Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[TheBear95]

2 minutes ago, Jc0 said:

Any recommendations on the way to Michigan city from Chicago. I see lost marsh but wasn't sure if there was anything else that wouldn't take me to far out of the way. Drive starts a little north of ohare. 

 

Harborside. It's directly on the journey to Michigan City.

 

Lost Marsh sucks, I would avoid. 

[RGlaze978]

3 hours ago, VNutz said:

To be honest I'm not sure one exists. That area is kind of a golf desert, and the few courses that do exist are primarily run by the Forest Preserve, which will be all mats. White Pines is just south of O'Hare, but I'm pretty sure they're mats as well, as is The Preserve. The only 2 places I know for sure you can hit on are Fresh Meadows range and Oak Brook's range, but both are probably a 20 minute drive from the airport and not between it and Wrigley. There are some private courses as well, but that's a different story.

Oak Brook and fresh meadows are both trash - the grass is torched and they do a piss poor job of moving the line around to keep it from getting the s*** beat out of it. Oak Brook is basically like hitting off of little ground up pebbles. 

 

The best grass range IMHO around here that is open to the public is Flagg Creek. Grass is always in good shape, and if not they put you on matts for a few days. Range tokens nearby and water jugs on either end of the range. 

[VNutz]

11 minutes ago, RGlaze978 said:

Oak Brook and fresh meadows are both trash - the grass is torched and they do a piss poor job of moving the line around to keep it from getting the s*** beat out of it. Oak Brook is basically like hitting off of little ground up pebbles. 

 

The best grass range IMHO around here that is open to the public is Flagg Creek. Grass is always in good shape, and if not they put you on matts for a few days. Range tokens nearby and water jugs on either end of the range. 

Oh I completely agree, just in the area requested they're the only 2 I know of. The business office crowd destroys those places. Flagg Creek is a nice option as mentioned but another 15 minutes away.

 

I was under the impression Golf Center of Des Plaines was mats, if they have grass that's the easy answer.

[TheBear95]

16 minutes ago, VNutz said:

I was under the impression Golf Center of Des Plaines was mats, if they have grass that's the easy answer.

 

It's on the right side of the facility. It's a pretty small area, especially compared to the triple-deck mat hitting bays.

[VNutz]

14 minutes ago, TheBear95 said:

 

It's on the right side of the facility. It's a pretty small area, especially compared to the triple-deck mat hitting bays.

Ah, got it. All I've ever seen is the bays, makes sense.

[Shriner]

Checked another off the list,  first time at Sunset Valley in Highland Park.  I liked it!  A few very challenging tee shots but otherwise playable off the tee.  It was a brute today with a two club wind and the 460 yard par 4 had to be into the wind (of course).  Even though the course is shoehorned into the property they have, I never felt that it was overdone and never really noticed the houses...well done.  The greens had some undulation in them!  I honestly cannot think of a good comp for this course, definitely felt some Poplar Creek but not sure what else.  The greens were punched and it was like Plinko so would recommend waiting to play until the greens heal, they were the big holes.  I never really make my way over to the HP, Wilmette, Deerfield areas and it is bit different from where I am...nice to experience. 

[RGlaze978]

Going to try to play Stonewall Orchard this weekend. Would like to get away from the links-style golf I've been playing of late. 

[geochitown]

Mt Prospect is punching their greens on Monday, Oct 3

[zer0]

13 hours ago, Shriner said:

Checked another off the list,  first time at Sunset Valley in Highland Park.  I liked it!  A few very challenging tee shots but otherwise playable off the tee.  It was a brute today with a two club wind and the 460 yard par 4 had to be into the wind (of course).  Even though the course is shoehorned into the property they have, I never felt that it was overdone and never really noticed the houses...well done.  The greens had some undulation in them!  I honestly cannot think of a good comp for this course, definitely felt some Poplar Creek but not sure what else.  The greens were punched and it was like Plinko so would recommend waiting to play until the greens heal, they were the big holes.  I never really make my way over to the HP, Wilmette, Deerfield areas and it is bit different from where I am...nice to experience. 

 

 

Sunset Valley is the posterchild for how to properly renovate a flat, tree filled muni with limited space.  It's amazing what they did with what they had.   Especially when you see a similar course in the area totally butcher a 2 year renovation project (Sportsman) and only come away with a fancy clubhouse basically.

[TheBear95]

1 hour ago, zer0 said:

 

 

Sunset Valley is the posterchild for how to properly renovate a flat, tree filled muni with limited space.  It's amazing what they did with what they had.   Especially when you see a similar course in the area totally butcher a 2 year renovation project (Sportsman) and only come away with a fancy clubhouse basically.

 

Hey, Sportsman's, sorry Heritage Oaks, got a new parking lot too!

[Argonne69]

3 hours ago, zer0 said:

 

 

Sunset Valley is the posterchild for how to properly renovate a flat, tree filled muni with limited space.  It's amazing what they did with what they had.   Especially when you see a similar course in the area totally butcher a 2 year renovation project (Sportsman) and only come away with a fancy clubhouse basically.

 

Lol. Renovation? What renovation? It was a sorry excuse to build a new clubhouse. Pathetic. 

 

[Springsteennut]

I played Bartlett Hills for the first time in a couple of years. The course was in great shape. Greens were fast and the ball rolled true. The highlight of the day was our whole group hit their tee shots less than 8 ft from the pin on 18. Most of us even managed not to 3 putt that hole.

[geochitown]

8 hours ago, zer0 said:

 

 

Sunset Valley is the posterchild for how to properly renovate a flat, tree filled muni with limited space.  It's amazing what they did with what they had.   Especially when you see a similar course in the area totally butcher a 2 year renovation project (Sportsman) and only come away with a fancy clubhouse basically.

it was funny to hear interviews with Jacobson regarding Heritage Oaks course scope of work fir the renovation

 

there wasn’t much he had to say about it 

 

 

[jimwgt26]

On 9/27/2022 at 11:28 PM, m052310 said:

Any suggestions for lessons in or near Buffalo Grove? My driver issues persist, and I'm hoping a set of trained eyes can help me build some (good) consistency. 

Louis Sauer

[jimwgt26]

On 9/28/2022 at 8:43 AM, psygolf said:

If you are willing to drive out to ohare, you might as well drive the other direction to practice at Harborside

Preserve at Oak Meadows is really close to O'Hare and has a grass range.  It's not always open, I would calls ahead.  Golf Center Des Plaines has a grass range.  It's fairly beat up right now, I'm there 2/ week.  I haven't been in a while, but Harry Semrow used to have grass available.  A little out of the way, you could go to Willow Hill.  If you want the real Chicago Driving Range experience, go to Diversey Driving Range, it's mats, but really close to Wrigley.  

[jimwgt26]

22 hours ago, Shriner said:

Checked another off the list,  first time at Sunset Valley in Highland Park.  I liked it!  A few very challenging tee shots but otherwise playable off the tee.  It was a brute today with a two club wind and the 460 yard par 4 had to be into the wind (of course).  Even though the course is shoehorned into the property they have, I never felt that it was overdone and never really noticed the houses...well done.  The greens had some undulation in them!  I honestly cannot think of a good comp for this course, definitely felt some Poplar Creek but not sure what else.  The greens were punched and it was like Plinko so would recommend waiting to play until the greens heal, they were the big holes.  I never really make my way over to the HP, Wilmette, Deerfield areas and it is bit different from where I am...nice to experience. 

SV is great,  I've played there a lot before and after the renovation. They did a great job. The new short game area is also really nice.  People, if you're at the short game area, only use 3 balls.  It's fairly small, and not cool to dump 20-30 balls and spray them all over the place.  The driving range is off Rt 41.

Edited September 29, 2022 by jimwgt26
grammar

[Symphonize]

First round in nearly a month after our wedding and honeymoon. Beautiful low 60’s day. Some of the best weather for golf IMO. Picked up right where I left off, striking it well off the tee. Few bad bounces and some mediocre iron play left me with a 97 when a 90 was definitely possible. 
hoping for a good October so I can catch up on rounds I’ve missed this year due to being busy. 

[DavePelz4]

On Thursday VNutz and I played the Blue/Red combo at White Eagle.  The weather turned from chilly into a beautiful day.  It's also a healthy walk with the distance from the blue 9th green to the first tee on the red easily being a 10 minute walk.  White Eagle has a great practice area.  The course was generally in great conditions and the bunkers were resplendent with the fine grained sand, which made bunker shots very playable.

 

This round was courtesy of the NIU Golf team and took forever to schedule.  When checking in, I was told 3x that we (as a 2some) needed to play in 4 hours or less and not to hold the group up.  Didn't see that as an issue knowing we both play rather quickly and don't mess around.  Apparently, they didn't share that same need with the group in front of us.  First, they were a 4some, didn't let us play through even though no one was in front of them so we naturally waited on every shot.  On the 11th fairway, 2 ladies asked if they could join us as they were waiting on us, as we waited on the group in front of us.  We welcomed the opportunity to match pace, but we still waited on every, single, shot.  The ladies, who both had some game, got tired of the BS and called the pro shop on the group in front of us.  They begrudgingly agreed to let us play through, but it was on a par 3, 2 holes ahead.

 

As we played through, the 4some stood there watching us play each shot and just staring.  Seriously guys, you took about 2 and a half hours on the front, what's the big deal?  After we played through, we finished 2 holes ahead of them and that was with only 5 holes remaining.  Just freaking slow.

 

White Eagle is very playable and the defense of the course is the greens, which are lightening fast with a ton of slopes and undulation.  After not getting the ball to the hole at Blackstone, I couldn't hit a putt soft enough to die at the hole.  V hit a well flighted wedge into a hole that landed about 12 feet from the pin and with spin and slope, he had a 40 foot putt up the hill.

 

Although I live in WE, I don't think I'd ever join that club as it's a very pretentious environment. 

Edited September 30, 2022 by DavePelz4

[dhartmann34]

On the road for my maiden voyage to Sand Valley. Playing each 18 hole course twice and the par 3 course twice as well. Really looking forward to it.

[zer0]

17 minutes ago, dhartmann34 said:

On the road for my maiden voyage to Sand Valley. Playing each 18 hole course twice and the par 3 course twice as well. Really looking forward to it.

 

 

If you can, give yourself enough time to get around the par 3 course more than once.   It's worth doing just so you can play it different ways.  the course is designed so you can play the whole thing with your putter if you want.   When I was there I saw one spirited group of about 12 guys camped out on the last hole having a sudden death playoff hole using just their drivers.  Watched that for about 10 minutes, it was cool and looked like a lot of fun.

[dhartmann34]

4 minutes ago, zer0 said:

The guys I'm going with have all been there before. I know we're playing the par 3 on Saturday and Sunday. I don't think we're playing it today. But I'm definitely looking forward to getting out there and checking it out. A whole course that I can play with my putter sounds like a dream to me... 

 

If you can, give yourself enough time to get around the par 3 course more than once.   It's worth doing just so you can play it different ways.  the course is designed so you can play the whole thing with your putter if you want.   When I was there I saw one spirited group of about 12 guys camped out on the last hole having a sudden death playoff hole using just their drivers.  Watched that for about 10 minutes, it was cool and looked like a lot of fun.

The guys I'm going with have all been there before. I know we're playing the par 3 on Saturday and Sunday. I don't think we're playing it today. But I'm definitely looking forward to getting out there and checking it out. A whole course that I can play with my putter sounds like a dream to me... 

Edited September 30, 2022 by dhartmann34

[mci711]

1 hour ago, dhartmann34 said:

On the road for my maiden voyage to Sand Valley. Playing each 18 hole course twice and the par 3 course twice as well. Really looking forward to it.

 

The most fun 36 you can play in the US in my opinion. Enjoy. 

[VNutz]

As DP4 mentioned, I had the pleasure of being his guest at White Eagle yesterday. Beautiful fall day for a walk, just enough sunshine to stay warm, just cool enough to carry and not break a sweat. Staff was all very friendly and helpful, range and short game area were very nice.

 

I should have seen it as an omen when I leaned over to tee up on 1 and heard a crunch but felt no knee or back pain, rather saw my 4w head fall over. Shaft snapped at the hosel, 18 holes to go with driver/21* hybrid the only options off the tee. At least it happened there and not on a swing where it could have hurt somebody or flown into who knows where. As DP4 mentioned, it was a slow day. We walked up to 1 tee to see 4 older gentlemen around their carts, not yet teed off. Common sense would dictate then and there to perhaps let a 2some play through, nope. As we played the first we patiently watched from the fairway as every one of them lined up and missed every putt. I hoped that they would wait on 2 tee for us to play through, but again off they went. Every hole we tried to be close enough to request it, only for them to drive away just in time. Even between 9s, with a 500+ yard walk in between, we were still waiting on them. When we did finally play through they let us hit up on a par 3, but hardly cleared the green or gave us space. One was visibly angry and stared me down, with me back at him, as I marched to take the next tee box before they could drive off again. We played through on 13 or 14 and they weren't yet on 18 when we finished. Unreal. I really think if we weren't joined by 2 members that they wouldn't have thought enough of us 2 guests to acknowledge us and let us go through. It was oddly well known that we were guests out there, even the 2 delightful women that joined up with us immediately mentioned that we were the 2 guests that won the charity outing round, a bit awkward to know how far word had spread about the outsiders.

 

White Eagle is interesting, obviously a subdivision course, but houses are far enough away to generally not be in play. What I was surprised by was that water came into play on almost every hole, 15 of 18 if I remember correctly, and twice on some holes. I felt like I was playing a lot of target golf with driver taken out of my hands, and no fairway wood to fill the gap. As a first timer there were a few times where I pulled hybrid to play for a number, only to find water ahead that driver would have clearly found. On 16 I blasted my best drive of the day, only to find that I likely ran out of fairway into a lake. On a daily basis I think that course off the tee would drive me nuts. Greens were beautiful and oh so fast. Anything above the hole was trouble, putts crept past the hole but would go on for 4-6 feet. One thing I found weird was around several greens was really thick crab grass. I didn't think anything of it until the 2 ladies mentioned it with disgust, and I recalled seeing more previously. I'd think that's the type of thing most supers would eliminate, but it was oddly quite prevalent.

[dhartmann34]

Sand Valley did not disappoint yesterday! This place feels a little magical. Took me a little bit to get used to chipping and putting on the greens, but after 4- 3 putts on the front.... I birdied 18 and finished with an 82. Definitely left some strokes on the course, but should be better today on Mammoth. 

[MountainKing]

On 9/30/2022 at 8:40 AM, DavePelz4 said:

On Thursday VNutz and I played the Blue/Red combo at White Eagle.  The weather turned from chilly into a beautiful day.  It's also a healthy walk with the distance from the blue 9th green to the first tee on the red easily being a 10 minute walk.  White Eagle has a great practice area.  The course was generally in great conditions and the bunkers were resplendent with the fine grained sand, which made bunker shots very playable.

 

This round was courtesy of the NIU Golf team and took forever to schedule.  When checking in, I was told 3x that we (as a 2some) needed to play in 4 hours or less and not to hold the group up.  Didn't see that as an issue knowing we both play rather quickly and don't mess around.  Apparently, they didn't share that same need with the group in front of us.  First, they were a 4some, didn't let us play through even though no one was in front of them so we naturally waited on every shot.  On the 11th fairway, 2 ladies asked if they could join us as they were waiting on us, as we waited on the group in front of us.  We welcomed the opportunity to match pace, but we still waited on every, single, shot.  The ladies, who both had some game, got tired of the BS and called the pro shop on the group in front of us.  They begrudgingly agreed to let us play through, but it was on a par 3, 2 holes ahead.

 

As we played through, the 4some stood there watching us play each shot and just staring.  Seriously guys, you took about 2 and a half hours on the front, what's the big deal?  After we played through, we finished 2 holes ahead of them and that was with only 5 holes remaining.  Just freaking slow.

 

White Eagle is very playable and the defense of the course is the greens, which are lightening fast with a ton of slopes and undulation.  After not getting the ball to the hole at Blackstone, I couldn't hit a putt soft enough to die at the hole.  V hit a well flighted wedge into a hole that landed about 12 feet from the pin and with spin and slope, he had a 40 foot putt up the hill.

 

Although I live in WE, I don't think I'd ever join that club as it's a very pretentious environment. 

 

White Eagle is one of the worst clubs in existence.  Not only is the membership, as you say, pretentious, but the course is just not a fun or enjoyable course to play.  My old swing coach is an assistant there and has told me the paycheck is the only thing that keeps him there, they take a lot of abuse.

[@_the_crook]

the greens at SV are still healing from their recent assault treatment.

yesterday was better than previous weeks but not perfect just yet.

oddly, some of the teeboxes appeared to have been recently undergone some type of torture test.

number six had so many divot holes they had to take one teeing area out of service - looked like an example of how not to treat a golf course.

 

they had an 40 person outing at 9am, plus an IJGA event in the afternoon so some of the PTT members were 're-scheduled'.

hoping those groups treated the course well.

 

morning highlight was approaching number four tees.

the back nine sprinklers were on full.

reminded me of the Dancing Waters on the Vegas strip.

 

 

[MountainKing]

Played at Village Link of GE this morning, haven't played there in ages, more than likely since their little re-design since a lot of the course didn't look super familiar.  Used to play al lot of competative golf there "back in my day" when I played competative.  They could really dump some money into the place and make it something that could be a top course in the state, then again they get their ridiculously high greens fee's and what looks like a generally packed tee sheet, so what's the motivation.  Anyway, overall course was in good shape, greens rolled nice, traps had sand.  They had some sort of tournament out there yesterday and the pins were in some diabolicle locations between being tucked, on some pretty severe slopes or sitting right on the edge of a slop.   Pace of play, well unfortunatley my group was down to two guys today so we ended up getting paired up with two guys and we were the group holding things up.  On hole one they walked back to the blues with us and decided to play there with us.  They were walking and carrying, so I wsa expecting something decent, nope.  They were nice guys, but I'm not out there to make friends, and I was annoyed we were the group slowing things up.  We sort of suggested they move up after a couple of holes, but no they wanted the challenge.  My best guess is these guys were covid golfers. These guys hit nothing off the tee over 200 yards, took them on average of two shots to get up to our drives, and they were walking to boot...now walking is fine, and walkers can be faster, but not when you're taking that many shots and on the wrong tee box.  I don't think either of them had a single bogey, let alone a par.  We did play in 4:30, but we were a couple of holes behind and even the ranger came out and tried to get them to pick it up.  I'm once again reminded about why I hate going out with less than a full group.

 

Despite the pin placements, I was rolling along nicely for 12 holes.  I was +1 at that point, and if I could putt ht all I probably would have been a couple under since I had some really solid looks at birdie.  13 I took a double on after a poor second shot and a 3 putt, 15 I managed to triple and 17 I doubled again after missing the green and then 3 putting.  Some of pace stuff with the other two was starting to get to me and I was losing focus.   Hard to be happy with a 80, but hey the weather was nice and we're starting to wind down.

 

 

[ldchristopher]

Played a disastrous round at Foxford today. Finished the front in 1:15. The back took 2:45. So, yeah, we played in 4 hours, but the back hurt my soul. The greens were awful. Running at a 10 but super bumpy and covered in marks and footprints. No rakes in the bunkers. No ball washers on the course. No ranger until 18. Because that’s when the person in charge of managing pace should finally pop up. Charging $75 to walk (thanks for the big $4 discount guys!) but the conditions were that of a $40 track. Maybe. The guy in front of us was venting that it “felt like a muni.” Umm, buddy, it’s owned by the Cary Park District. It feels like a muni because it is. The shanks also came because today couldn’t get any worse. I hadn’t played Foxford in 3 years and won’t ever again. F****** GolfVisions. 

[DavePelz4]

Here's one for the books.  Think rudeness just applies on the golf course?  Went out for dinner with one of my sons and his GF Saturday night, and then we went to the "Putt Shack" in the Oak Brook shopping area.  Neat concept of basically high tech, glorified mini golf, with some really fun holes and the RFID technology kept it entertaining.  I won't comment on how incredibly slow it was, however, you basically follow the group in front of you in a herd like mentality.  

 

On the 9th hole, there was a group of 6 people (saw 8 somes as well) that didn't like how slow it was and literally walked in front of my son (6'5" and built like a LB) to "play through." They said to him, "we have other plans so we need to go." He asked them politely to wait their turn as they passed 3 other groups and one of the girls in the group jumped in front and said "let's go outside and I'll cut you up you MF."   My son is way more patient than me and he just ordered us another beverage and we let the AHs go.

 

When they were done, the girl came back, referred to my son as some type of cat and said, "you're lucky b*tch I didn't mess you up."

 

WT literal hell is going on people?

[Shriner]

10 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

Here's one for the books.  Think rudeness just applies on the golf course?  Went out for dinner with one of my sons and his GF Saturday night, and then we went to the "Putt Shack" in the Oak Brook shopping area.  Neat concept of basically high tech, glorified mini golf, with some really fun holes and the RFID technology kept it entertaining.  I won't comment on how incredibly slow it was, however, you basically follow the group in front of you in a herd like mentality.  

 

On the 9th hole, there was a group of 6 people (saw 8 somes as well) that didn't like how slow it was and literally walked in front of my son (6'5" and built like a LB) to "play through." They said to him, "we have other plans so we need to go." He asked them politely to wait their turn as they passed 3 other groups and one of the girls in the group jumped in front and said "let's go outside and I'll cut you up you MF."   My son is way more patient than me and he just ordered us another beverage and we let the AHs go.

 

When they were done, the girl came back, referred to my son as some type of cat and said, "you're lucky b*tch I didn't mess you up."

 

WT literal hell is going on people?

That is awfully disturbing and makes me want to just stay in my house.