Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[braincramp52]

17 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

 

... Gotta love Martz! I wish I had the article where he apologized to Cutler for trying to run the Rams offense without the receivers or Line to make the deep routes work. Said Cutler was the best QB he ever worked with and he made his job much more difficult than it should have been. I know I am one of the few that loved Cutler and I played 18 with Desmond Clark who gave me the inside scoop on Jay. 

At least two of us loved Cutler! Like most Bears QB's of the past he was bound to fail. Chicago media didn't help, Cutler hated them and they hated him because he didn't suffer fools.

[TheBear95]

Played The Arboretum Club this morning. Big mistake. 

 

I get there at 6:50 a.m. and the shop jockey tells me to go off the back 9. However, I need to play quick to make the turn to beat a women's league that's teeing off around 8:20 a.m. Ok. That shouldn't be a problem. It wasn't. Made the turn around 8:05 a.m. However, that's when the problems started.

 

While I was hustling on back 9, The Arboretum Club decided to send off a bunch of non-league foursomes on front. Boy, I'm glad I was hustling to make the turn. As I approach #1, there's two foursomes on the tee. They are in carts and the course is playing cart paths only. The starter tells me that I have to wait and play behind these guys. Pretty smart, huh, because a single walking is not going to play significantly faster than foursomes in carts, especially when it is paths only. 

 

Well, the front 9 absolutely sucked. After my 20 minute wait on the first tee, I was now jammed between a bunch of foursomes and a women's league. In total, it was a 2:35 death march of a 9. Suffice to say, my last trip to The Arboretum Club.

Edited September 14, 2022 by TheBear95

[m052310]

4 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

Played The Arboretum Club . . . 

 

 

Oof. Arboretum was on my list of courses to try but I may take a pass on it for a bit now.

 

I played Hilldale today. Great pace of play, great greens, sneaky hard (for me - aiming isn't a strength of mine). I'll definitely be back, but I need to get my stuff in one sock off the tee before I try again. 

 

Edited to add: Also big shout out to the ranger. I told him I, a dummy, lost my range finder and where I last had it, and he had it back to me before I finished the next hole. I assumed it would be another installment in "if you're going to be dumb, you've gotta be tough," but fortunately he helped save me from myself. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by m052310
Big ups for the ranger.

[Shriner]

10 hours ago, m052310 said:

Oof. Arboretum was on my list of courses to try but I may take a pass on it for a bit now.

 

I played Hilldale today. Great pace of play, great greens, sneaky hard (for me - aiming isn't a strength of mine). I'll definitely be back, but I need to get my stuff in one sock off the tee before I try again. 

 

Edited to add: Also big shout out to the ranger. I told him I, a dummy, lost my range finder and where I last had it, and he had it back to me before I finished the next hole. I assumed it would be another installment in "if you're going to be dumb, you've gotta be tough," but fortunately he helped save me from myself. 

 

Don't beat yourself up about Hilldale, that has to be one of the highest rated/slope courses for 6400 yards.  I think it is a stroke over par and a 138 slope, which is somewhat unusual for a course that short.  Greens are always nice but tee shots have to be accurate or penalties start adding up real fast.

[AUTIGER07]

18 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

Played The Arboretum Club this morning. Big mistake. 

 

I get there at 6:50 a.m. and the shop jockey tells me to go off the back 9. However, I need to play quick to make the turn to beat a women's league that's teeing off around 8:20 a.m. Ok. That shouldn't be a problem. It wasn't. Made the turn around 8:05 a.m. However, that's when the problems started.

 

While I was hustling on back 9, The Arboretum Club decided to send off a bunch of non-league foursomes on front. Boy, I'm glad I was hustling to make the turn. As I approach #1, there's two foursomes on the tee. They are in carts and the course is playing cart paths only. The starter tells me that I have to wait and play behind these guys. Pretty smart, huh, because a single walking is not going to play significantly faster than foursomes in carts, especially when it is paths only. 

 

Well, the front 9 absolutely sucked. After my 20 minute wait on the first tee, I was now jammed between a bunch of foursomes and a women's league. In total, it was a 2:35 death march of a 9. Suffice to say, my last trip to The Arboretum Club.

We lived in Buffalo Grove for ~5 years and I played Arboretum 1x during the 1st year and never went back. Hated the course and had a bad experience with the staff (similar to yours but not as bad). 

 

The only good thing about Arboretum Club is that it is ~1 mile from Bonta and Real Urban BBQ.

[TheBear95]

3 minutes ago, AUTIGER07 said:

We lived in Buffalo Grove for ~5 years and I played Arboretum 1x during the 1st year and never went back. Hated the course and had a bad experience with the staff (similar to yours but not as bad). 

 

The only good thing about Arboretum Club is that it is ~1 mile from Bonta and Real Urban BBQ.

 

It was my second time there. As Argonne rightly says, my cash is as green as the next guy. Arboretum screwed me over because I was a single walking. Won't make that mistake again.

[MountainKing]

On 9/13/2022 at 5:18 PM, TheBear95 said:

Played The Arboretum Club this morning. Big mistake. 

 

I get there at 6:50 a.m. and the shop jockey tells me to go off the back 9. However, I need to play quick to make the turn to beat a women's league that's teeing off around 8:20 a.m. Ok. That shouldn't be a problem. It wasn't. Made the turn around 8:05 a.m. However, that's when the problems started.

 

While I was hustling on back 9, The Arboretum Club decided to send off a bunch of non-league foursomes on front. Boy, I'm glad I was hustling to make the turn. As I approach #1, there's two foursomes on the tee. They are in carts and the course is playing cart paths only. The starter tells me that I have to wait and play behind these guys. Pretty smart, huh, because a single walking is not going to play significantly faster than foursomes in carts, especially when it is paths only. 

 

Well, the front 9 absolutely sucked. After my 20 minute wait on the first tee, I was now jammed between a bunch of foursomes and a women's league. In total, it was a 2:35 death march of a 9. Suffice to say, my last trip to The Arboretum Club.

  I went to work today,  which was better than any round of golf at Arboretum ever could be. 

[DavePelz4]

Took 3 of the guys from our comp group to Naperville CC. Becoming more and more of a fan to the point when the retirement button is pushed, might need to think about joining.  Really a fun course, well maintained, greens relatively ball mark free, real sand in the bunkers and plenty of it. No two holes are alike and you can test your game from a variety of tee boxes/combos.  If I'm going to criticize the course, it'll be for having the rough in some places being 4-5 inches deep. I believe we lost a total of 4 balls in the rough and none were more than 10 yards off the fairway.  On 18, for example, we all blew our drives over the left bunker, I found my shot fortunately, but two others did not. Just wonky.

 

Have changed my opinion on the toughest par 3 in the Chicago area.  The 17th is a 230 yar par 3 with water/marsh left, right, and short.  Because of the growth in the marsh, you're basically hitting blind.  The green, while relative large, has a huge slope from right to left so depending on the pin position, you could hit a great shot and end of 100  feet from the cup.

 

Fortunately, the guy who used my clubs during the round at Crystal Woods stayed home and was replace by someone who had, at least a marginal idea of where the ball was going. This was the second time playing NCC and that bit of knowledge was worth more than a few shots.

 

No golf Saturday as we make the trip to the Cathedral, Huskie Stadium, to watch the beloved play Vanderbilt.  

Edited September 15, 2022 by DavePelz4

[cwb12]

Anyone been out to Macray recently? Coming in from out of town (used to live in Schaumburg) and MM usually one of my favorites. Still as good as it usually is? Other choice would be Prospect, also not a bad option so appreciate any course updates.

[Phreddy]

An Arizona friend and his wife will be in Chicago a couple weeks from now.  My wife and I are meeting them "half way" for dinner one night.  Some where north in that Northbook/Deerfield/Lake Forest corridor.  I'm in need of upscale restaurant suggestions.  Italian being my favorite.  Since he and I will talk golf while our wives talk pickle ball I thought this was a legit place to ask😇.

[DavePelz4]

2 hours ago, Phreddy said:

An Arizona friend and his wife will be in Chicago a couple weeks from now.  My wife and I are meeting them "half way" for dinner one night.  Some where north in that Northbook/Deerfield/Lake Forest corridor.  I'm in need of upscale restaurant suggestions.  Italian being my favorite.  Since he and I will talk golf while our wives talk pickle ball I thought this was a legit place to ask😇.

 

Not dining often in the north burbs, but here's a couple to take a peak at.  Viaggio Restaurant in Highland Park was really nice and also has a selection of fresh fish. Del Rio in Highwood has been around forever and for a restaurant to survive that long, it's gotta be bringing something good to the table. EJ's in Skokie is also great.  Love the décor and service, a great selection of wines as well.

 

Will look forward to your review Phreddy!

[Shriner]

Played Whisper Creek for the first time yesterday and that is not at all what I was expecting.  Unique holes, VERY spread out, houses don't come into play, challenging with the junk/fescue, etc.  I did not see any of that coming...always thought this was a retiree course...lol.  Conditions were fine, shaggy fairways and a little slow/bumpy greens but no complaints here.  The 8th hole is silly with the split fairway but the layout was otherwise pretty cool!  I would not mind going back...

[Holy Moses]

24 minutes ago, Shriner said:

Played Whisper Creek for the first time yesterday and that is not at all what I was expecting.  Unique holes, VERY spread out, houses don't come into play, challenging with the junk/fescue, etc.  I did not see any of that coming...always thought this was a retiree course...lol.  Conditions were fine, shaggy fairways and a little slow/bumpy greens but no complaints here.  The 8th hole is silly with the split fairway but the layout was otherwise pretty cool!  I would not mind going back...

Only course where you can’t hit driver on most of the par 5s

[geochitown]

5 hours ago, cwb12 said:

Anyone been out to Macray recently? Coming in from out of town (used to live in Schaumburg) and MM usually one of my favorites. Still as good as it usually is? Other choice would be Prospect, also not a bad option so appreciate any course updates.

makrays greens were lightning at the beginning of august

 

mt prospect hopefully is starting to heal up from the typical summer onslaught of rounds from the locals (unfilled divots in fairways and unrepaired hallmarks on greens 

 

makray gets lighter play

 

 

 

 

 

 

[m052310]

Played Chevy Chase today. It was decent. Pace got a tad slow at the end of the round, but the guys I was paired with wouldn't have been much faster anyway from what I could tell. It was a good course for walking. 

[Gdane]

22 hours ago, Phreddy said:

An Arizona friend and his wife will be in Chicago a couple weeks from now.  My wife and I are meeting them "half way" for dinner one night.  Some where north in that Northbook/Deerfield/Lake Forest corridor.  I'm in need of upscale restaurant suggestions.  Italian being my favorite.  Since he and I will talk golf while our wives talk pickle ball I thought this was a legit place to ask😇.

Reservations can sometimes be hard to come by, but if you can get in I'd recommend Deer Path Inn, in Lake Forest.  The place has been around forever and is a unique experience on the north shore.

[B-Man]

Scramble outing later this afternoon at Ruffled Feathers. We shot 57 and lost by one. 😉

[DavePelz4]

7 minutes ago, B-Man said:

Scramble outing later this afternoon at Ruffled Feathers. We shot 57 and lost by one. 😉

 

Have you become Miss Cleo with those psychic powers?

[RGlaze978]

Played Thunderhawk yesterday in an outing. Always in excellent shape. 

 

Walked Dubs (Gold Tees) at Cog on Thursday afternoon by myself. Pace could have been better. Almost had my first hole-in-one on #6 - was about half a foot from the hole. 

 

Playing Ravines at Cog today at 3. 

Edited September 17, 2022 by RGlaze978

[jimwgt26]

On 9/15/2022 at 10:02 AM, Phreddy said:

An Arizona friend and his wife will be in Chicago a couple weeks from now.  My wife and I are meeting them "half way" for dinner one night.  Some where north in that Northbook/Deerfield/Lake Forest corridor.  I'm in need of upscale restaurant suggestions.  Italian being my favorite.  Since he and I will talk golf while our wives talk pickle ball I thought this was a legit place to ask😇.

Hole in The Wall in Northbrook. You’re welcome. 
 

 

[B-Man]

On 9/16/2022 at 9:22 AM, B-Man said:

Scramble outing later this afternoon at Ruffled Feathers. We shot 57 and lost by one. 😉

So we shot 62 and ended up only losing by 7.

[Holy Moses]

5:40 round at Big Run. There was no one out trying to speed up the pace. Guess they don’t really care.

[ldchristopher]

Played Countryside Prairie today with Bear. The weather was too nice and the Bears are on at night so we got paired up but finished in exactly 4 hours. Course was very lush after all the rain. They haven’t been able to cut the rough so keeping it in the fairway was a must. We both shot 71. I had two birdies (3 and 18) and chipped in for eagle on 7. Bear got on a birdie run on the back. Tee times ten minutes apart as well as the fact that the course isn’t very hard from 6300 or 6750 combine to make a big difference. 

[MountainKing]

6 hours ago, Holy Moses said:

5:40 round at Big Run. There was no one out trying to speed up the pace. Guess they don’t really care.

 

You never play Big Run on weekend or holiday,  ever.  It's always 5+.

[chisag]

4 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

You never play Big Run on weekend or holiday,  ever.  It's always 5+.

 

... I would add weekdays to that! 🤪

[MountainKing]

Went back out to Prairie View in Byron.  Serious can't beat it for the price.   No real change in conditions,  greens were a touch slower than last round,  but they still moved.  10am tee time with a 3 hour and 55 minute pace.  They need to come out to this area to show people how to run a course.

 

Was hoping for a much better outcome with some course knowledge.   Made the turn at +1, hitting 8 of 9 greens.  The back once again did me in with a 41.  Probably won't be back this year,  but I'll be back next year to try again to get it under 40 on the back. 

[mci711]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... I would add weekdays to that! 🤪

Yup "you never play big run" works just fine. 

[reperna]

Hey everyone. Michigander here. Visiting a buddy in aurora in a couple weeks and we’re looking to play somewhere fun. Deer run has zero tee times available for some reason. I’ve played coghill 4, and wouldn’t mind another crack at it. My buddy mentioned Stonewall orchard. Is that a pretty comparable course? Thanks for the info!

[ldchristopher]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

... I would add weekdays to that! 🤪

Meh. I don’t mind Big Run once every couple of years as a change of pace. It really isn’t like other courses in the area, the 13th is among the better par 3’s around here, and they offer a discount for walking during non-peak season and at twilight. But I can’t imagine playing it regularly. 

[ldchristopher]

1 minute ago, reperna said:

Hey everyone. Michigander here. Visiting a buddy in aurora in a couple weeks and we’re looking to play somewhere fun. Deer run has zero tee times available for some reason. I’ve played coghill 4, and wouldn’t mind another crack at it. My buddy mentioned Stonewall orchard. Is that a pretty comparable course? Thanks for the info!

Stonewall is very good. Arthur Hills design. Plays pretty long from the tips (a shade over 7100) but it’s fairly benign from the middle tees. Greens usually stimp at around 11. It’s not designed like Dubs though. More modern. They haven’t punched their greens in literal years so if they’re a little bumpy I wouldn’t be shocked.