Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[DavePelz4]

Aldeen on Saturday, first time there in at least 2 years. As have many other courses, they've taken a ton of trees out and improved the overall health of the course and making it even more visually appealing. Have probably played Aldeen 15-20 times and have never seen the greens play as fast as they did yesterday. and the pin positions be as tucked as they were.  Would guess they were rolling at least 12 if not 13 and if you were above the hole, you were a word that rhymes with ducked. Even with the recent rain, the course was dry overall, sans a few low spots.  The bunkers are in fine condition.  The rough was probably 2-3 inches and plush.  Lost 2 balls in the rough with drives that were just off the fairway.

 

WIth the weather and the body starting to warm up, the ball is going further, which isn't always a good thing. My short game continues to disappoint and I'm just giving away too many shots. Reached 9 in 2 and walked off with a solid double. 

 

My only issues was the pace.  2 groups in front was a 2 some who held up the 3 some in front of us and our group, too. We finished in 4:30 which really isn't terrible but considering the delay was the 2 some, that's not right.  We ended up on the tee box with the group in front of us on 7 holes, and Aldeen has a 10 minute gap in between times.

 

The restaurant/bar now has private owners and for the craft beer lovers that had a great selection. 

 

The highlight of the day was...um, there were no highlights. Heading to the Bolingbrook range today for some much needed short game work.

Edited May 30, 2021 by DavePelz4

[@_the_crook]

play started just before 7:00 and my pair hit at 7:10. there were a few instances of read, re-read, re-re-read here and there on some greens.

to their credit, they wrapped in under three hours.

320 yd drives are just so pretty.

are these guys Wrx'rs?

 

[MountainKing]

Afternoon round at the Ravines today.  Came out all guns blazing going 3 under in the first 3 holes, and would have been 4 if I would have taken the flag out on 4 and closed the front out with another birdie on 9.  Sadly I had a bogey and a triple in the mix.  Back 9 I came in with 2 bogeys and a bunch of pars for a decent round.  I always forget how fun the course is.    The greens were brutal, not sure when they were punched but they still aren't healed and it's lot of guessing on longer puts.  No complaints tho for $57, I'd probably feel ripped if I paid much more than that.

 

Pace was decent until we hit 17.  Group in front of us insisted on waiting on the green to clear despite the fact that nobody in that group hit a single drive over 200 yards the previous 16 holes.  They all dumped shots into the trees and proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes to look and get up to the green.  

 

A beautiful day for golf.  

[Argonne69]

Enjoying a pre-round beer at American Dunes GC. I was hoping I could get out early, but the tee sheet is booked. No surprise. 

 

 

 

[@_the_crook]

good thoughts on this Memorial Day for service members past and present,  and to everyone who supports them.

if you haven't yet had the opportunity to pay tribute to fallen service members, please take a moment before the day ends and give thanks for their sacrifices.

 

🇺🇸

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

4 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

good thoughts on this Memorial Day for service members past and present,  and to everyone who supports them.

if you haven't yet had the opportunity to pay tribute to fallen service members, please take a moment before the day ends and give thanks for their sacrifices.

 

🇺🇸

 

 

At 1 pm at American Dunes the carts come to a stop, taps is played over the cart speakers, and 13 bells are rung. Very moving. Each hole has a small memorial to a fallen soldier. 

 

[DavePelz4]

Oak Grove this morning.  So they do have sand as Jimmy noted, but unfortunately it's in the parking lot as opposed to the traps.  There were probably only 3-4 traps that appears to have anything beyond raked dirt.

 

On to the good.  Wow...range balls from this milenium! Absent a few spots on several greens that were impacted by snow mold, the greens were fast and quite receptive. Overall conditions were great and for a holiday round, the pace was wonderful at 3:40. So very nice to be able to hit the ball and go.

 

Fortunately, the guy from Aldeen must have stayed in Rockford as today was night and day from Saturday in every regard. The ball was still flying and got me into trouble on several holes. Flushed a wedge on 13 and flew the green into the junk long. Hmmm.

 

Highlight of the day was taking the ball over the trees on 16 leaving about 30 yards in and lipping out a little chip.  The guy at Aldeen would either have chunked it or bladed it 50 yards long.

 

2 rounds in Elgin this week...Friday at Bowes with Hawkeye77 who's coming into town followed by our next comp on Saturday at The Highlands.

[Scratch2Plus]

Schaumburg on Wednesday and George Dunne on Friday. Hoping to maybe do a replay at GD...

Hope Ashley is still working the bev cart! 😬

[ldchristopher]

I was in Wisconsin with my wife and daughter for Memorial Day weekend and got in a couple of rounds at Evergreen (North to South for both). I played a solo twilight yesterday and Bear joined me this morning. Evergreen isn’t very difficult but all three nines there have a couple of tough holes. It’s not a course that requires a lot of driver so I just hit 3 and 5 wood both days on all but a couple of holes. The greens there were very smooth. Not super fast but they had a decent pace and almost no marks. Yesterday I had four bogies and one birdie for a 75. Today I had five bogies and one bird for a 76. 

[Gdane]

Just wrote up a bit about the golf trip I took to North Carolina last week in the Carolinas section.  Paid about $150 total for 3 days of golf which included 5 holes on the inner banks Sound.   Comparing that to the $55 I dropped at Fox Run back in March is just disgusting.  Also almost embarrassed to admit that as about a 12 handicap that has played the game for almost 30 years, I finally found my first ever eagle at Tot Hill Farm. 

 

Non-golf highlight of the trip: 12 craft beers for $24 at Scotch Hall Preserve

 

Signature 17th hole at Scotch Hall Preserve

[dhartmann34]

Just saw this and thought I'd share if anyone is interested. Seems like a fun event. 

[MountainKing]

Got a round scheduled for Prairie Bluff on Saturday. Looking forward to getting back out there, not sure what it is but I do love that course.  I think it's one of the most overlooked courses in the area, especially for the money.  

[DavePelz4]

5 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

Got a round scheduled for Prairie Bluff on Saturday. Looking forward to getting back out there, not sure what it is but I do love that course.  I think it's one of the most overlooked courses in the area, especially for the money.  

 

What is there not to like about PB?  Great practice area, accommodating staff, single friendly, pace is always good, the layout is fun and the course is always in great condition.  And, you've got the prison to add to the esthetics.

[Argonne69]

46 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

What is there not to like about PB?  Great practice area, accommodating staff, single friendly, pace is always good, the layout is fun and the course is always in great condition.  And, you've got the prison to add to the esthetics.

 

I played it once on a Sunday morning. Teed off 30 minutes behind schedule, and the round was over 5 hours. 

 

[MountainKing]

43 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

What is there not to like about PB?  Great practice area, accommodating staff, single friendly, pace is always good, the layout is fun and the course is always in great condition.  And, you've got the prison to add to the esthetics.

 

I guess it never seems to get much love, maybe kind of a forgotten gem. Nobody seems to talk bad about it, but nobody seems to bring it up as a great course in the area.  I worked with the Lunde's (they seem to run the show at PB) at Naperbrook back when I was in high school, always fun guys to work with and for. 

[MountainKing]

Just now, Argonne69 said:

 

I played it once on a Sunday morning. Teed off 30 minutes behind schedule, and the round was over 5 hours. 

 

 

You seem to have worst luck than my group does with pace.  We generally end up behind that group that messes the course up for the day, probably because we hate playing early.  Like last week at Cog #2, we get behind the yahoo's who decide they want to wait for the green to clear on a hole they'd never get near even with a career drive.  I think only once at PB we had pace issues and the ranger took care of it fairly quick.  

[DavePelz4]

7 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

You seem to have worst luck than my group does with pace.  We generally end up behind that group that messes the course up for the day, probably because we hate playing early.  Like last week at Cog #2, we get behind the yahoo's who decide they want to wait for the green to clear on a hole they'd never get near even with a career drive.  I think only once at PB we had pace issues and the ranger took care of it fairly quick.  

 

You used the most important word for keeping pace on target...ranger. We've probably played 20 courses so far this year and we've yet to see a ranger on any course.  Even starters are becoming rare.

[MountainKing]

5 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

You used the most important word for keeping pace on target...ranger. We've probably played 20 courses so far this year and we've yet to see a ranger on any course.  Even starters are becoming rare.

 

It's becoming less and less. We had a group hitting into us at The Preserve several holes in a row on the front 9.   My buddy made a call to the pro shop after hole 7 and no ranger to be seen.  They did it again on hole 10 where the pin was on the far right of the green and they teed off when we got to the far left side..of course the moron hooked the shot and never yelled.  I knocked his ball back into the water and that seemed to do the trick to stop it.  I shouldn't have to do that to get somebody to stop doing something they shouldn't be doing to begin with, the course should be managing that. 

 

It's a far cry from how it was when I was younger and courses would make you let groups through, or make you move up a hole if you fell behind and take you off the course if you were a repeat offender.  

[Woodridge]

My pace of play story. I played Nettle Creek yesterday afternoon. I was a single stuck behind 3 or 4 groups all day. Never saw anyone behind me after the 1st hole until the 11th. A guy catches up to me on the par 3 12th and I ask if he wants to join me, but he waves me off....which is fine....Except, he was on my butt the next 6 holes. There was no place to go. When I'm in his position, I slow way down, play an extra ball or take a few extra putts on the greens. Not this guy...I'd be waiting on the tee for the group ahead to play their shots and he'd already be done with the hole. I finished the 14th hole, was walking off the green and he yelled at me from the fairway asking where the pin was at...Just odd. I was on the 18th tee waiting for the green to clear on the par 3 and he starts giving me a history lesson of the course. Says he played the front nine in 52 minutes that day....He didn't ask to play the last hole with me and I didn't offer.

[chisag]

1 hour ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

You used the most important word for keeping pace on target...ranger. We've probably played 20 courses so far this year and we've yet to see a ranger on any course.  Even starters are becoming rare.

 

... This was my home course and knew everyone that worked there. All things considered, it was my favorite place to play. I always played twilite and rarely ran into a slow play problem. PB is one of the few courses that always has rangers patrolling the course but more often than not they are just looking for range balls. That said if there was some holes open in front of a slow group they would urge them to pick up the pace.

... I did have a very strange occurrence at PB when we played as a 2some and got behind a 4some with a 1.5 to 2 holes open in front of them on the back 9 and we asked to play through and they said "Absolutely not!" We were a little shocked and on 13 asked the ranger to tell them to let us through. He went and talked to them and came back saying nothing he could do because they were playing at a 3:50 minute pace and he could not force them to let us through if they were on time. He did say they seemed like real jerks. 

[Argonne69]

How many times do I have to remind rangers that there are two components to pace of play? One is the clock time, and the second is keeping up with the group ahead, and allowing faster groups to play through if there are open holes ahead. Sheesh. 

 

[dhartmann34]

3 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

How many times do I have to remind rangers that there are two components to pace of play? One is the clock time, and the second is keeping up with the group ahead, and allowing faster groups to play through if there are open holes ahead. Sheesh. 

 

The ranger at Highlands of elgin didn't understand either of those Monday. Apparently because they were "on pace" it doesn't matter we were waiting all day long... With open holes in front of the group in front of us. 

[@_the_crook]

seems to be a difference between a Ranger and some indifferent guy driving a cart with the flag attached.

in previous years I do recall being asked to re-position a time or two.

it wasn't any big deal then and it shouldn't be now.

 

one of the head fellows at Sportsman's used to say -

"they aren't renting the course, just some time on it."

Edited June 2, 2021 by @_the_crook
sp

[Holy Moses]

Randall Oaks’ range closes at 5:30. Why? They said it takes too long to clean it up if they stay open late. It’s a very small range because half of it is always closed. If you have golfers just making the turn at 5:30, why close the range? Somebody is working until 8:30 or later anyway.

[Woodridge]

34 minutes ago, Holy Moses said:

Randall Oaks’ range closes at 5:30. Why? They said it takes too long to clean it up if they stay open late. It’s a very small range because half of it is always closed. If you have golfers just making the turn at 5:30, why close the range? Somebody is working until 8:30 or later anyway.

People hardly have time to get home and eat dinner before the range is closing. They're missing out on all the new golfers coming out to hit balls.

[ReinyDays]

played st. andrews #2 after work today. there was nobody on the course and finished 18 walking in 3hr 15min. i never played there before and the course was in great shape. the greens where an ok speed, slower then what i am use to though. the par 5's have good variety with 2 playing pretty long and the other 3 are easily reachable in 2. my biggest problem with the course was every par 3 was around 200 yards and had the same look to the hole. 

[MountainKing]

18 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

How many times do I have to remind rangers that there are two components to pace of play? One is the clock time, and the second is keeping up with the group ahead, and allowing faster groups to play through if there are open holes ahead. Sheesh. 

 

 

This drives me nuts, you have a course clipping along, then one group falls way behind yet they're within the "course pace" and you get told there's nothing they can do.  That's instantly how you fall behind for the rest of the day, because naturally what happens behind that is going to become slower than the "course pace".  We've come across this at numerous courses, not sure how the course can be okay with people coming through 9 in 1:30 and then all of a sudden there's a 40 minute gap, but it's okay because that group is at 2:10 which is the suggested pace. 

[MountainKing]

13 hours ago, Holy Moses said:

Randall Oaks’ range closes at 5:30. Why? They said it takes too long to clean it up if they stay open late. It’s a very small range because half of it is always closed. If you have golfers just making the turn at 5:30, why close the range? Somebody is working until 8:30 or later anyway.

 

5:30 is excessive, but working at Naperbrook in my teens, I can attest to it taking a while to clean a range up.  Just like the guys who insist on using a cart until it's pitch black, you'd get the one guy who would want to hit until the sun has been down for 20+ minutes.  Honestly, if people were reasonable and stop doing dumb things like that, you probably wouldn't see closing times or places asking for carts back by a certain time. 

[DavePelz4]

14 hours ago, Holy Moses said:

Randall Oaks’ range closes at 5:30. Why? They said it takes too long to clean it up if they stay open late. It’s a very small range because half of it is always closed. If you have golfers just making the turn at 5:30, why close the range? Somebody is working until 8:30 or later anyway.

 

So much doesn't make sense with this. Do they actually need to pick the range to start fresh the next day or could you have someone come in an hour before the range opens in the morning and do the same thing?

 

Bolingbrook is open until 9P which would seems to be reasonable considering they have lights and I've left there at that time with plenty of balls still out on the range.

[MountainKing]

7 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

So much doesn't make sense with this. Do they actually need to pick the range to start fresh the next day or could you have someone come in an hour before the range opens in the morning and do the same thing?

 

Bolingbrook is open until 9P which would seems to be reasonable considering they have lights and I've left there at that time with plenty of balls still out on the range.

 

Not sure if it's the same there, but they'd mow the tee area almost daily so we had to make sure the balls were picked up from the tee area and tee area was cleared of dividers, bag holders ect.  I always questioned why we actually had to move it into a shed and lock up nightly rather than just put it off to the side, but that just resulted in funny looks from the pros.  Every Sunday we had to clear the entire range out so they could mow.  

 

Still think 5:30 is excessive tho.