Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[AUTIGER07]

Not sure on Garmin out there but if it doesn't work I'd check out the Grint app. I used it out there a few weeks back and it worked great. Thought the distances were pretty spot on.

[Argonne69]

Ugh. Well, that wasn't particularly pleasant. A very wet day at Buffalo Grove. So much for a passing storm in the early morning. It started raining on the 2nd hole, and it never stopped. At least the pace was good. I teed off as a single after the two players I was scheduled to play with didn't show. I played through two groups who were waiting under a tree for the rain to stop on the front nine. I assume they're still there. I had the course to myself after that. Conditions were excellent, albeit wet. Greens looked great.

Not much of a game today. Even with rain gloves I couldn't keep a decent grip on my driver, and was missing right all round. 'Only six fairways and 10 greens. At least I got to work on my chipping. Managed to get up and down four times.

Glencoe on Monday.

[B-Man]

Preserve tomorrow with @jimwgt26

[Shriner]

Should be a blast, I just played and it was in fantastic shape.

 

Played Schaumburg yesterday and it was in the worst shape I had ever seen it. Most of the grass in the rough was dead, as in light a match and the whole place is going up in flames, never seen that ever there. There were some weeds here and there in fairways and some dead spots. Heat has taken its toll on the new grass, going to need some more time for the new remodel. I did enjoy the new layout much more though.

 

Prairie Bluff on Sunday, excited to try it for the first time. Scorecard says 6800 but I am guessing winds control how it plays?

[chisag]

... I play most of my rounds at Naperbrook or Prairie Bluff, probably around 50 rounds each on both courses. Before this rain, the greens were both running faster than I have ever seen them. By Sunday they should be back to normal. As much as I like fast greens, when the wind is over 20mph, at your back and you have to clear a hump with the pin on the downside the ball just won't stop rolling so they can't keep them at that speed. I think the yardage is a little deceptive because the long holes usually play into the prevailing wind and the par 3's are tricky to club. That said there are several pretty easy holes that are driver wedge if the wind isn't too strong. Wind and pin placement play a huge role in how you attack the course. Lots of humps and tiers that are all fair and not tricked up, but again wind and pin placement can make it very tough to get close. Hitting an iron from 150 to a few feet of the hole and watching it roll 20 feet away is pretty normal with how fast they are playing right now. But that is the exception as pin placements tend to be very fair, but not knowing where to land your ball will play a pretty big role in your score, especially playing there the first time.

[DavePelz4]

Snuck out and played 18 at Springbrook this afternoon. They continue to clean the course out with the goal of improving pace of play, great job. Started on 10 and one of the other singles was a surgeon who probably had the best 9 holes of putting I've seen in 50 years of playing. 9 holes, 10 putts and it was everything from 3 feet to 30 feet. He didn't missed and the ball was on such a great pace going into the hole. He literally could have only had 9 putts but he left one about 1/32 of a turn short.

His grip was a bit unusual with a long putter. It was more or less locked to his left arm with the right hand providing the support. Not questioning the legality as he also needed to read speed and breaks but it was AMAZING to watch and even he laughed after rolling in a 35 foot for par on his last hole.

[chisag]

 

... Good to hear. I have not played Springbrook in at least 7 years. I hav played maybe 5 rounds there and every single one was over 5 hours so I just stopped playing there.

[ldchristopher]

I played Wedgewood for the first time this morning. The first 13 holes are a decent parkland layout but the new holes are just...kinda...there. They don’t really blend with the rest of the course and the fact that they still have a lot of growing in to do didn’t help. Stupid Hawk Auto. Anyway, I enjoyed the rest. I was also impressed with the amount of walkers. I honesty saw more carts at Waveland than at Wedgewood (pause for laughter that anyone would take a cart at the Wave). The gnats were awful but with dead early morning air, they were going to be out in full force. 75.

 

[Holy Moses]

The drone of cars and the drone of plan after plane after plane during non-pandemic times are the only downsides to The Preserve

[Holy Moses]

They can put the pins in places that are extremely difficult. The only greens complexes that I've played in Chicago that are tougher are at Mount Prospect.

[Holy Moses]

I battled through rain at the Highlands of Elgin yesterday. They got new carts there and they are pretty nice. Course is in as good as shape as I can remember outside of the drainage issue on the second hole. Greens are pretty smoothened rolling about as fast as they will all year. When the sun in going down with the right sky, there are some incredible views for Elgin, IL if you are on the 12th hole looking back towards the clubhouse.

[Argonne69]

"Incredible views of Elgin, IL"? Lol. Did a Google search for that phrase. Zero results.

 

[Holy Moses]

Because you Googled it wrong. I said “for Elgin, IL” ?. It’s not Bandon, but in the right light and after a few drinks, she looks pretty good.

[chrisf60526]

Been playing Ravisloe lately. That place is in excellent shape.

[chisag]

 

... Pretty much my feelings when I played hot last year. I have played Wedgewood quite a lot and was excited about the new holes ... until I played them. To be fair, I love the holes but as you said it is like the edited them out of a completely different course and inserted them where they do not match up at all. Especially the greens that are usually decently quick with a lot of sloping but little to no mounding or tiering while the new holes have an abundance of both. I have not been back since playing it last year and doubt I will in the future.

[Argonne69]

It's a pity Ravisloe flipped back to not allowing singles to book online. Even their Hot Deals require a minimum of two players. Pfffttt. For the past few years they allowed singles to book with an existing twosome or threesome. No idea why the flip on the policy.

[mci711]

Is there a place to donate old but still good golf shoes? I have a few pairs I was going to throw out, but thought I'd check and see if anyone knew of a place to donate them.

[Argonne69]

Goodwill accepts shoes. I'm sure they'll find them a home.

They also take sports equipment. I currently have a number of single clubs for sale on Ebay. If they don't sell they're going straight to Goodwill.

[B-Man]

Fun day trash talking with @jimwgt26 at The Preserve yesterday. Down 9 pts in the 6pt Scotch game after 9 holes, we turned it around on the back to end 113 pts up. Sorry Jim. But you look great! ?

[ldchristopher]

I’ve called the pro shop and been able to get on as a single. But that was last year so things might have changed. And with pre-payed rounds, yeah, that’s a lame policy. I’ll never understand turning down revenue when times are available. It just seems like a bad business model.

[Argonne69]

The policy changed this season. No idea why.

[TheBear95]

Played Spring Valley this afternoon. The lake breeze hit just as I was teeing off, leading to perfect conditions. Low humidity with a nice breeze.

You could tell they have been doing a lot of nine hole rounds, as the greens on the front were a little beat up. A lot of spike marks and foot traffic. But, the back 9 greens were excellent.

Everytime I play here, I always think what could be. The bones of the course are outstanding.

[ldchristopher]

I can deal with holes that don’t fit the overall course design. Architects have always had to work with the hand their dealt and sometimes that means a few outliers. What I didn’t care for is the general laziness of the design. On a course that plays under 6800 yards, having one par 3 that plays 230 yards is a nice challenge. A second that plays exactly 230 just elicits an eye roll. Also, at least plant some shrubs to block out the giant car lot that’s about 50 yards from the 16th green. I laughed about it at first but I understand not wanting to lose Hawk Auto. Gotta get that tax revenue. However, that doesn’t mean the 16th green should look like an extension of Hawk Mazda.

[Shriner]

First time at Prairie Bluff and it did not disappoint. Everything was borderline perfect: Tee boxes, fairways were perfect, zero blemishes. Greens were nearly perfect, a few had some tiny dead spots. The layout was nice, different enough to keep it enjoyable. One par 4 on the back 9 had a huge tree in the aiming area, but that is about all I could complain about. The staff was amazing and pace was nice for a Sunday morning, 4:15 minutes. Just a REAL nice golf course for $49; can't wait to play it again.

[Argonne69]

Anybody know where I can get some "lite" water? Lol. After my rainy round on Friday, I dragged my clubs inside to dry out over the weekend. I was curious how much weight I've been lugging around since I started carrying in early June. so I grabbed my scale. Oy veh. The bag, clubs, umbrella, rain shirt, balls, and tees are 25 lbs. The 72 ounces of water (w/ container) adds another 5 lbs.

Off to Glencoe GC shortly.

[DavePelz4]

Our group trekked to Byron on Saturday to play Prairie View. It's become one of my favorite courses in the general Chicago area. The practice area is awesome, and even after Friday's deluge, the course was in great condition with only the bunkers showing any sign of rain. The greens were as fast as anything we've played this year and we finished in just under 4 hours which is a great pace. Some of us had a voucher for 18 holes w/cart for $20.00 which is a deal that is just tough to beat.

[mci711]

I've added Prairie View to my must play list before I move. Seems like everyone loves it on here. I was down to just ThunderHawk on the list, guess I'll be going up to Byron this summer though.

[AUTIGER07]

It's a fantastic course for an even better rate. It's about 50-55 minutes for me to get out there but I'd rather drive and play it for under $40 than many other courses that are closer to home. And I totally agree on the green speed. I played it 3 weeks ago and I'm pretty sure my putt from the back of #5 green is still rolling.

[VNutz]

Made the hike out to PrairieView this weekend for the first time. Some really cool holes and some fun tight driving holes that you don't often see around here, balanced in with some more wide open holes. I've been carrying for 4 years now and this was the first time I felt the heat got to me, I was spent and my legs are still feeling it today, but that may also be the result of an overly ambitious bike ride in the mid day heat yesterday. One of our guys was having a rough front so I stopped in after 9 and bought a ton of drinks for the one cart user to carry for us, and it made a world of difference. I thought the course was pretty fun with a nice balance of holes you could score on as well as some more challenging driving holes, particularly the par 5s. Greens weren't too fast, but just enough you had to respect them, I can't imagine what they were like before Friday's monsoon. Offset 4 birds with a couple snap hooks on par 5s for a 76. Best part was the pace, 3 walkers and a short knocker in a cart came in under 4 hours despite spraying it plenty. If this were a more local course I'd definitely play it more often.

[TBone0576]

Been probably 20 years since I have played there. I was on the golf team at CLC for a few years and my first season, that was our home course to practice. Nice to hear it is still hanging in there. Definitely a course you can go low on if you keep it in play and can hit the greens.