Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[2Tall4Golf]

Posted this in the Wisconsin thread as well, but I know quite a few Chicago area golfers venture up to southern Wisconsin to play.

 

Heading up to southern Wisconsin to visit some friends.  I’m looking for some course recommendation along 90 between Janesville and Madison.  We’ve played Glen Erin in the past so looking for some new places to try out.

 

Thanks!

[Springsteennut]

17 hours ago, m052310 said:

Hello all. I'm moving to Buffalo Grove in a few weeks. Anywhere I need to be sure to play sooner than later (or avoid)?

Traditions at Chevy Chase in Wheeling is a nice course. It’s my brother in law’s home course. Nice layout and has alway been in good shape when I played out there with him. I like it more than the 2 Buffalo Grove courses. I’ve heard good things about Palatine Hills the last couple of years. Last time I was there it was pouring so I didn’t get a real good feel for it.

[geochitown]

good info posted by others

I like Chevy chase

 

i don’t know how they fared with the big rain event though

 

no range 

 

I grew up playing twilight golf there in the 80’s with my dad and brother.

 

sunset valley is a quality muni

[geochitown]

Mt prospect is worth playing to see if you like it. 
 

Tighter course, but challenging green complexes to

test your ball striking, short game and putting.

[geochitown]

23 hours ago, m052310 said:

Hello all. I'm moving to Buffalo Grove in a few weeks. Anywhere I need to be sure to play sooner than later (or avoid)?

where are you moving from?

[m052310]

42 minutes ago, geochitown said:

where are you moving from?

Omaha-ish, Nebraska. But I've lived all over (former Navy).

[ldchristopher]

40 minutes ago, m052310 said:

Omaha-ish, Nebraska. But I've lived all over (former Navy).

Well, the course topography is gonna be what you’re familiar with. We don’t have hills. Every course in the area is a pretty easy walk. 

[Hammy2424]

On 7/25/2022 at 10:57 PM, TheBear95 said:

 

We got over a month's worth of rain here in Grayslake in the span of 6 hours Friday night/Saturday morning. So, it's going to be wet.

 

Looks pretty dry in the extended forecast, so I would likely hold off on Stonewall until next week if you are able to.

 

Thank you all for the replies. I am actually right near Gurnee/Grayslake and it sounds like they got a bit less rain then the 5.5" we got at the house.

 

We went off at 9:20.  Course was soft in a few places, but not "wet".  Overall we had a good day and good conditions.  I really enjoy playing out there.

 

I will say there are a few places on some greens where the high spots were that were burned out, and a few tee boxes with the same issue.  The tee boxes were not as big a deal as they just moved to one of the others on those holes.  The areas on the greens appear to be where they were cut pretty close and the hot dry weather did a number on them.

 

The grounds guys were working to get the issues cleared up.  Again, thank you all for your input.

[TheBear95]

8 minutes ago, Hammy2424 said:

 

Thank you all for the replies. I am actually right near Gurnee/Grayslake and it sounds like they got a bit less rain then the 5.5" we got at the house.

 

We went off at 9:20.  Course was soft in a few places, but not "wet".  Overall we had a good day and good conditions.  I really enjoy playing out there.

 

I will say there are a few places on some greens where the high spots were that were burned out, and a few tee boxes with the same issue.  The tee boxes were not as big a deal as they just moved to one of the others on those holes.  The areas on the greens appear to be where they were cut pretty close and the hot dry weather did a number on them.

 

The grounds guys were working to get the issues cleared up.  Again, thank you all for your input.

Yeah, things dried up pretty quickly. Good to hear your round wasn't greatly impacted.

[TheBear95]

I'm not one to brag about where I am playing, mostly because the courses I play are hardily noteworthy. However, that all changes tomorrow!

 

Teeing it up for the first time ever at the legendary Tanna Farms!!!

[MountainKing]

12 minutes ago, TheBear95 said:

I'm not one to brag about where I am playing, mostly because the courses I play are hardily noteworthy. However, that all changes tomorrow!

 

Teeing it up for the first time ever at the legendary Tanna Farms!!!

 

I'm going to work tomorrow, which is an upgrade. 

[TheBear95]

24 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

I'm going to work tomorrow, which is an upgrade. 

 

I feel left out here when I read the jokes about Tanna Farms and can't contribute because I never had the delight of playing it. 

[chisag]

2 minutes ago, TheBear95 said:

 

I feel left out here when I read the jokes about Tanna Farms and can't contribute because I never had the delight of playing it. 

 

 

... Like a nice box of wine, Tanna Farms is an acquired taste. 

[geochitown]

Shepherd’s was in great shape today

 

a little soggy in the fairways but that wasn’t an issue

 

 

 

 

[ldchristopher]

Tomorrow we play not one but two dumb Geneva housing development courses. Our maiden voyage to Tanna Farms followed by our second ever trip to MILF Creek. Friday we head to scenic Central IL for Lick Creek and Weaver Ridge. One of those golf days will have better courses than the other.  

[geochitown]

Milk creek was soaked on Monday, but is likely better now

 

a friend played it 

 

never played it or Tanna farms 

[Shriner]

12 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

I'm not one to brag about where I am playing, mostly because the courses I play are hardily noteworthy. However, that all changes tomorrow!

 

Teeing it up for the first time ever at the legendary Tanna Farms!!!

 

You're going to be thoroughly disappointed if you are expecting a joke of a course 😉  It actually is not as bad as the reputation on here; PLENTY or worse courses in the suburbs.  

[mci711]

Off the top of my head, I would play Tanna over Cog 1 and 3, Big Run, Cinder Ridge, Village Links GE, Mill Creek...It isn't THAT bad. It is just goofy. 

[DavePelz4]

15 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

I'm not one to brag about where I am playing, mostly because the courses I play are hardily noteworthy. However, that all changes tomorrow!

 

Teeing it up for the first time ever at the legendary Tanna Farms!!!

 

Always bragging Bear.  Hope your warm up goes well, and there isn't another person on the practice green so you can use it.

[DavePelz4]

12 hours ago, ldchristopher said:

Tomorrow we play not one but two dumb Geneva housing development courses. Our maiden voyage to Tanna Farms followed by our second ever trip to MILF Creek. Friday we head to scenic Central IL for Lick Creek and Weaver Ridge. One of those golf days will have better courses than the other.  

 

Whoa...the Geneva double??? Now this is really something to brag about. 

 

I'm playing Turtle Bay on the north shore of Oahu, but that pales in comparison to the delights that you'll experience LD, and Bear. So jealous.  Not in the least.

[MountainKing]

28 minutes ago, mci711 said:

Off the top of my head, I would play Tanna over Cog 1 and 3, Big Run, Cinder Ridge, Village Links GE, Mill Creek...It isn't THAT bad. It is just goofy. 

 

Mill Creek and Tanna are probably equals IMO. I haven't been on Mill in ages so I'm a bit fuzzy on that one.  Tanna is just dumb, the front 9 is basically a pitch and putt at 2800 yards and the back 9 is is miles long at 3600 which creatse a pace issue since people don't look at both 9's and just end up on the back tees.   They do stupid things to protect holes, like split the fairway so if you use a driver you end up in rough, it's even dumber whent hey do this on a 600 yard par 5 that isn't a two shot hole anyway.  On multiple par 4's they try to squeeze out the landing area's to make the hole play longer.  Then there's that par 4 on the back 9 that looks like an after though ...oh crap how do we make a 320 yard hole work in this space so they can't drive it.  Nevermind the fact that it starts out with an island green, which just tells you how weird the course is going to be.   It's all target golf, but it's not even good or well thought out target golf.  It somehow makes Arboretum Club look like one of the best courses in the state. 

[DavePelz4]

Tanna is truly the place where the 19th hole is the best designed.  Makes you feel like you're in Cheeseland. 

[DavePelz4]

4 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

Mill Creek and Tanna are probably equals IMO. I haven't been on Mill in ages so I'm a bit fuzzy on that one.  Tanna is just dumb, the front 9 is basically a pitch and putt at 2800 yards and the back 9 is is miles long at 3600 which creatse a pace issue since people don't look at both 9's and just end up on the back tees.   They do stupid things to protect holes, like split the fairway so if you use a driver you end up in rough, it's even dumber whent hey do this on a 600 yard par 5 that isn't a two shot hole anyway.  On multiple par 4's they try to squeeze out the landing area's to make the hole play longer.  Then there's that par 4 on the back 9 that looks like an after though ...oh crap how do we make a 320 yard hole work in this space so they can't drive it.  Nevermind the fact that it starts out with an island green, which just tells you how weird the course is going to be.   It's all target golf, but it's not even good or well thought out target golf.  It somehow makes Arboretum Club look like one of the best courses in the state. 

 

Have never understood why they choose to stop the fairway.  That hole always plays into the wind as well, 600+ yards, not the most receptive green...just don't get it.

[MountainKing]

1 minute ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Have never understood why they choose to stop the fairway.  That hole always plays into the wind as well, 600+ yards, not the most receptive green...just don't get it.

 

I don't understand it on any hole.  It's dumb to use that as a method to make a hole long when there's no space to make it long. 

[B-Man]

6 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

Tanna is truly the place where the 19th hole is the best designed.  Makes you feel like you're in Cheeseland. 

I read this as the 19th being the best hole on the course.

[ldchristopher]

Okay, Tanna and MILF Creek are in the books. I was ready to absolutely roast Tanna based on what I’ve read on here and after actually playing it it’s…not…awful. Now, would I ever in a million years play that course with like a 9:00 or 10:00 AM tee time? God no. The island green pair 3, short par 5 where everyone tries to get there in two, and then tough par 3 is a horrendous design that’s made to create backups early that just never let up. Also, there’s plenty of dumb stuff that everyone already knows about but I might as well address. For hole 5, we look right into a guy’s garage. For hole 6, the aim point is a home owner’s outdoor fire pit chimney. Four par 3’s on the front is silly, six par 3’s total is worse, and the second two par 3’s on the front are both total throwaway holes, especially 9. 11 is an objectively stupid hole. Very Bittersweet-esque. Last, I can see how big hitters would hate 12. I drive it about 270 so I didn’t run the risk of going through the fairway, but the design is silly. However, it’s not as pitch-and-putt as I expected given the yardages. Yes, the front is under 3000 yards. It also has four par 3’s and is a par 34. Yes, the back is way, way longer. It’s also a par 37. The first hole is a bad opener but a good hole, I liked 3 (but my wedge game is good so missing the green didn’t mean bogey), the gimmicky holes are mostly about course management, there was fresh sand in the bunkers, and, yeah, my rosier-than-expected review did come after a good day of ball striking. Most golfers would take advantage of the short front to make their birdies but not me. I had no birds on 1-9 and then made three on the back (14, 17 and 18). 72. Across the street to MILF Creek. 
 

For the first 4 or so holes, the MILF was wet. This was expected but it still led to some huge beaver pelts. We hadn’t hit up the MILF in 9 years and remembered very little about her. However, it all came back pretty quickly. Just a dumb, dumb layout. The greens were all very slow but had some comical undulation. We had lots of downhill slow/fast putts made most famous at such fine establishments as The Champ, and pace of play, which was fine on the front, came to a screeching halt on 10. All it takes is one group going in and no ranger at a budget-conscious course who would otherwise keep people moving along and everything just kinda stops. Ball striking was again pretty good and I had two more birdies on the back on 10 and 13 but the MILF did very little for me. Kind of a blah 74. 
 

Weird nugget at MILF Creek. There was a boyfriend/girlfriend twosome in front of us. Both in their early 20’s. The girl had a funky swing but was decent. She played from the same tees as what I presume was her bf and was always past him and hit a lot more greens. On the back as the round started to slow, the guy suddenly started peacocking us. Rolled up the sleeves on his shirt to show off his arms and kept looking back at us. Buddy, I’m a married 40 year old dad. You can unroll your sleeves and calm down. I hit a big drive and excellent approach on 12 (missed the birdie putt). I was worried he was gonna go all Hulk Hogan on his tee shirt on the next tee box. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by ldchristopher

[DavePelz4]

19 hours ago, B-Man said:

I read this as the 19th being the best hole on the course.

 

You read it correctly Sir.

[ldchristopher]

Lick Creek and Weaver Ridge today. We experienced an ominous sign that Lick Creek would be very tough and not at all what we generally face. While turning into the course, a wild turkey jumped out right in front of my car and I hit it square. It went flying over the windshield and there were dozens of feathers stuck in the grill of my car. Anyway, the course is not like anything in the Chicago area as the Illinois River Valley creates some big elevation changes. It was very firm so balls were bounding all over. However, the rough was super thick and wet because we were out at 7:00 AM and it hadn't been cut in a while. Therefore, anything not in the fairway was extra difficult and keeping it in a tight lie was easier said than done. Bear had a couple of drives hit the middle of the fairway yet end up bounding into a ravine. Holes 4-7 were very, very snug and had basically no room for error. Thankfully, from hole 8 on, it opened up and played more like a normal course, albeit one with a ton of doglegs. I had forgotten Lick Creek was a Larry Packard design. Man, he loves his dogleg par 4's and double dogleg par 5's. Ball striking was excellent but I couldn't buy a birdie putt. 33 putts is not ideal but given the fact that I'd never played there before, keeping the bogies to a minimum (4 total) and having no doubles was fine by me. 76. 

 

Weaver Ridge is a phenomenal piece of property and the new owners have already begun sinking money into it to restore the course to what it used to be. It's in the midst of a course-wide bunker renovation and every trap on the back nine was not yet ready for play. The entire 14th hole was closed because of the work being done, so only playing 17 holes kind of bugged me. However, with a men's league on the course when we finished, we couldn't go replay another par 4. While money is being sunk in, there is work to be done as the previous owner let the course, which is quite a hog to maintain, get away. The front is good but not great but the back is an outstanding layout. It is not, however, walkable, especially when being played as holes 55-72 as part of a "four courses in 33 hours" marathon. Bear and I were both perfectly fine with taking a cart. Pushing a Click Gear up all those switchbacks to get to the elevated tees looked like it would be a truly horrendous experience. Given the fact that we were in a cart I decided to go ahead and play from the tips. It's only an even 7000 yards and was much more wide open than Lick Creek. My ball striking was probably the best of the season, as I hit 15/17 greens, had two birdies (7 and 11) and had only one bogey (13). Given how well I was playing I had to assume I would have made par on 14. However, it does kind of annoy me that I have to make that assumption and can't just play the hole. Anyway, I shot a 71 to finish the trip on a solid note. 

[Phreddy]

Very quiet on this page today.  Any correlation with a $1.2 billion ticket being pulled. in Illinois?

[MountainKing]

Kept it localish today with the Preserve.  What a great afternoon of weather, low winds, great temps. Course wasn't in the best shape today, had a lot of rough spots around the greens and bunkers needed sand for sure.  It looks like the rains from last week may have done dome damage to the fringe area from around the greens.  Tee, fairways and greens were all pretty solid tho, so as long as you kept the ball where it needed to be kept, you were fine.  Hopefully the weather will help recover some of those rough spots, it's such an incredibly scenic course, coming up 16-18 with a nice sunset was really something special.  No complaints on pace, 4:15 on a packed Saturday afternoon is a win.

 

I was really rolling today through 8 holes, being even par.  Hole 9 once again got me, as it usually does when I Try to get a bit agressive.  Instead of just playing my usual 4iron/4iron I tried to sneak a three wood in there and dumped it in the water.  I managed to turn that into a double.  Proceeded to also double 12 and 13 and capped it off with a bogey bogey finish for an 80.  Hared to really do anything when you put 3 doubles on the card.  I wasn't hitting the ball bad, just some untimely shots and dumb errors.  My putter continues to be cold with another 34 putts.  Whatever, hard to be mad about anything on a great day with friends today.