Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[TheBear95]

5 minutes ago, geochitown said:

Played Strawberry Creek yesterday and it was an absolute pleasure.

 

the operative word for the day was fun.

 

Great Rich Jacobson course with some drivable par 4’s, nice mix of par 3’s.

 

The course also features nice elevation changes, the total variation on course being 50 feet

 

Big South-Southwest winds kept us on our toes and warm

 

if you ever have a chance to play there, I wholeheartedly recommend going so.

 

Interesting about the elevation. I would have never thought that from my times driving by it on Route 50.

[Argonne69]

What a great week for golf. Couldn't ask for nicer fall weather. I was complaining to the starter this morning about the cloud cover, and sure enough by the 2nd holes it was blue skies. Lol. Oak Brook this morning. Did the western suburbs get an overnight downpour? Based on the wetness of the fairways and bunker sand you'd swear they got two inches of rain. There was standing water in a few places, and my playing partner's electric cart was kicking up rooster tails in places. 'Must be taking a page out of HoE's course conditioning guide. Bunkers had plenty of sand, but were in serious need of grooming. The greens were damp in the early morning, but quite speedy. I'd say 10 at least. Downhill putts were dicey. 'Same old complaint about the pace. A twosome that was supposed to join us were no-shows, so my playing partner went out as a twosome following a foursome. While they finished in under 4 hours, it sure would have been nice if they'd turn around at some point, acknowledge us, and wave us through. They finished at least two holes behind the group ahead of them.

 

Good day scrambling. Irons were off, but seven par saves kept the score in check. No birdies and four bogies. Highlight of the day was saving par on the 17th after fanning my teeshot right of the green behind the trees. 'Too close to go over them, so I punched an 8 iron under them to within 8 feet, and followed up with a nice par putt. Also saved par on the dreaded 9th. Decided to play short of the PA, but I was too far right to have a shot at the green with the trees in the way. I hit a 9 iron to 75 yds, and managed a nice up and down from there. 'Still think it's one of the stupidest holes in Chicagoland. 

 

[chisag]

22 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

'Same old complaint about the pace. A twosome that was supposed to join us were no-shows, so my playing partner went out as a twosome following a foursome. While they finished in under 4 hours, it sure would have been nice if they'd turn around at some point, acknowledge us, and wave us through. They finished at least two holes behind the group ahead of them.

 

 

... I was paired with a group like that Saturday and by hole #4 a long par 5, the group in front of us were leaving the green as we approached the tee box. On the green I said to the 3 guys I was paired up with that we haven't waited since the first tee, we had the par 5 open and there are now 2 groups playing the hole behind us. As usual they turned around to look as if this thought never crossed their minds. The interesting thing was they did nothing egregious to effect pace of play but a combination of a little of everything like talking just a hair too long before hitting, taking 2-3 practice swings each and riding to each others ball instead of going to their own or taking a club and walking to their ball while their pard hit.

... Nice enough guys and we finished in 4:10 so again not brutal for a weekend but if they just paid attention to their pace of play we would have stayed with the group in front of us. We finished in almost complete darkness and I felt for the 2 groups behind driving past us by on the 18th tee box and giving us that look of "nobody on the green and you guys are still on the tee? Don't f*****g play twilite!" 

[MountainKing]

Played the Arboretum Club today to check it out for an event I'm playing in there Saturday.  I think I found my new least favorite course in Chicago.  Fairways and greens were in great shape,  but if you ended up off of them it was all hard pan and your ball would end up in water or OB.    I think 3 holes allowed for driver,  everything else was hybrid or 4 iron.   It reminds me of the worst part of Klein Creek meets the worst part of Tanna Farms. 

 

My game was okay.   Two triples on the front 9 due to my ball landing off the fairway and taking huge kicks into ob.  Ended up with a 44, came back with a 37 on the back.  After Saturday,  I hope up never see the course again. 

[Shriner]

9 hours ago, MountainKing said:

Played the Arboretum Club today to check it out for an event I'm playing in there Saturday.  I think I found my new least favorite course in Chicago.  Fairways and greens were in great shape,  but if you ended up off of them it was all hard pan and your ball would end up in water or OB.    I think 3 holes allowed for driver,  everything else was hybrid or 4 iron.   It reminds me of the worst part of Klein Creek meets the worst part of Tanna Farms. 

 

My game was okay.   Two triples on the front 9 due to my ball landing off the fairway and taking huge kicks into ob.  Ended up with a 44, came back with a 37 on the back.  After Saturday,  I hope up never see the course again. 

 

Haha!  Yes, it is a very gimmicky, target course shoved into a subdivision.  The conditions are usually good and the clubhouse is nice, but it is not a course that I seek out.  I'm a big fan of Buffalo Grove Golf Course though.

[DavePelz4]

12 hours ago, MountainKing said:

Played the Arboretum Club today to check it out for an event I'm playing in there Saturday.  I think I found my new least favorite course in Chicago.  Fairways and greens were in great shape,  but if you ended up off of them it was all hard pan and your ball would end up in water or OB.    I think 3 holes allowed for driver,  everything else was hybrid or 4 iron.   It reminds me of the worst part of Klein Creek meets the worst part of Tanna Farms. 

 

My game was okay.   Two triples on the front 9 due to my ball landing off the fairway and taking huge kicks into ob.  Ended up with a 44, came back with a 37 on the back.  After Saturday,  I hope up never see the course again. 

 

Tanna Farms coupled with Klein Creek...mind blown.

[ldchristopher]

22 hours ago, MountainKing said:

Played the Arboretum Club today to check it out for an event I'm playing in there Saturday.  I think I found my new least favorite course in Chicago.  Fairways and greens were in great shape,  but if you ended up off of them it was all hard pan and your ball would end up in water or OB.    I think 3 holes allowed for driver,  everything else was hybrid or 4 iron.   It reminds me of the worst part of Klein Creek meets the worst part of Tanna Farms. 

 

My game was okay.   Two triples on the front 9 due to my ball landing off the fairway and taking huge kicks into ob.  Ended up with a 44, came back with a 37 on the back.  After Saturday,  I hope up never see the course again. 

Yeah, it’s the Northern burbs answer to Lost Marsh. No course is as comically nuts as Lost Marsh but Arboretum is at least in the ballpark. I was playing there after work once back when I got out early enough to get to a golf course and play 18. Ended up playing behind Gar Foreman and John Paxson. Along with being bad GMs, both were also not particularly good golfers. They each put at least a box of balls in the water. 

[St Jimmy]

On 9/27/2021 at 1:23 PM, Argonne69 said:

 

I used to give the found balls away at work, but now that I'm retired I collect more than I give away. During the shutdown last spring, I cleaned out my golf "drawer", and donated 200 balls to charity. Since then I've probably collected close to 150 more. I keep the Pro V1s, TP5s, and Chrome Softs, and either give the others to my playing partners, or leave them on the course for others to pick up.

 

 

 

I keep all of the balls I find in the front pocket of my bag.  I use 7-8 of them to warm up on the rage before my rounds. 

[Argonne69]

11 minutes ago, St Jimmy said:

 

I keep all of the balls I find in the front pocket of my bag.  I use 7-8 of them to warm up on the rage before my rounds. 

 

A few seasons ago I hauled my cart bag out of my vehicle at the end of the season to pack it in my travel bag for my winter trips. I cleaned out the pockets and removed 57 golf balls. No wonder it weighed a ton. Lol. 'Last time I kept found balls in my bag. 

 

[Apindara]

23 hours ago, MountainKing said:

Played the Arboretum Club today to check it out for an event I'm playing in there Saturday.  I think I found my new least favorite course in Chicago.  Fairways and greens were in great shape,  but if you ended up off of them it was all hard pan and your ball would end up in water or OB.    I think 3 holes allowed for driver,  everything else was hybrid or 4 iron.   It reminds me of the worst part of Klein Creek meets the worst part of Tanna Farms. 

 

My game was okay.   Two triples on the front 9 due to my ball landing off the fairway and taking huge kicks into ob.  Ended up with a 44, came back with a 37 on the back.  After Saturday,  I hope up never see the course again. 

My least favorite course in the nW suburbs. Haven’t played there in over 10 yrs and hope to keep my streak alive. Ironically it is the course closest I ever got to a hole in one, 17th hole, missed on the fly by two inches.

[@_the_crook]

15 hours ago, Shriner said:

I'm a big fan of Buffalo Grove Golf Course though.

 

once had a pal that shared the same weekday afternoon off.

our code was - 'meet at the Police Department'.

would play and bring home dinner from Malnati's.

 

no one seemed to remember I had been out for a couple three hours.

 

[Argonne69]

Enjoyable round at George Dunne this morning. Temps were cool, but with plenty of sunshine and practically no wind it was very pleasant. The course was in iffy shape through the green. Fairways were very wet as they had the sprinklers going this morning. A number of them had been aerated, and the plugs made a bit of a mess. Teebox were a little beat up. The regular blue teebox on the par 3 7th was dirt, as they appeared to be in the process of re-seeding it. Rough was spotty. Bunkers were hit or miss, with the majority being misses. A few had some fresh sand, but had numerous footprints, and needed a good grooming. The rest were a muddy mess. The greens were the highlight, as they looked great, and were rolling at least 10 even with the moisture. The lowlight was the number of empty beer cans scattered around the course. Many were in the trees along the holes, but some were literally in the middle of the fairway. Nothing wrong with a few beers on the course, but please don't be a slob.

 

I git extremely lucky with the pace. I was scheduled to play with a threesome, but arrived at the course early. There was a foursome of young players getting ready to tee off on the empty first hole, and they let me get out in front of them. Thank you very much. I played through two other groups on the front, and then had an open course. I finished the round in 2:45, and as I made my way to the parking lot I ran into the four lads buying beer at the turn. OMG. I'm so glad I didn't hang back and get stuck behind them.

 

Decent round with a birdie on the opening hole, and five bogies. Irons were a bit off, and hooking my teeshot into the PA on the 4th didn't help. Highlight of the day was playing the par 3s at even par. 

 

Love when the grounds crews "helps" by setting up the tee markers with ridiculous alignments. This is the white tee alignment on the par 5 6th.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by Argonne69

[chrisf60526]

I need to learn my lesson about playing Oakbrook.  It's becoming a shooting gallery.  I was hit into twice by the same group.  The pace of play is always awful there.

 

Great lesson on supply and demand though.  Take a average course, pack it full of people.  Oakbrook is like a pretty girl with nothing else but it's close and there is no competition in this area.

[B-Man]

2 minutes ago, chrisf60526 said:

I need to learn my lesson about playing Oakbrook.  It's becoming a shooting gallery.  I was hit into twice by the same group.  The pace of play is always awful there.

 

Great lesson on supply and demand though.  Take a average course, pack it full of people.  Oakbrook is like a pretty girl with nothing else but it's close and there is no competition in this area.

Fresh Ghettoes is nearby. Just saying.

[MountainKing]

Oak Brook I believe sells a lot of memberships, partially why it's always packed.  Pace is never good and there's always bad golf. 

 

Got out to Maple Meadows,  course was in rough shape.   Greens were about as bad as I've seen them. Pace was good at 3 hours, managed to finish with plenty of life. 

 

Game is still really off.  If I don't find it soon I'm gonna call it a season. Snap hooks at bad times,   37 putts, ugh.  I hit 12 greens,  including all 3 par 5s in two but only managed 1 birdie.   Another double,  another triple,  ended with a 79.  Highlights were my buddy putting up a 32 on the front and another shooting 75 with a 10 on the card. 

[TBone0576]

On 9/27/2021 at 8:13 PM, TheBear95 said:

Interesting about the elevation. I would have never thought that from my times driving by it on Route 50.

 

Yeah if you are ever up that way and have a few extra minutes to kill it is an interesting drive back there and you can see a majority of the course.  I haven't played it in probably 5-6 years now but it's definitely worth playing if you get a chance.  I'd love to join but I just can't justify the money it takes and the short golf season.  

[VNutz]

@chrisf60526

 

Oak Brook is on my drive home and I often stop there to putt or hit the range. They sell a yearly membership, I think for 3k or so and it's a few bucks each time out. It's always been a somewhat busy course, but the past few years it's become increasingly crowded, especially right now with high school matches going on as they're home to multiple HS teams. It's pretty tightly packed on the front 9 as well, and with all the 90* dog legs you can get on another group pretty easily if you get offline. The addition of their new patio has brought in more casual golfers and clientele, the area ones that don't want to be a part of Hinsdale or La Grange CC, and the area in general is pretty bare for decent golf options with corpse of Timber Trails still visible.

[MountainKing]

4 minutes ago, VNutz said:

@chrisf60526

 

Oak Brook is on my drive home and I often stop there to putt or hit the range. They sell a yearly membership, I think for 3k or so and it's a few bucks each time out. It's always been a somewhat busy course, but the past few years it's become increasingly crowded, especially right now with high school matches going on as they're home to multiple HS teams. It's pretty tightly packed on the front 9 as well, and with all the 90* dog legs you can get on another group pretty easily if you get offline. The addition of their new patio has brought in more casual golfers and clientele, the area ones that don't want to be a part of Hinsdale or La Grange CC, and the area in general is pretty bare for decent golf options with corpse of Timber Trails still visible.

 

Elmhurst college also plays there to add onto the list.  The most impressive part about the course is how they are able to keep it in fairly good condition given the amount of play it sees.  I drove it by it last week on the day it was cold, windy and rainy and you swear it was a Saturday afternoon on a beautiful day with all the groups out there.  The one thing that always struck me odd about the place, there seems to be a level of stuffiness with the clientele there, like Oak Brook is some prestigious public course.  You are right that this is a dead zone for golf, if I wanted a quick round by my house I'm stuck with that, Willowcrest of Fresh Meadows (Willow always wins that one).  Beyond that it's 20+ minutes to the next batch of decent courses.  Maybe it's like that in more area's than I can think of and I just got lucky over the years..  When I lived in Lisle I could walk to Seven Bridges, in Bolingbrook I had Bolingbrook minutes away, I grew up living 5 minutes from both Naperbrook and Springbrook (ended up working at Naper).  

[Argonne69]

A rather enjoyable round to end the week. Glencoe this morning. The course looks great. The fairways were quite wet, though, probably due to an early morning watering. Rough is thick. Bunkers were freshly groomed. Greens looks nice, and were rolling 10+. Ballmarks were few. Pace was the usual downer. While the round took four hours, it could have been much quicker. Standing on the 4th tee I could see the group ahead of us waiting for the foursome on the green. The entire 5th and 6th holes were open. God only knows how many more open holes there were. I'm guessing the group on the green was at least 3 holes behind the lead rabbits. 'Not asking for a 3 hour pace, but the 2nd group out shouldn't be far behind the lead group.

 

Solid day all around with one birdie and three bogies. Scrambling once again saved the day with only 11 greens hit. 'Could simply be good misses on the approaches, but one still has to get the ball up and in. Only highlight was finally making a 12' birdie putt on the 17th. 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Looks like Wilmette is closing for the season after Sunday's play. I was told the 8th, but the 3rd is the last day of the year before they close to install cart paths.

 

[Argonne69]

PXG is opening a 2nd Chicagoland location in November. The fitting studio will be located in Oak Brook. 

 

[DavePelz4]

Played hooky and met a golf bud at Fox Bend. Couldn't beat the weather.

 

9:30 tee time and in the middle of the second fairway, I called the clubhouse on the group in front of us.  They were beyond slow and the group in front of them was in the 4th fairway so they were at least a hole and a half slow. I debated the phone call but realized that this was a favor to the course and all the players behind us. They actually sent a ranger, um sorry, player assistant out to talk to them. The ranger followed them on 3, and 4, and as we waited in the 4th fairway he rolled out to us and said they were going to let us play through.  NICE!

 

Only they didn't let us play through...but they did get their arses in gear when the ranger was around. When the ranger left, they brought out the molasses. The front ended up being a solid 2 and a half hours but they got B'd out at the turn and decided to stay on pace.  Finished in 4:25, eh, it was a great day.

 

Overall, the course is in good condition, but not sure what is going on with courses overwatering.  Had at least 4-5 mudballs on drives that ended up in the fairway.

[B-Man]

La Preserve tomorrow morning. Should be fun.

[@_the_crook]

8 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

Not asking for a 3 hour pace, but the 2nd group out shouldn't be far behind the lead group.

another reason to get up at four o'clock for the first time out.

we play at a good clip and hold up no one.

 

didn't realize the reputation my partner and I had for ourselves until a short while ago.

chatting with a few guys at our current place - they were warming up as were came off the course. 

turns out they were also Sportsman's players.

said 'we've seen you guys around for a long time, always early and always fast.' 

I took that as a compliment.

 

 

 

[ldchristopher]

Broken Arrow this morning with Bear. The course was soaked and there were ponds in all the bunkers on the South course. Whoever designed the sprinkler system there just wasn’t thinking. There were a lot of cars in the lot and we had a 7:30 tee time but we weren’t paired up. They probably should have since we waited on almost every shot because of the twosome in front of us. The bunkers there are always trash but the greens also had marks all over them. It’s not that hard to bend over and fix a ball mark but based on the amount of premium balls (and surlyn junkers) just lying around, the clientele there doesn’t do much bending over. Anyway, I ripped up the front nine, with three birdies (3, 6 and 7) and no bogies. I hit 7/9 greens and was pretty locked in. Then I hit an absolutely massive -at least for me - drive on 10 (1 East) and started chasing distance like a meathead. Made two bad bogies on 12 and 15 but got it together and finished with a birdie on 18 for a -2 70. I’ll take that score any day but it was extra nice since I hadn’t played since last Saturday. Also, since it’s Broken Arrow and the rating and slope are absurdly inflated, today was hands down my lowest index of the year. 

[B-Man]

19 hours ago, B-Man said:

La Preserve tomorrow morning. Should be fun.

FFS! $75 to walk. Not worth it. Greens were soft and bumpy yet fast. Green surrounds were ragged. Grass slopes of bunkers were out of control long. Tee boxes chopped up. Not happy Jan!

[MountainKing]

3 hours ago, B-Man said:

FFS! $75 to walk. Not worth it. Greens were soft and bumpy yet fast. Green surrounds were ragged. Grass slopes of bunkers were out of control long. Tee boxes chopped up. Not happy Jan!

 

The course has sadly become way over priced.   Probably hard to keep in any type of condition with how much play the course gets.  It doesn't help that it seems like they're trying to run as lean as they can at both this and Maple.  Maple was a mess when I played it on Thursday.

 

Back out to Arboretum for a ryder cup style event today.  Nothing new to report on the course other than I hope to never see it again.  I didn't have my best stuff, and the guy I went up against played one of his career best rounds, so I got my butt handed to me.  It's hard to hang in match play when somebody throws up 4 birdies in a row.  Regardless, a really fun day.

[AUTIGER07]

It's been busy the last few months at work so this last week was the first time since June that I've been able to get out and actually do something more than hit 50 balls at the range.  I got out to Prairie Landing and Glen Erin with 79's both days. With the time away I'm not surprised but the frustration was definitely there as I missed only 2 fairways but was a total of 9 over par from the middle of the fairway with a PW or less in hand. Long, left, fat, etc....I had zero confidence in my ability to hit a green with a wedge. I also had a total of 8 3-putts over the 2 days which added to the fun. I did drive #11 at PL and #13 at GE, which was fun, but walked off both greens with par. Good times.

 

So on Friday I threw the T20's and Ping Heppler into the garage and pulled out an old set of VR wedges and a Versa #7 as a "ah, what the hell" type of move. Golf is a fascinating game and my little science experiment resulted in a 69 at Bowe's yesterday morning. I did have 1 missed green with a wedge and 1 3-putt but the confidence in seeing something you used to have some success with was a night and day difference from earlier in the week. 

 

I always considered these the "GOAT" wedges ever made which is why they were in the bag for ~6 years before I replaced them with the T20's. Glad I didn't trade them into PGASS for $6/club last year.

[Shriner]

First time out at Ironhorse.  Continuing on with rating the top 100 in Illinois.  Thought the layout was really cool as every hole was different but there was a little too much water in play off the tee in strange places.  Greens were nice but fairways and tee boxes were chewed up, etc.   Tough course to score on with all the penalties lurking.  I liked it and would play again but the ranking probably won't be great.  A nice relaxing day and. 2:20 minute round will never get old...

[geochitown]

Quick check in with the rain up

here by Independence Grove 

 

1.75” in the last two says (oct 2-3)