Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[MountainKing]

Turned out to be a pretty nice day yesterday at the Preserve.  Sun was behind the clouds keeping the temps down a bit and the wind was down, a nice change from the 2 previous rounds I got to play this year.  Wasn't expecting much but I was really happy with the 76 I walked away with.  Only hit 5 fairways, but my misses were never more than a few feet off the fairway.  I had a lot of great looks for birdie, and a lot of solid up and downs.  Probably one of the best short game rounds I ever had.   The highlight was dunking a 60 footer on 1 for a birdie.  The lowlight was the bogey on 16 after being 20 yards to he left of the green with my drive, and then a double on 17 after somehow snap hooking my tee shot into the weeds.  For how little I've played or practiced, I'll take it.  Hoping to get out this week after work and a round or two this coming weekend.  

 

The fine details.  The course itself was in okay shape.  Greens rolled nice but they were fairly slow, tee boxes were a mess, fairways were hit and miss.  The bunkers did have sand which was a bonus.  I would expect a lot more for the $95 we paid, but then again it seems like $75+ is the going rate in this area regardless of the course or condition unless you want to play Fresh Meadows.   Pace was great tho, we teed off at 11:10 and were done in 4 hours flat, no waiting until we got to 17.

Edited May 24, 2021 by MountainKing

[DavePelz4]

6 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

Turned out to be a pretty nice day yesterday at the Preserve.  Sun was behind the clouds keeping the temps down a bit and the wind was down, a nice change from the 2 previous rounds I got to play this year.  Wasn't expecting much but I was really happy with the 76 I walked away with.  Only hit 5 fairways, but my misses were never more than a few feet off the fairway.  I had a lot of great looks for birdie, and a lot of solid up and downs.  Probably one of the best short game rounds I ever had.   The highlight was dunking a 60 footer on 1 for a birdie.  The lowlight was the bogey on 16 after being 20 yards to he left of the green with my drive, and then a double on 17 after somehow snap hooking my tee shot into the weeds.  For how little I've played or practiced, I'll take it.  Hoping to get out this week after work and a round or two this coming weekend.  

 

The fine details.  The course itself was in okay shape.  Greens rolled nice but they were fairly slow, tee boxes were a mess, fairways were hit and miss.  The bunkers did have sand which was a bonus.  I would expect a lot more for the $95 we paid, but then again it seems like $75+ is the going rate in this area regardless of the course or condition unless you want to play Fresh Meadows.   Pace was great tho, we teed off at 11:10 and were done in 4 hours flat, no waiting until we got to 17.

 

There is no doubt that courses are capitalizing on the COVID demand and raising rates across the board on all facets.  Last week at Green Garden, a bucket of 70 balls was $14.00. And they weren't the best bals, either. Seeing more and more courses not offering a discount for walking. 

[TheBear95]

1 hour ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

There is no doubt that courses are capitalizing on the COVID demand and raising rates across the board on all facets.  Last week at Green Garden, a bucket of 70 balls was $14.00. And they weren't the best bals, either. Seeing more and more courses not offering a discount for walking. 

In my opinion, many of these courses are overplaying their hand. The demand is not there like last year. I thought this spring would be pretty nutty, but it is more like 2019 than 2020. And, I think the demand will continue to fall as we get into the summer.

[DavePelz4]

40 minutes ago, TheBear95 said:

In my opinion, many of these courses are overplaying their hand. The demand is not there like last year. I thought this spring would be pretty nutty, but it is more like 2019 than 2020. And, I think the demand will continue to fall as we get into the summer.

 

Had the same thought seeing that behind our group at 9:30, the Arrowhead tee sheet was open for a couple of hours. With normalcy slowly returning, there are less and less restrictions and golf isn't the outlet it was in 2020.

[MountainKing]

1 hour ago, TheBear95 said:

In my opinion, many of these courses are overplaying their hand. The demand is not there like last year. I thought this spring would be pretty nutty, but it is more like 2019 than 2020. And, I think the demand will continue to fall as we get into the summer.

 

I think you might be right.  I saw a handful of threesomes and twosomes on the course, something that you normally don't see on a weekend morning/midday.  I don't have much to work off of being only my third time out, but I've noticed this trend on all three rounds.  

[Argonne69]

Muggy morning today at Glencoe. With little wind it was borderline unpleasant. The course was in decent shape. Fairways were a bit damp. The rough was cut to a nice height, and quite thick. Bunkers were a little damp as well, but they were recently groomed, so no complaints. Greens were rolling 10+. 

 

Why are there so many oblivious clowns on the courses? I joined a twosome that was playing behind a twosome and a foursome in front of them. I could not see another player(s) in front of the foursome. We once again waited on every single shot on the front. At no time did the foursome ever consider letting the twosome play through, even though they were on their tails for the entire front nine. Luckily the clowns took a short break at the turn, and the twosome and our group was able to scoot through. Two hours to play the front, and 1:30 on the back. Grrrr. I just don't get it.

 

Played like dog doo today. Had a nice birdie on the 2nd, but all the waiting got me out of my game. By the time we got clear sailing I was done.

 

Yes, courses are definitely less crowded than last year, and rates are up. However, there are still too many idiots out there for my liking.

 

Ravisloe tomorrow morning.

 

[St Jimmy]

Chalet on Sunday.  We got off early enough to avoid the major back ups and finished in just over 4 1/2 hours.

 

Course was in great shape.  Greens were very receptive and looked great, but rolled a bit slow.  
 

Great place when you can play at a reasonable pace! 

[@_the_crook]

couple of recent articles say 2021 shows a large increase of ticks.

obviously applying repellent before the round and staying away from dense brush is wise.

wearing pants seems to be prudent.

any thoughts on best practices ?

[geochitown]

check yourself immediately after your round

or at least don't want too long to check yourself

want to prevent any that get on from having the chance to engorge themselves (yuck)

deet is your friend to prevent ticks

don't know how well that plays with polyester, should be ok.

There is something about picardin as well, which is naturally derived.

[St Jimmy]

1 hour ago, @_the_crook said:

couple of recent articles say 2021 shows a large increase of ticks.

obviously applying repellent before the round and staying away from dense brush is wise.

wearing pants seems to be prudent.

any thoughts on best practices ?

 

 

Keep it in the fairway.

 

[Argonne69]

A mostly pleasant morning at Ravisloe. The breeze felt nice, and the spotty cloud cover was welcome. The course is in decent shape. Fairways were a little wet in spots, probably due to an early morning watering, but otherwise they had a slightly brown look to them. Bunkers need sand. The rough was nuts. I lost three balls just off the fairway by the 8th hole. All day my threesome lost 7 balls. The ranger told me that there was a tournament this past weekend, and they didn't get the junk cut yesterday. It wasn't U.S. open thick, but tall enough to swallow balls. You basically had to step on the balls to see them. Greens were only rolling 9, so no idea what type of event was played with the shaggy greens. 

 

Pace was fine at 3:45. There was no issue with the foursome in front of us today because one of my playing partners was the slowest golfer I've played with in years. He averaged over a minute to hit each shot. Oy veh. I hit a 125 yd wedge into the par 5 2nd, put my club away, walked over to the 3rd fairway, turned right and walked to the tee box, put down my clubs, and turned around to see him still standing over his ball in the middle of the 2nd fairway at the 100 yd marker. Sheesh. 

 

Off and on day. The lost balls got me steaming, but I settled down on the back. Only one birdie on the day. The par 3 11th was playing 235 into the breeze today. Tough hole. 

 

[Scratch2Plus]

Not sure if this was already mentioned but no masks required if you're Vaxxed at HoE, Bowes and Foxford Hills.

I took all 3 vaccines so I think I'm covered!  😀

 

[Wolfhammer]

7 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

The rough was nuts. I lost three balls just off the fairway by the 8th hole. All day my threesome lost 7 balls. The ranger told me that there was a tournament this past weekend, and they didn't get the junk cut yesterday. It wasn't U.S. open thick, but tall enough to swallow balls. You basically had to step on the balls to see them.

 

The rough was equally shaggy when I was there a couple weeks ago. I piped a drive center-ish from a blind tee that couldn't have gone more than 10 feet into the rough. Couldn't find the ball. There are few things more deflating. Maybe the dreaded "two chip."

[Argonne69]

32 minutes ago, Wolfhammer said:

 

The rough was equally shaggy when I was there a couple weeks ago. I piped a drive center-ish from a blind tee that couldn't have gone more than 10 feet into the rough. Couldn't find the ball. There are few things more deflating. Maybe the dreaded "two chip."

 

Probably #17 with the slight ridge and the hidden landing area. One of my playing partners hit a towering drive that looked like it would have landed on the right side of the fairway. After a 3 minute search we came up empty. Very frustrating to say the least. 

 

It was very kind of them to leave several leaf blowers on the fringes of the greens. On the 8th hole I thought that the maintenance crew had left one behind by mistake. After seeing the 2nd one I realized that they had left them out on purpose. The maple "helicopters" were dense, and the blowers definitely came in handy. In 40 years of playing I've never seen that before.

 

 

[DavePelz4]

13 hours ago, Scratch2Plus said:

Not sure if this was already mentioned but no masks required if you're Vaxxed at HoE, Bowes and Foxford Hills.

I took all 3 vaccines so I think I'm covered!  😀

 

 

My money says you had way more than 3 shots.

[cpeck12]

16 hours ago, Scratch2Plus said:

Not sure if this was already mentioned but no masks required if you're Vaxxed at HoE, Bowes and Foxford Hills.

I took all 3 vaccines so I think I'm covered!  😀

 

No masks required at Village Links of GE either if vaccinated.

Edited May 26, 2021 by cpeck12

[BTee17]

Ruffled Feathers now wants $99 for this Friday per Golf Now.  This is getting out of control around here

[geochitown]

Inflation?

[TheBear95]

1 hour ago, BTee17 said:

Ruffled Feathers now wants $99 for this Friday per Golf Now.  This is getting out of control around here

 

LOL. For the most part, I find the golf course "industry" to be shockingly bad at business.

 

I figured they would overplay their hand because of 2020 and sure enough many courses have. 2020 was the definition of a short-term (very short) boom. There was nothing sustainable about it. The time to raise rates was last year, when the demand was there. These courses are a day late, and will definitely be a dollar short at the end of the season.

 

Inflated rates will drive away the pre-Covid golfer, at the time when the Covid golfer is going back to other activities. That's a solid recipe to miss your rounds played target, which I'm guessing for many courses was high going into 2021 to begin with. I have no doubt that by the fall we will be hearing "grow the game", "what's wrong with golf", etc., from many course operators, especially the large guys like Arcis. All-in-all, sadly predictable. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by TheBear95

[chisag]

... Reminds me of several years ago when Naperbrook booked fewer rounds than the year before. So the Park District board made the "logical" decison to increase rates to recoup their loses. Imagine their surprise when they found that this created even fewer rounds and less revenue. They hired an outside source that advised them to join Golfnow and other reduced tee time sites, offer a loyalty program to residents outside of Naperville and of course ... lower their rates. They have been doing much better ever since. 

[DavePelz4]

10 minutes ago, chisag said:

... Reminds me of several years ago when Naperbrook booked fewer rounds than the year before. So the Park District board made the "logical" decison to increase rates to recoup their loses. Imagine their surprise when they found that this created even fewer rounds and less revenue. They hired an outside source that advised them to join Golfnow and other reduced tee time sites, offer a loyalty program to residents outside of Naperville and of course ... lower their rates. They have been doing much better ever since. 

 

It's interesting that in addition to bumping greens fees this year, Springbrook and N'brook increased their cart fees and range pricing as well. 

[chisag]

1 minute ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

It's interesting that in addition to bumping greens fees this year, Springbrook and N'brook increased their cart fees and range pricing as well. 

 

... Naperbrook might be the easiest walking course I have ever played. Looks like I left just in time. 😂

Edited May 26, 2021 by chisag

[DavePelz4]

2 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Naperbrook might be the easiest walking course I have ever played. Looks like I left just in time. 😂

 

What?  You couldn't handle the 14 inch elevation changes? Of course if you get on the mounds in between 1 and 2, that's nearly 2 feet.

[jimwgt26]

Anyone ever play Aberdeen or have a recommendation in Valpo/ Chesterton, IN?

[DavePelz4]

Putting some miles on this weekend with a round at Aldeen and a Memorial Day round at Oak Grove.  300 miles round trip to play in Rockford and Harvard?  Sounds about right.

[DavePelz4]

3 minutes ago, jimwgt26 said:

Anyone ever play Aberdeen or have a recommendation in Valpo/ Chesterton, IN?

 

Think you'd enjoy Aberdeen  A bit of a mix of links and parkland and there are only a couple of places where you can see more than 1 hole at a time so it's a bit secluded. Very walkable. Thought the practice facility was very good and if and I recall, we paid around $50 to play which I thought it was fair.

[TheBear95]

4 minutes ago, jimwgt26 said:

Anyone ever play Aberdeen or have a recommendation in Valpo/ Chesterton, IN?

 

If the conditions are good, Aberdeen can be solid. However, conditions have been spotty in the times I have played it and it has been a few years. Also, the par 5s are kind of dumb there.

 

Best bet in NWI is White Hawk in Crown Point. Very nice facility. 

[Argonne69]

5 minutes ago, jimwgt26 said:

Anyone ever play Aberdeen or have a recommendation in Valpo/ Chesterton, IN?

 

Aberdeen isn't bad. 

 

The Brassie in Chesterton wasn't bad, but it looks like they're permanently closed. 

[TheBear95]

8 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

Putting some miles on this weekend with a round at Aldeen and a Memorial Day round at Oak Grove.  300 miles round trip to play in Rockford and Harvard?  Sounds about right.

 

Nice. I'm a big fan of Aldeen.

[chrisf60526]

Yeah, prices are really up but so is everything else.  Ex. Last year, i played a course after 4pm that was $26 with a cart.  This year, it's $41 and $10 for the cart....so basically double.