Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[geochitown]

Interesting. I could not see your photos earlier while in vpn

Edited May 21, 2021 by geochitown

[@_the_crook]

10 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

I decided to mix it up a little today, so I grabbed a "Hot Deal" at Harborside (Starboard)

@Argonne69, I enjoy your course comments and reviews, really, and based on how often you comment on Harborside - you know the place inside/out.

 

they ought to give you an EZ button for faster reservations.

 

[Argonne69]

8 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

@Argonne69, I enjoy your course comments and reviews, really, and based on how often you comment on Harborside - you know the place inside/out.

 

they ought to give you an EZ button for faster reservations.

 

 

Lol. Now that I'm retired I've pretty much given up on the course. I last played it a year ago when the courses reopened in May. I'm playing Maple Meadows this morning. $28 prepaid walking. Plenty of courses in the area that are under $50. I do like Harborside, but even $75 (w/ tax) is stretching the budget. 'Definitely not going to pay $100. 

 

[DavePelz4]

Our group has one of our competitive events tomorrow at Arrowhead. I print customized scorecards for our Stableford scoring system with each person's tee box with yardage, handicap and allotted stroke(s) for each hole detailed.  It takes an hour or so to input and then run a quality check on the cards to insure accuracy.

 

When booking the tee times, I asked which nines we were playing and they had us on the West/East combination. I always call to confirm our times on Wednesday before the round and was told we were playing the South/East combo.  Hmmmm, I'll just redo everything. Being OCD on details I called again this morning and was told we were playing the West/South combo so back to the drawing board.  So my guess is that we're playing some combination of the West, East and South 9's tomorrow but I'm not really sure.

 

Is it really this difficult?

[Symphonize]

Sounds like you just need one card prepared for every course combination. I appreciate the attention to detail, because if I was running a game, I would do the same thing ahead of time. 

[Argonne69]

Lovely morning at Maple Meadows. The breeze much much appreciated with the temperatures rising. Course is in nice shape. It was a little wet in spots. Early morning watering or overnight showers? Fairways were getting decent rollout, especially the 6th with the generous tailwind. The junk is starting to grow in, so keep it in the short stuff. Bunkers were fine. Greens looked good, but were only rolling 9 at the start of the round. Probably 10 by the final hole. Pace was very good. I joined another single and we finished in 3 hours following a threesome and twosome. 

 

Much better day with the driver, minus one drive. Couldn't make a putt though. Lowlight was once again sailing one into the pond off the 8th tee. Sheesh. Followed that up with another patented thin iron on the 9th to within four feet for my only birdie of the day. Crazy game. 

 

[DavePelz4]

2 hours ago, Symphonize said:

Sounds like you just need one card prepared for every course combination. I appreciate the attention to detail, because if I was running a game, I would do the same thing ahead of time. 

 

Don't laugh but it's slightly more complicated than that. Not only is it the which sides are we playing but also the order of the 9s. With an odd number of strokes, like 7, it can impact which are stroke holes.  And yes, I am that OCD where I've run it in the model to see the difference.  I'd need to do 6 cards per player and that's too much for an old guy like me.  

[MountainKing]

Arg's played 75+, I'm getting out for my 3rd round on Sunday at the Preserve.  Temps are finally at a place where my back doesn't lock up when I try to swing a club. I really need to move south.

[TheBear95]

I took today off from work and had the whole day to play, so I thought let's make it count. Can I still walk 54 holes in a day? 

 

With Covid and how busy the courses were last summer, I didn't have a chance at this stupid feat in 2020. Started the day off at Pine Meadow. The course was in nice shape. The greens were a little slow to start, but picked up pace as the round went on. The greens are very green, because they are dyeing the crap out of them. The blue-green dye was getting all over everything this morning. That said, solid start to the day.

 

I really wanted to play Oak Grove, so I thought about hitting it for round two, but their tee sheet was pretty busy (for Oak Grove). So, I audibled and went to Boone Creek instead. I played Boone Creek for the first time last year and remembered it being short and flat. Good combo when trying to play 54. The tee sheet was wide-open, so I was hoping I could get around quick. I did, able to play in 2.5 hours. Perfect.

 

Not a difficult course by any standard, I have to say, I had a great time playing Boone Creek. It was in wonderful shape. Bunkers were prefect. And, the greens were outstanding. The best I have played all season. Boone Creek! Never would have imagined that when I pulled into the parking lot. I was feeling good after the round, so I decided to give round three a go at Oak Grove. 

 

Oak Grove was a mixed bag. The weather was so nice all day, but not in Harvard. The weather forecast had a 20% chance of showers, but it poured the entire front 9. I'm happy for the farmers, but it was tough on the golfer. Thankfully, I did have my rain gloves and umbrella with me. For some reason though, the two guys in front of me would not let me play through. Beyond frustrating. I caught them on #3.

 

I think Arg mentioned this situation a few days ago, but it was just ridiculous. Have some common courtesy. If these guys would have caught me, I would have let them play thru right away. Especially in poor weather. I just don't get it. The course was open in front of them. So, I had the great pleasure on watching these two guys hit almost every shot. One of the guys had a pre-shot routine that would make Jason Day blush. Luckily, they quit after #13 (I guess they only wanted to play in the rain?) and I cruised the rest of the way. Made birdie on #18 to finish out the round and day.

 

Oak Grove is still working on adding sand to the bunkers. I did not have the opportunity to hit out of any though. Even with the rain, the greens were really firm. I thought they would be much more receptive. Would have been interesting to see how firm they were prior to the rain.

 

 

 

 

[psygolf]

 

[psygolf]

1 minute ago, psygolf said:

 

Jackson Park yesterday 

Edited May 22, 2021 by psygolf

[psygolf]

Driver must’ve heard...”those bums won their court case, so they’re marching today.”

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by psygolf

[@_the_crook]

16 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

I'm playing Maple Meadows this morning.

My long time pal that lives in DuPage county and I had a rota of MM, Oak Meadows and OakBrook GC.

Good player, fun guy to be with. Around the greens, a knockout.

One of his lines - "I can shoot in the 80's, anything hotter, I stay home".

 

 

[Argonne69]

10 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

I took today off from work and had the whole day to play, so I thought let's make it count. Can I still walk 54 holes in a day? 

 

With Covid and how busy the courses were last summer, I didn't have a chance at this stupid feat in 2020. Started the day off at Pine Meadow. The course was in nice shape. The greens were a little slow to start, but picked up pace as the round went on. The greens are very green, because they are dyeing the crap out of them. The blue-green dye was getting all over everything this morning. That said, solid start to the day.

 

I really wanted to play Oak Grove, so I thought about hitting it for round two, but their tee sheet was pretty busy (for Oak Grove). So, I audibled and went to Boone Creek instead. I played Boone Creek for the first time last year and remembered it being short and flat. Good combo when trying to play 54. The tee sheet was wide-open, so I was hoping I could get around quick. I did, able to play in 2.5 hours. Perfect.

 

Not a difficult course by any standard, I have to say, I had a great time playing Boone Creek. It was in wonderful shape. Bunkers were prefect. And, the greens were outstanding. The best I have played all season. Boone Creek! Never would have imagined that when I pulled into the parking lot. I was feeling good after the round, so I decided to give round three a go at Oak Grove. 

 

Oak Grove was a mixed bag. The weather was so nice all day, but not in Harvard. The weather forecast had a 20% chance of showers, but it poured the entire front 9. I'm happy for the farmers, but it was tough on the golfer. Thankfully, I did have my rain gloves and umbrella with me. For some reason though, the two guys in front of me would not let me play through. Beyond frustrating. I caught them on #3.

 

I think Arg mentioned this situation a few days ago, but it was just ridiculous. Have some common courtesy. If these guys would have caught me, I would have let them play thru right away. Especially in poor weather. I just don't get it. The course was open in front of them. So, I had the great pleasure on watching these two guys hit almost every shot. One of the guys had a pre-shot routine that would make Jason Day blush. Luckily, they quit after #13 (I guess they only wanted to play in the rain?) and I cruised the rest of the way. Made birdie on #18 to finish out the round and day.

 

Oak Grove is still working on adding sand to the bunkers. I did not have the opportunity to hit out of any though. Even with the rain, the greens were really firm. I thought they would be much more receptive. Would have been interesting to see how firm they were prior to the rain.

 

 

I tip my hat to you. I played 54 holes in a day once, but I was riding. It still took its toll on my back. I walked 36 on consecutive days at Bandon Dunes, and that was also brutal. 

 

You going to follow up with 36 today? 🙂

 

[stasek]

We had our annual “Spring classic” tournament yesterday at Broken Arrow.  Shotgun start -> 35 foursomes ->6 hour death march🤬.   Played East/South.  Our group started on 9 South.   As a seasoned veteran, I pulled a 4i out of the bag and promptly deposited a fresh original K-Sig into a pond and 3-jacked from 30’ for a double  - yay!  Parred the first hole on East and proceeded to bogey the next 4 holes.  Wtf - 6 over through first 6 holes - this is going to be fun. Not only am I hitting the ball all over the place - I get to think about all these great swings  for 5-10 minutes, as we wait to hit our next shots.  Something “clicked” after  6 holes and finished the East with par, par, par, birdie, and had 8 more pars on South for a smooth 77.  Stupid game.  Overall, the course is in very mediocre shape.  The greens were rolling surprisingly  slow and don’t even think about going into a bunker.    
Seven Bridges this afternoon - part of our bi-weekly league.  
 

[Holy Moses]

Courses are a little shaggy due the current drought, cold spring weather, hot and dry summer last year, and freezing temps the last few weeks that kept supers from watering. Hopefully we get some rain soon. Courses haven’t fully recovered from the heat stress last year with little rain this year.

[St Jimmy]

20 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

I took today off from work and had the whole day to play, so I thought let's make it count. Can I still walk 54 holes in a day? 

 

With Covid and how busy the courses were last summer, I didn't have a chance at this stupid feat in 2020. Started the day off at Pine Meadow. The course was in nice shape. The greens were a little slow to start, but picked up pace as the round went on. The greens are very green, because they are dyeing the crap out of them. The blue-green dye was getting all over everything this morning. That said, solid start to the day.

 

I really wanted to play Oak Grove, so I thought about hitting it for round two, but their tee sheet was pretty busy (for Oak Grove). So, I audibled and went to Boone Creek instead. I played Boone Creek for the first time last year and remembered it being short and flat. Good combo when trying to play 54. The tee sheet was wide-open, so I was hoping I could get around quick. I did, able to play in 2.5 hours. Perfect.

 

Not a difficult course by any standard, I have to say, I had a great time playing Boone Creek. It was in wonderful shape. Bunkers were prefect. And, the greens were outstanding. The best I have played all season. Boone Creek! Never would have imagined that when I pulled into the parking lot. I was feeling good after the round, so I decided to give round three a go at Oak Grove. 

 

Oak Grove was a mixed bag. The weather was so nice all day, but not in Harvard. The weather forecast had a 20% chance of showers, but it poured the entire front 9. I'm happy for the farmers, but it was tough on the golfer. Thankfully, I did have my rain gloves and umbrella with me. For some reason though, the two guys in front of me would not let me play through. Beyond frustrating. I caught them on #3.

 

I think Arg mentioned this situation a few days ago, but it was just ridiculous. Have some common courtesy. If these guys would have caught me, I would have let them play thru right away. Especially in poor weather. I just don't get it. The course was open in front of them. So, I had the great pleasure on watching these two guys hit almost every shot. One of the guys had a pre-shot routine that would make Jason Day blush. Luckily, they quit after #13 (I guess they only wanted to play in the rain?) and I cruised the rest of the way. Made birdie on #18 to finish out the round and day.

 

Oak Grove is still working on adding sand to the bunkers. I did not have the opportunity to hit out of any though. Even with the rain, the greens were really firm. I thought they would be much more receptive. Would have been interesting to see how firm they were prior to the rain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I showed up at Oak Grove yesterday just in time for the sky to open up too.  I didn't stick around though as the forecast said 90 minutes of rain and I didn't have my gear.  

As for the greens: when I played on Wednesday I thought they were very slow and soft.  Prior to that they were much quicker.  

I've always thought their greens were soft and receptive, yet rolled decently quick.  I'm a pretty high ball hitter though so that might help.  

Imo, once they mow and roll them one more time, the course will be in great shape.  

 

The bunkers are fluffy soft, but they didn't fix the drainage issues before laying the sand so they still flood.  

Shame, but it's better than nothing.  Most of it is on the course, but they should order more since there's quite a few that haven't been done yet.  

 

I might need to find an easier home course because it's been kicking my teeth in this year.  

But the ability to show up whenever and play a wide open course is too appealing to move on. 

The two guys that wouldn't let you through, I think I've run into them many times before.  That become two ball tine, but not after that many rounds.  You must be in really good shape because Oak Grove alone wears me out by 16.  That little hill to get through the tree line is a pain to push my cart up, lol. 

 

 

 

^edit for my horrible spelling and punctuation. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by St Jimmy

[geochitown]

4 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

I tip my hat to you. I played 54 holes in a day once, but I was riding. It still took its toll on my back. I walked 36 on consecutive days at Bandon Dunes, and that was also brutal. 

 

You going to follow up with 36 today? 🙂

 

 

My max was 54 holes at Bowes Creek

 

Impressive that you hit 3 different courses

[Scratch2Plus]

Took Thursday off and played Highlands and Bowes on Thursday. Both courses in very good shape.

Playing Foxford Hills Sunday!

[geochitown]

Just now, Scratch2Plus said:

Took Thursday off and played Highlands and Bowes on Thursday. Both courses in very good shape.

Playing Foxford Hills Sunday!

nice grouping of courses

 

[stasek]

Seven Bridges this afternoon.  Course is in great shape, with greens running just about perfect speed for us week(end) hackers.  As well as I played the last 12 holes yesterday, today was a complete letdown.  Except for the putter, which was barely serviceable, everything else fell apart.   Somehow managed to shoot double par on the 10th, despite leaving the driver in the bag.  

[ldchristopher]

I got out to Odyssey for a twilight round today. They usually don’t allow walking on weekends, which is just silly. The course is an easy walk and it’s pancake flat. Anyway, they let me walk because they weren’t very busy and $27 on a weekend is a good price. I flew threw the first 7 holes then waited on every tee after that. I played in 3:40, shot even on the front and shot +3 on the back for a 75. 
 

Had some good unintentional comedy on the 12th hole. The guys I was playing behind drove their cart into the rough looking for a ball. The problem was, it wasn’t rough, it was reeds and the ground wasn’t dirt, it was mud. They were stuck for a good 10 minutes. Did they let people through while they tried to push their carts out of the muck? If course not. Don’t be silly. 

[Argonne69]

8 hours ago, ldchristopher said:

I got out to Odyssey for a twilight round today. They usually don’t allow walking on weekends, which is just silly. The course is an easy walk and it’s pancake flat. Anyway, they let me walk because they weren’t very busy and $27 on a weekend is a good price. I flew threw the first 7 holes then waited on every tee after that. I played in 3:40, shot even on the front and shot +3 on the back for a 75. 
 

Had some good unintentional comedy on the 12th hole. The guys I was playing behind drove their cart into the rough looking for a ball. The problem was, it wasn’t rough, it was reeds and the ground wasn’t dirt, it was mud. They were stuck for a good 10 minutes. Did they let people through while they tried to push their carts out of the muck? If course not. Don’t be silly. 

 

Hmmmm. I think I've encountered those clowns before....

 

 

[ldchristopher]

2 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Hmmmm. I think I've encountered those clowns before....

 

 

Years ago at Highland Park Country Club I saw a cart submerged in the water. Probably the same guys. 

[@_the_crook]

13 hours ago, stasek said:

As well as I played the last 12 holes yesterday, today was a complete letdown.  Except for the putter, which was barely serviceable, everything else fell apart.

I have empathy for your 'moment in time'. .

for a change Saturday morning, I didn't use a glove and managed to hit every club in the bag badly at least once.

my swing turned steep and choppy.

on the plus side, if you ever need to know how to hit a ten yard flop - I'm your guy.

trouble was, I was 60 yards out.

 

😄

 

[stasek]

9 minutes ago, @_the_crook said:

I have empathy for your 'moment in time'. .

for a change Saturday morning, I didn't use a glove and managed to hit every club in the bag badly at least once.

my swing turned steep and choppy.

on the plus side, if you ever need to know how to hit a ten yard flop - I'm your guy.

trouble was, I was 60 yards out.

 

😄

 

I think I have that shot in my arsenal😀.  To add insult to the injury, I actually “found” my swing on the last 3-4 holes - birdied 17th and piped the drive on 18th 310, put a 60* wedge inside 10’ only to leave the birdie putt 2” short.  
I’d better find my game soon, or The Bull, Blackwolf Run, Erin Hills swing in couple weeks will be miserable.  

[@_the_crook]

5 minutes ago, stasek said:

I think I have that shot in my arsenal

 

I joked with @geochitown that this shot is perfect to clear any cartpath or irrigation hose.

had to find some way to lessen the embarrassment.

 

your trip north sounds like a dream .

hope you have a great time and enjoy the venues.

 

[ReinyDays]

On 5/21/2021 at 1:48 PM, DavePelz4 said:

 

Don't laugh but it's slightly more complicated than that. Not only is it the which sides are we playing but also the order of the 9s. With an odd number of strokes, like 7, it can impact which are stroke holes.  And yes, I am that OCD where I've run it in the model to see the difference.  I'd need to do 6 cards per player and that's too much for an old guy like me.  

 

how was Arrowhead. I'm thinking about playing there sometime this week

[DavePelz4]

Saturday at Arrowhead was the perfect weather day. Warm but not hot, a touch of wind.  The course is in phenomenal shape.  The fairways played fast and the greens were lightening fast. The bunkers are the best I've seen in a few years and they have to be the best I've seen in the Chicago area. The tour issue sand made the bunkers very playable and you could actually control the ball. On approach shots, if you weren't below the hole, you were in trouble as it was impossible to have a putt stop within 5 feet of the cup.  In our Stableford scoring, if you put up 36 points, you're basically playing to your number.  No one did that which is very rare for our group.  

 

We ended up on the West/South combo. Arrowhead has increased their rates so the round and a small bucket was $ 95.00. White Claws were $5.00 each.  In our post round commiserating we realized that a year ago, we played Crystal Woods and got thrown out of the parking lot because we were doing our scoring/payouts with adult beverages and the management came out and chastised us.  Arrowhead is mask-free if you're vax'd.

 

Our next event is at HoE and it appears they raised rates, too.

[Woodridge]

Had a chance to play Soangetaha CC in Galesburg in a hickory event this weekend. Really fun course and we had perfect weather. It's not a long course, but it forces you to place the ball off the tee to get the best angles into the greens. Also, with hickory clubs going a lot shorter, the holes play longer if that makes any sense. Below is a picture of the 5th hole. It's only a 306 dogleg left  par 4, so you can choose how much water to cut off. The 2nd shot is to an uphill green guarded by a bunker in front. There is quite a bit more fairway to the right for the tee shot than my picture shows and the green sits above the bunker and slopes front to back.  I forgot to add that you are almost guaranteed a sidehill lie in the fairway for your second shot.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Woodridge