Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round2)

[@_the_crook]

Glad you guys are getting rounds in, and Arg, thanks for putting up the pic of TPC Deere Run.

this morning, a two hour twenty minute weather delay put things at the tournament askew and an hour wait at noon for another passing cluster has pretty much forced the last groups out to wrap things up tomorrow morning.

my group was posted for 7:47, got out at 10:07, wrapped at 4:30 or so. at that point the last threesomes hadn't started yet.

cheers to Eric Compton, in today at six under.

sadly Angel Cabrera will not be around for the weekend.

[geochitown]

thanks for the updates from the web tour tournament, atthecrook...

please keep them coming

hope to play glen club in the coming weeks.

[Argonne69]

Early morning round at Palmer Hills in Bettendorf, IA. A nice old school parkland layout on beautiful rolling terrain. It was no shock that it was CPO, as heavy storms rolled through during the night. Playable, but quite wet. The grounds crew did a great job with the bunkers, though. Much better than the compressed sand at TPC yesterday. It rained off and on for the first 12 holes, but thankfully it started to clear.

 

Iffy front nine with a few wayward shots. Got it together on the back with a nice one over. The biggest downside to the round is that I destroyed my 6 hybrid hitting a shot out of the thick, wet rough. The head flew a good 50 yds down the fairway, which is more than I can say for the ball. Lol.

 

Off to Fyre Lake for round two.

 


[Argonne69]

Round two at Fyre Lake. Unfortunately, it was probably the most miserable round of golf that I've ever played. First the positive. Is that blue skies? Sweet. The course layout was a very pleasant surprise. A prairie style layout with rolling hills and plenty of water (Fyre Lake). Of course it was cart path only. The course was in fairly poor shape. Bunkers were trashed. Greens were still healing from a recent aeration, and were slow and suffering from some type of fungus in places. The kick in the teeth, though, was the mosquitoes. OMG. They made the course basically unplayable. You couldn't take a stance without ingesting 4 or 5 of the b-stards. Even when moving in the cart they were on you.

 

Play was decent given the swarms, but honestly, I stopped caring and was simply trying to get through the round. Pity, because the layout was challenging.

 


 

[@_the_crook]

at The Glen Club - players managed to complete rounds two and three today.

some great play on what turned out to be a mostly clear and sunny day for the competitors.

about twenty four groups will play tomorrow beginning at nine a.m. , going off in threes on one and ten.

leader Marcelo Rozo at -14, Vince Covello at -13, local Nick Hardy at -3.

this course plays every bit of its 7200 yards on a wet and windy day.

to stand at some of the great vantage points there and realize that not so long ago it was a flat piece of nothing with

runways and nondescript housing gives appreciation for the design and implementation of an amazing plan.

check this out.

 

[ldchristopher]

Washington County and Lawsonia are still on Spring Rates so we headed north today. We had the third time at Washington County which meant a 3:30 AM wake up. It poured in Hartford last night so the course, which is always wet anyway since it's in a low-lying area, was drenched. There was a lot of standing water, which is to be expected since they had about an inch and half of rain overnight. It also rained off and on throughout the round, though it was more of a light drizzle. That place always kicks my teeth in and today was no different. My ball striking was really inconsistent and even though I managed a 78, it felt a lot worse. We walked it in 3 hours, so no complaints about pace of play.

 

Lawsonia aerated their greens on Wednesday of last week with dime-sized punches, so it became clear why they were still on Spring Rates. I hit the range to fix some things with my mid-irons, and even though that added an extra 50 swings to a 36 hole day, it paid off. The greens were still relatively smooth and they were rolling at about a 9, which isn't bad considering the punches and sand. There were some dead spots on the course and a tee box was completely lost from what I presume was due to last year's dollar spot fungus, but overall it was a heck of a value at $40 to walk. I hit the ball much better during round two, birdied 8 and 12, and finished with a 75. We got stuck behind a foursome but they kept a decent pace and we finished in 4 hours.

[leric90]

Hi! Anyone want to grab a round with me tomorrow at Thunderhawk?

[Argonne69]

I had an early morning tee time at Byron Hills GC in Port Byron, IL. I showed up a few minutes early, only to discover the course closed. Apparently they called everyone on the tee sheet last night. Well, except for me. Oy. I wound up at Deer Valley GC, ~10 miles south of Sterling on Route 40. Quite wet, but still playable. A combination of prairie style and parkland, it's more of a course for the locals. The fairways probably haven't been cut in a week or more. No rollout whatsoever. Greens were in nice shape. A light rain fell for the most of the round.

 

Decent day ballstriking. The driver was behaving, but with no rollout I was hitting hybrids and fairway woods into most holes. Probably should have move up at least one teebox.

 

That's enough (wet) golf for one weekend. I'm sitting in Lodi Tap House in Maple Park, just east of Dekalb. Their Smash'd Burger is supposed to be fantastic. Nice selection of craft beers.

 

 

Edit: Oh my. The Smash'd Burger was definitely worth the detour.

 


 

[MountainKing]

Managed to get both rounds in, started both in the rain and finished in the sun. The plus side with this weather is an empty golf course.

 

Sanctuary was in much better condition than I thought it would be. Game came around a bit and fired off a 76.

 

Calumet was fun. Love the old school design. Game was a mess. The rough was impossible to play out of, 7 3 putts and 0 up and downs lead to a lovely 86. I'm not sure I'm going to know what to do if these courses ever dry up.

[@_the_crook]

Glenview Naval Air Station, with some improvements.

threesomes on one and ten, starting at nine.

we were first out on number ten. group Barnes, Wilkinson, Gomez played their first nine in two ten.

second nine took a tad longer, owing to the other players ahead.

a cloudy and somewhat chilly start. skies cleared for a perfect afternoon.

Scottie Sheffler took the win on the second playoff hole at -17. Marcelo Rozo alone in second place. Nicolas Echavarria in for third place at -16. Luke Guthrie and Vince Covello T4 at -15. Six players T6 at -14. Compton moved up to T14 at -12. local Nick Hardy T27 at -10.

the WGA ran a great event and The Glen Club were very nice hosts. look forward to returning in 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DeeBee30]

Impromotu round at Cress Creek in Naper yesterday. Decent results on the day, but man is the rough deep and thick. It would take us 2-3 minutes to find balls not 5 paces off the fairway. God forbid you have a left miss like me on that course...homes/OB left on virtually EVERY hole. And the greens were firm; hard to hold the green on long iron/wood approaches...smooth and good speed, though. Found sand on the first 7 holes and figured I’d try for 18 straight with a fairway or green side bunker shot...failed on that front and finally dialed in irons & short game.

 

Today, similar conditions at Arrowhead (West/South), minus the homes/OB squeeze. Long rough forced guys to abandon a couple of ball searches when the balls should have been found a few yards off the fairways. Firm greens that rolled well. Better score today thanks to another strong short game performance.

[ldchristopher]

Redtail tomorrow morning. I could use a flat course after yesterday and Redtail fits the bill.

[St Jimmy]

> @ldchristopher said:

> Redtail tomorrow morning. I could use a flat course after yesterday and Redtail fits the bill.

 

Redtail's a swamp during the driest months. Can't imagine it right now.

[SpeedKills7]

> @MountainKing said:

> Managed to get both rounds in, started both in the rain and finished in the sun. The plus side with this weather is an empty golf course.

>

> Sanctuary was in much better condition than I thought it would be. Game came around a bit and fired off a 76.

>

> Calumet was fun. Love the old school design. Game was a mess. The rough was impossible to play out of, 7 3 putts and 0 up and downs lead to a lovely 86. I'm not sure I'm going to know what to do if these courses ever dry up.

 

I was at Calumet Saturday as well. That rough was no joke. Took a search party to find a ball a few paces off the fairway.

Got out to Lost Marsh before that and it was In surprisingly really good condition for all the rain the area has gotten.

[Shriner]

It was the same at Stonewall on Saturday. That course with no roll-out, US Open rough and fast greens at 7124 yards was extremely difficult. But the conditions were immaculate and pace of play was great, all for the hopping total of $55. What a golf paradise.

[ldchristopher]

Redtail was soaked, as expected. They hadn't been able to cut the tee boxes in a while and it showed. The first and second were basically swamps masquerading as holes on a golf course, but things improved over the course of the morning. The rough was incredibly thick and the fairways weren't offering much roll, but the greens were excellent. Though not super fast, they were very smooth and consistent. I saw no more than a few ball marks the whole round. All in all, I enjoyed myself at Redtail (The Tail of Red? DP4, thoughts?), and getting out early meant we were off the course by 9:00. I was burning edges all day before finally dropping a birdie in on 14. 76.

[@_the_crook]

Bonnie Brook at 6:07 today. course had some wet areas and the rough was thick. could walk right past the ball.

greens had been cut and rolled.

number six, par three, came up pin high but on the left fringe. three feet of break on that one.

got to see some friends from Lake County and enjoyed sunny skies. good deal at $42 for 18, cart and food.

[Argonne69]

You guys are brave. I gave up holiday golf years ago to protect my sanity. Too many 5:30+ rounds with the twice a year hacks. Glad to hear you didn't suffer through death marches.

 

 

[MountainKing]

> @Argonne69 said:

> You guys are brave. I gave up holiday golf years ago to protect my sanity. Too many 5:30+ rounds with the twice a year hacks. Glad to hear you didn't suffer through death marches.

>

>

 

This was the year to play holiday golf. The courses both days were empty. As a 2some we got around Sanctuary in under 2:30 , my 4some got around CCC in 3 hours. Those are unheard of times to play in on any weekend, let alone Memorial day weekend. In my measly 6 rounds this year, I don't believe I've had a round that exceeded 4 hours. These courses have to be starving for revenue, it'll be interesting to see if that impacts any of the courses later this season.

[ME27]

Played cog #1 on Saturday and the rough was like it hadn’t been cut in weeks and very wet in a lot of places. Had to have the search party out if you missed a fairway. Was a long round.

 

This morning we played coyote run and the course was in almost perfect conditions like it hadn’t even seen the rain that the rest of Chicagoland has. Got the round in 3:30 on a holiday so that was a plus as well.

[Argonne69]

Coyote Run has fantastic drainage. I don't recall having ever played in wet conditions there.

 

Yeah, the courses have to be suffering big time. Last spring was bad, but this one is for the record books. I think it I've played most of my rounds this year on empty courses.

 

[mci711]

> @Argonne69 said:

> Coyote Run has fantastic drainage. I don't recall having ever played in wet conditions there.

>

> Yeah, the courses have to be suffering big time. Last spring was bad, but this one is for the record books. I think it I've played most of my rounds this year on empty courses.

>

 

Last spring was a lot colder. I felt like this April wasn't bad at all compared to last year. This May has been brutal though. We choose to live here though I guess.

 

Off topic, this forum/site has gotten so bad since they updated it. The classified page has dwindled to nothing and now this not being able to comment issue and others. Really unfortunate they are killing this site. (to reply you have to hit "quote" and open in new tab.)

[DavePelz4]

An interesting 2 rounds of golf this weekend. Orchard Valley on Saturday...there was no one out there. Literally, the starter came to us on the range, said we could go whenever we wanted. Apparently the tee sheet was open from around 8 until almost 10:30. When we finished, which was around 1, there were people waiting to play but it couldn't have been a good revenue day for OV. The course is wet as you can imagine but then greens were OK.

 

Made the trek yesterday to Oak Grove. Identical situation with only 35 rounds scheduled for the entire day and the pro said they ended up with around 45-50 with nothing booked after 1. It's sad because Oak Grove could really become one of the premier courses in Northern IL. The range balls are dirty, almost as old as me and it was mats only yesterday. Bunkers were devoid of any sand and just basically compressed then raked dirt. Some wet spots as you can imagine and I'm expecting this to be an incredibly bad mosquito season for them with all the standing water. I doubt we'll go back until there is a hard frost to kill things off. Couldn't complain about pace though, teed off at 9, having a couple of Shandys by 12:45. The rain gear came out on 15 but was gone by the 17th tee.

[thanson1990]

> @Argonne69 said:

> Round two at Fyre Lake. Unfortunately, it was probably the most miserable round of golf that I've ever played. First the positive. Is that blue skies? Sweet. The course layout was a very pleasant surprise. A prairie style layout with rolling hills and plenty of water (Fyre Lake). Of course it was cart path only. The course was in fairly poor shape. Bunkers were trashed. Greens were still healing from a recent aeration, and were slow and suffering from some type of fungus in places. The kick in the teeth, though, was the mosquitoes. OMG. They made the course basically unplayable. You couldn't take a stance without ingesting 4 or 5 of the b-stards. Even when moving in the cart they were on you.

>

> Play was decent given the swarms, but honestly, I stopped caring and was simply trying to get through the round. Pity, because the layout was challenging.

>

> 

>

 

You've got me panicking, Arg.

 

We have our annual Deere Run trip Monday, and we usually play a warmup round Sunday afternoon at Fyre Lake. I know the course had never been known for their conditions, but it seemed like they were trending in the right direction last year. You've got me wondering if I should be looking at other options. The group doesn't expect Deere Run conditions, but something playable would be nice...

[mci711]

Arg. did you do a French Lick review on this site? With pics and stuff? Was looking for some more pictures and reviews on the Dye course.

[Argonne69]

> @thanson1990 said:

> > @Argonne69 said:

> > Round two at Fyre Lake. Unfortunately, it was probably the most miserable round of golf that I've ever played. First the positive. Is that blue skies? Sweet. The course layout was a very pleasant surprise. A prairie style layout with rolling hills and plenty of water (Fyre Lake). Of course it was cart path only. The course was in fairly poor shape. Bunkers were trashed. Greens were still healing from a recent aeration, and were slow and suffering from some type of fungus in places. The kick in the teeth, though, was the mosquitoes. OMG. They made the course basically unplayable. You couldn't take a stance without ingesting 4 or 5 of the b-stards. Even when moving in the cart they were on you.

> >

> > Play was decent given the swarms, but honestly, I stopped caring and was simply trying to get through the round. Pity, because the layout was challenging.

> >

> > 

> >

>

> You've got me panicking, Arg.

>

> We have our annual Deere Run trip Monday, and we usually play a warmup round Sunday afternoon at Fyre Lake. I know the course had never been known for their conditions, but it seemed like they were trending in the right direction last year. You've got me wondering if I should be looking at other options. The group doesn't expect Deere Run conditions, but something playable would be nice...

 

Hopefully they'll get a few days without significant rain to get the bunkers fixed, and the greens cut. 'Not sure about the mosquitoes, though. If you play, bring some heavy duty insect repellent. Given that you consider it a warm-up round, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Have you played Palmer Hills? I thought it was a fun layout.

[TheBear95]

> @Argonne69 said:

> You guys are brave. I gave up holiday golf years ago to protect my sanity. Too many 5:30+ rounds with the twice a year hacks. Glad to hear you didn't suffer through death marches.

>

>

Actually, I have found holiday golf not to be too bad. I feel a lot of people are out of town and such. Now, father's day weekend, that's my no-go. More than happy to stay off the course that weekend.

[mci711]

> @TheBear95 said:

> > @Argonne69 said:

> > You guys are brave. I gave up holiday golf years ago to protect my sanity. Too many 5:30+ rounds with the twice a year hacks. Glad to hear you didn't suffer through death marches.

> >

> >

> Actually, I have found holiday golf not to be too bad. I feel a lot of people are out of town and such. Now, father's day weekend, that's my no-go. More than happy to stay off the course that weekend.

 

When I worked in golf holidays weren't bad like you said. There would be an early rush, but late morning into the afternoon it would quiet down big time. People have BBQs and stuff to attend I guess. Surprisingly, a really busy holiday was usually Mother's day. I honestly believe most mothers would rather just be left alone on mother's day and tell the men to go golf so they can have some peace and quiet. Father's day was always the day dads they play once a year come out.

[Argonne69]

> @mci711 said:

> Arg. did you do a French Lick review on this site? With pics and stuff? Was looking for some more pictures and reviews on the Dye course.

 

Yes, I did six years ago (May 2013), but the post has been deleted. I'm still not sure why some old posts survive, and others get axed.

[Dashfast]

Played Wilmette this morning (my third time this year) and the conditions were actually not as bad as I had imagined, given the preceding rain. My one gripe though is that the mowing/landscaping crews were working at the exact same pace as my round. I ran into them on every hole. And, this is the third round in a row that it’s happened there. I’ll admit: I do go out at the first tee time, but I’m starting to think they should push the first tee time back. It ruins an otherwise enjoyable round when you have to play into four dudes each atop a loud, large landscaping vehicle.