeys later I was on 17 needing 2 pars to shoot 80, 1 birdie to break 80. Lately, Ive been choking pretty bad in that position, but yesterday I pured a PW on 17 for an easy par and then on 18 I hit my best drive of the day, was 142 out and hit a perfect 8 to the middle of the green. Had a 15 foot look at birdie but didn't get it. Finished for par and an 80. 17 stroke improvement over last year.

As for the course, it was in phenomenal shape. They really do try to keep it like a semi-private club, definitely a step above a regular public course. We teed off at 11:50 and never saw another sole on the course. The light drizzle probably had something to do with that, but all in al the weather was perfect, much more pleasant than Saturday's heat. Greens were very fast and smooth, they even had a guy going from green to green and repairing any ball marks that were there. I just wish the front 9 was as nice as the back. Back is really fun with lots of elevated tee boxes. Front is pretty flat by comparison.

[Argonne69]

[quote name='zer0' timestamp='1437949500' post='12023658']
Arg, my guess on why the greens were slow today at Sportsman is cause they already used up their alloted greenskeeping budget for the week on Wednesday when they hosted the US Am girls qualifier and they cut and double rolled all the greens as well as manicured all the rough and fairways. Played there Wed night in my golf league and I've never seen the course in such good shape. All of us in the league were sending putts well past cause we were used to the usual shaggy conditions, not the Augusta-lite they had going out there Wednesday.

I asked them why they don't just keep the greens that nice all the time and I was told that its bad for the greens to keep them that maintained. Seemed like a BS answer to me since there are plenty of public courses that have much faster greens than Sportsman. Anyone ever heard of such a thing?
[/quote]

I have to imagine that fast greens put a lot of stress on the grass, and require a lot more maintenance to keep them healthy with a lot of play. 'Doesn't mean that it's not possible, but that the course would have to budget for it. Keep in mind that public > muni. I don't recall too many lower cost muni's with uber fast greens. The non-municipal public courses can spend whatever they see fit.

[Chicago Lefty]

Played a late round at Village Links last night. Probably the best round I've played all year. -2 through 15 without a bogey on the card, choked and finished +2 for the day. Yes Gary, I posted.

16 GIR, 12/14 fairway.

[DavePelz4]

[quote name='Chicago Lefty' timestamp='1438013912' post='12027834']
Played a late round at Village Links last night. Probably the best round I've played all year. -2 through 15 without a bogey on the card, choked and finished +2 for the day. Yes Gary, I posted.

16 GIR, 12/14 fairway.
[/quote]

Nice posted round!!! Bet you feel so much better about yourself, right?

[VNutz]

In MI with the fam for the week, snuck in 18 this morning at The Meadows at Grand Valley. Had an amazing front 9 that could have been so much better, -1 with a double on a par 5 and 2 other lipped out birdies; hit the stick with my approach on the par 5 first. Then as Lefty would say, there was a sound, of the wheels falling off... Had a 3 hole stretch of triple, double, double. Lost tee shots in the fescue on 3 straight holes, limped in a +6. What could have been... Irons were on, driver was awesome early, got sketchy for 4 holes and ruined it, responsible for the 3 doubles and triple.

[B-Man]

[quote name='Chicago Lefty' timestamp='1438013912' post='12027834']
Played a late round at Village Links last night. Probably the best round I've played all year. -2 through 15 without a bogey on the card, choked and finished +2 for the day. Yes Gary, I posted.

16 GIR, 12/14 fairway.
[/quote]

Nice one!

Sounds like you need some new used clubs? I have some that work excellently on holes 16-18.

[DavePelz4]

[quote name='VNutz' timestamp='1438017017' post='12028242']
In MI with the fam for the week, snuck in 18 this morning at The Meadows at Grand Valley. Had an amazing front 9 that could have been so much better, -1 with a double on a par 5 and 2 other lipped out birdies; hit the stick with my approach on the par 5 first. Then as Lefty would say, there was a sound, of the wheels falling off... Had a 3 hole stretch of triple, double, double. Lost tee shots in the fescue on 3 straight holes, limped in a +6. What could have been... Irons were on, driver was awesome early, got sketchy for 4 holes and ruined it, responsible for the 3 doubles and triple.
[/quote]

Saturday at Orchard Valley I played the 4 par 5s in 17 strokes

Saturday at Orchard Valley I played the 4 par 3s in 20 strokes. And I parred the first one.

[Argonne69]

[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1438026378' post='12028858']
[quote name='VNutz' timestamp='1438017017' post='12028242']
In MI with the fam for the week, snuck in 18 this morning at The Meadows at Grand Valley. Had an amazing front 9 that could have been so much better, -1 with a double on a par 5 and 2 other lipped out birdies; hit the stick with my approach on the par 5 first. Then as Lefty would say, there was a sound, of the wheels falling off... Had a 3 hole stretch of triple, double, double. Lost tee shots in the fescue on 3 straight holes, limped in a +6. What could have been... Irons were on, driver was awesome early, got sketchy for 4 holes and ruined it, responsible for the 3 doubles and triple.
[/quote]

Saturday at Orchard Valley I played the 4 par 5s in 17 strokes

Saturday at Orchard Valley I played the 4 par 3s in 20 strokes. And I parred the first one.
[/quote]

Ouch. Par 3 scoring has always been one of my focus areas. I'm currently averaging 3.2 strokes per hole. My goal is one bogey at most per round. In my past 20 rounds, I've had more than two bogeys in 3 rounds.

Flag? What flag? Basically, fire for the middle of the green.

[Waterboy]

I got out on Lake Bluff for 4 holes today. It was close to 7pm by the time I teed off and had my son with me. He had a blast. He doesn't really understand some of the finer points of the game yet like not yelling across the FW at me or only wanting to hit his FW wood from everywhere. It was fun though. He tells me he had fun but I could tell he was tired by the end. I got the honor of double bagging it the whole time.

We will do it again I'm sure. Now i need to get him to ask his mother if we can get a membership somewhere, since my request is denied every time I ask.

WB

[zer0]

Just got word from the wife that she was able to get all day Friday off so looks like another weekend getaway in Green Lake! Gonna give a new course a try, Whispering Springs in Fon Du Lac. Its about 45 minutes away from Green Lake, supposed to be a pretty decent course. I'll follow that up with a couple rounds at Lawsonia..excited to try out my new and improved cross handed putting grip on their greens.

[Argonne69]

[quote name='zer0' timestamp='1438099409' post='12034826']
Just got word from the wife that she was able to get all day Friday off so looks like another weekend getaway in Green Lake! Gonna give a new course a try, Whispering Springs in Fon Du Lac. Its about 45 minutes away from Green Lake, supposed to be a pretty decent course. I'll follow that up with a couple rounds at Lawsonia..excited to try out my new and improved cross handed putting grip on their greens.
[/quote]

Nice. Have you played Sentry World since the redo? Also, how's the new hybrid working out? Get rid of the fade yet?