Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[ldchristopher]

10 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

I got an invite to play Bob O in 2008 from a vendor. I didn't realize it was a men only club. Walked in the front door, and the locker room is open to one side. A bit unsettling to say the least. Lol. The course was in pristine condition. Greens were lightning quick. We saw Mike Ditka off practicing. It was a weekday, so the course wasn't particularly crowded. We had lunch in a private room after the round. Overall it was an enjoyable day, and other than the unclothed members strolling around the locker room it didn't seem too odd. 

 

Bob-O makes it very public when their members don’t pay their bar tabs. They did that to Ditka. Always thought that was funny. Wives can pick up their husbands at Bob-O but they can’t get out of the car. Country clubs……….

[psygolf]

23 hours ago, ldchristopher said:

Bob-O makes it very public when their members don’t pay their bar tabs. They did that to Ditka. Always thought that was funny. Wives can pick up their husbands at Bob-O but they can’t get out of the car. Country clubs……….

Not sure how you do not pay your bar tab, unless you are not paying your club bill all together.

 

Now gambling debt I could see.

Heard Ditka was asked to leave Evanston Golf Club for wielding a broken beer bottle at another member over a gin rummy game.

[DavePelz4]

Played Prairie Landing on Sunday, what a nice day for a walk.  As you can imagine, with the rain we've had there were quite a few plugged balls and the course was generally squishy. The greens though, were surprisingly quick and they had been aerated with the small tines recently.  That didn't impact play at all.

 

Very few people on the course and when I pulled into the lot, my first thought was the course was closed as there were a bare minimum of cars in the lot.  There was a group in front of us all riding and being CPO, it took them a bit longer than usual to play.  Think we finished in 4:15 and considering the walk between some of the greens to the next tees, it wasn't bad.

 

Round 2 of our comp season at Orchard Valley on Saturday...don't know about you but I'm ready for at least 60 degree temps.

[TheBear95]

1 hour ago, DavePelz4 said:

Round 2 of our comp season at Orchard Valley on Saturday...don't know about you but I'm ready for at least 60 degree temps.

 

You're asking for too much. Forecasted high for Saturday.... 46. 

[DavePelz4]

1 hour ago, TheBear95 said:

 

You're asking for too much. Forecasted high for Saturday.... 46. 

 

At least Accuweather shows it as sunny.  The sun made it a lot warmer than 52 yesterday.  Got down to an under armour shirt and polo pretty early into the round.  Sunshine and walking is worth at least 10 degrees in my crazy mind.

[MountainKing]

7 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

Played Prairie Landing on Sunday, what a nice day for a walk.  As you can imagine, with the rain we've had there were quite a few plugged balls and the course was generally squishy. The greens though, were surprisingly quick and they had been aerated with the small tines recently.  That didn't impact play at all.

 

Very few people on the course and when I pulled into the lot, my first thought was the course was closed as there were a bare minimum of cars in the lot.  There was a group in front of us all riding and being CPO, it took them a bit longer than usual to play.  Think we finished in 4:15 and considering the walk between some of the greens to the next tees, it wasn't bad.

 

Round 2 of our comp season at Orchard Valley on Saturday...don't know about you but I'm ready for at least 60 degree temps.

 

We did CPO once at PL - if that ever happens again we'd just elect to walk it.  Not only are those paths well off the fairway, it felt you had to climb up and down mounds each time to get back and forth.

 

Still waiting to ge that first round in, this weather sucks. 

[DavePelz4]

1 hour ago, MountainKing said:

 

We did CPO once at PL - if that ever happens again we'd just elect to walk it.  Not only are those paths well off the fairway, it felt you had to climb up and down mounds each time to get back and forth.

 

Still waiting to ge that first round in, this weather sucks. 

 

With you completely on that.  With the width of some of those fairways you can be 100 yards, each was, from the cart to the ball.

[@_the_crook]

Sportsmans, er, Heritage Oaks, was rather waterlogged on Sunday, as expected.

we were delayed about an hour as the snow and slush melted.

was surprised that the greens recovered as well as they did by about 11 am.

the fairways mostly plugged and anything off line was messy.

the low level approach areas were best avoided.

the sun and soft breeze were a welcome addition.

mesh shoes should be on this course's do not wear list for a while.

 

 

[Argonne69]

5 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

Sportsmans, er, Heritage Oaks, was rather waterlogged on Sunday, as expected.

we were delayed about an hour as the snow and slush melted.

was surprised that the greens recovered as well as they did by about 11 am.

the fairways mostly plugged and anything off line was messy.

the low level approach areas were best avoided.

the sun and soft breeze were a welcome addition.

mesh shoes should be on this course's do not wear list for a while.

 

 

So basically the time and money spent for the renovation didn't accomplish much?

 

[TheBear95]

3 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

So basically the time and money spent for the renovation didn't accomplish much?

 

 

Hey, the rebranding alone is worth millions. 

[Argonne69]

30 minutes ago, TheBear95 said:

 

Hey, the rebranding alone is worth millions. 

 

Good thing they didn't call it Heritage Willow given that the big willow on the 17th came down shortly after reopening. 

 

[@_the_crook]

6 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

So basically the time and money spent for the renovation didn't accomplish much?

 

cost/benefit for the new clubhouse cannot be understated.

mini golf was removed. not really an improvement for local families.

the greens were rebuilt. said they added underground pumps.

most of the course's low spots that hold water remain.

now that nine and eighteen have pronounced low run-ups, that may be a negative.

walking off number seven tee, which has always been a wet area, and still is.

doesn't seem too many french drains were added.

paved paths were not improved.

many trees were removed so turf will likely benefit, as well as some area's recovery shots.

pond areas seem to have been reinforced with deeper plantings around the borders.

keep in mind - the place is on a floodplain.

 

the willow tree you killed, @Argonne69 on seventeen is likely not to be missed.

I managed a nice shot over that area without fuss. so thanks for that.

 

😉

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

28 minutes ago, @_the_crook said:

cost/benefit for the new clubhouse cannot be understated.

mini golf was removed. not really an improvement for local families.

the greens were rebuilt. said they added underground pumps.

most of the course's low spots that hold water remain.

now that nine and eighteen have pronounced low run-ups, that may be a negative.

walking off number seven tee, which has always been a wet area, and still is.

doesn't seem too many french drains were added.

paved paths were not improved.

many trees were removed so turf will likely benefit, as well as some area's recovery shots.

pond areas seem to have been reinforced with deeper plantings around the borders.

keep in mind - the place is on a floodplain.

 

the willow tree you killed, @Argonne69 on seventeen is likely not to be missed.

I managed a nice shot over that area without fuss. so thanks for that.

 

😉

 

 

Lol. That willow darn near killed me. Missed being hit by a minute. 

 

You forgot the "water hazard" 50 yds in front of the 12th teebox (right). That low area is a lake most days. 

 

Like Wilmette, I can't believe they didn't put in full cart paths while they were closed. How many rounds are they losing when it's too wet and could be CPO? 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Argonne69

[cpeck12]

Has anyone heard when Settler's Hill is supposed to open back up?

[DavePelz4]

18 hours ago, cpeck12 said:

Has anyone heard when Settler's Hill is supposed to open back up?

 

The original plan was the summer of 22.  Based on this weather, the summer of 22 might not happen until 2023.

[cpeck12]

2 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

The original plan was the summer of 22.  Based on this weather, the summer of 22 might not happen until 2023.

 

Oh wow ok. I thought original plan was Spring '22 but from driving by knew that wasn't happening... was hoping sometime this summer.

[Shriner]

21 hours ago, cpeck12 said:

Has anyone heard when Settler's Hill is supposed to open back up?

 

I'm not surprised they were way off on their estimated timeframe.  I can't imagine a course needing more work that that one...there was nothing salvageable.  The conditions were poor, layout was awful, infrastructure terrible, etc.  I'll be very impressed if they can make this a nice, playable course.  It is in a bit of a dead zone for courses so they could really be successful if they make this into a nice course.  Despite what it is built on; it is a great piece of property with no homes on site.   

[TheBear95]

I never realized that Settler's Hill and Hughes Creek were owned by the Kane Co. Forest Preserve.

[geochitown]

Later this summer for Settler’s Hill

[geochitown]

Played Sunset Valley on Wednesday

 

not bad for how saturated everything is in the northern suburbs

 

The big crane showed up and they started to install some of the new bridges 

 

half to be done now and the other half next year

 

disappointed to see how many divots were left un-replaced by the other golfers, most of which were the North Park college guy’s team

 

i must have replaced 50-75 divots during the round 

 

great

to have gotten out for first round 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by geochitown

[MountainKing]

This weather s*cks.  It might be May before I get my first round in....that is all.

[ldchristopher]

Bear and I played HoE today. After a 75 minute frost delay we teed off at about 8:45. Got stuck behind a father/son combo who insisted on walking to every one of each other’s shots. Cart golfers who decided to walk rather than deal with CPO…sigh. Anyway, it ended up taking 4 hours because of those two and it wasn’t exactly ideal conditions. Low 40’s and windy. The course was pretty swampy but the greens were smooth. Not very quick but everything rolled true. I was a little inconsistent off the tee today (hitting 11 fairways at HoE isn’t saying much given the size of their fairways) and my iron play wasn’t as consistent as it had been earlier but I managed a 76 with a birdie on 4. Spring Break next week means plenty of golf. The rain better stay away. 

[chisag]

... What a difference a few thousand miles can make. 🤪  I have a friend visiting from Chicago and I had to push his cart for him on the last 4 holes Friday while guiding my remote cart. Seems an instant transition from Chicago to 97* and bright sun was too much for him. And after living through two of the wettest May's in Chicago history I never thought I would say this but ... I would LOVE some rain. I moved into my house last October and it has not rained once since then and no rain in site. 

[Springsteennut]

Tuesday I’m supposed to play Redtail. Of course rain is predicted so who knows. It won’t be the first tee time that didn’t work out this spring.

[MountainKing]

First round today at Links of Carillon.  The good,  nice being outside with friends. 

 

The bad, everything else.   The course should not have been open,  let alone free for all with carts.  In my 30+ years of playing,  I've never been on a course this wet.  Between that and the wind,  it was near impossible conditions.  Drives were plugging, you had to add 30-40 yards extra. 

 

It didn't help my game was a mess,  outside my driver.  10 of 14 fairways with only one 3 putt.  Based on that my card should have read low 70s, nope, 89.  My highest score in decades.

 

 

[DavePelz4]

Our group played the second competitive round at our private club, Orchard Valley.  Seriously, we started at 10AM and there weren't any groups in front of us and it didn't seem there were many behind, either.  OV is in pretty rough shape right now, and with the rain of the previous week I guess it's understandable.  Fairways were littered with debris and some of the greens needed to have the leaf blower used to clean up the tree buds, etc. Bunkers were in rough shape and for some reason, there are no rakes on the course at all.

 

Saw something that none of us had ever seen happen previously while playing.  On 15, the drivable par 4 over the water, 2 young deer came across the 14th hole, saw us in the fairway, made a beeline toward the pond and hopped through the low water.  They were headed to cross the road.  However, a motorcycle was screaming down the road, and it appeared that a meeting was about to take place with no survivors.  As the front deer approached the road, the motorcycle sped up, rev'ed the engine, and the lead deer dove back down into the pond. After the motorcycle passed, both deer made it to the other side safely. 

 

This week we play our next comp round at HoE, geez, can we maybe have 50 and sunshine for a change?

[chrisf60526]

Rough start to the season so far around here.  It's either too cold, too wet or too windy.  

[mci711]

I have zero data to back this up, but it feels like the months have shifted a bit. I feel like winter/cold is about a month longer than it used to be and fall is a little warmer longer (into November) than it use to be. Like everything got pushed a month back. I am no longer in the Chicago area (was back this weekend) but the last few years April was always pretty miserable. 

[MountainKing]

2 hours ago, chrisf60526 said:

Rough start to the season so far around here.  It's either too cold, too wet or too windy.  

 

Yesterday was the wet/windy combo.  It was nice getting out, but honestly the fun factor went down each hole.  We were trying to figure out how many strokes the conditions added yesterday.  It was an odd experinece at Carillon where cause of the routing most of the holes were into the wind, and holes where I would normally be hitting 8 or 9 irons into I was hitting 4 irons/hybrids and even a 3 wood at one point into.    Downwind it didn't really do much help either, it was blowing so hard that the wind woudl just knock the ball out of the sky.  On top of the wind, there was no area on the course where water didn't come up if you took a step, other than greens that were sitting a bit higher, very difficult to keep fotting when swinging.  I don't remember the last time I had a ball plug, let alone have it be almost expected every hole.   Hopefully things start letting up a bit, I'm not much for adverse conditions and don't get much joy out of being out or playing in them.  I absolutley shouldn't be living in Chicago.  

[MountainKing]

4 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

Our group played the second competitive round at our private club, Orchard Valley.  Seriously, we started at 10AM and there weren't any groups in front of us and it didn't seem there were many behind, either.  OV is in pretty rough shape right now, and with the rain of the previous week I guess it's understandable.  Fairways were littered with debris and some of the greens needed to have the leaf blower used to clean up the tree buds, etc. Bunkers were in rough shape and for some reason, there are no rakes on the course at all.

 

Saw something that none of us had ever seen happen previously while playing.  On 15, the drivable par 4 over the water, 2 young deer came across the 14th hole, saw us in the fairway, made a beeline toward the pond and hopped through the low water.  They were headed to cross the road.  However, a motorcycle was screaming down the road, and it appeared that a meeting was about to take place with no survivors.  As the front deer approached the road, the motorcycle sped up, rev'ed the engine, and the lead deer dove back down into the pond. After the motorcycle passed, both deer made it to the other side safely. 

 

This week we play our next comp round at HoE, geez, can we maybe have 50 and sunshine for a change?

You always have a good story from your rounds.