ldchristopher

Yes, beyond the wall is the lake. This Summer it’s pretty warm though. Happy Gilmore says play it as it lies. Seriously, the starter was obviously wrong. But the story told gives off uncomfortably strong “I drive a Dodge Stratus” vibes.

The amount of horrid golf the starter at the Wave sees makes my head hurt. But this is why 9 hole park district courses exist. I dunno. I’ll bet at least 20 other people all launched balls into the lake that day. By 6:30 you may have just caught him at the end of his rope.

Pine Meadow and White Deer Run today. Pine Meadow was great. The greens had been freshly rolled and I was out with the maintenance crew as the rest of the course was being cut. The greens actually had some good pace to them today and I always love the layout. It was ridiculously muggy for the first 12 or 13 holes and I was drenched in sweat despite it only being in the mid 70s. Then a little breeze came in and it was outstanding. I played pretty well. 74 with 2 birdies on 4 and 10. I also made a long putt to save bogey on 6 and another to save par on 18. I figured my best chance to get in another round was to stay close by so I booked White Deer Run. Not a fan. First, no walking rate. It’s not a hard walk by any means. Long, sure, but not hard. The fairways were overwatered, the greens were all pock marked and on the slow side, and none of the bunkers had rakes. Disappointing for $90. The course itself feels like Foxford if Foxford was pancake flat. I was hoping that it would feel more like White Hawk give they’re both housing development modern monstrosities designed by the same guy, but that’s not really the vibe I got. It also absolutely poured for the last 7 holes, though the rain didn’t really impact me that much. Another 74 with a chip in birdie on 11 and another birdie in the rain on 17.

If an updated MP64 came out with a smaller head on the short irons they’d have my money in a heartbeat. No copper underlay, no tungsten. Just a traditional one piece forging. If they wanna mess with the lofts and do the same as the P7CB (23° 4 iron; 41° 9, 46° PW) that’s fine. But don’t go any stronger in the stock lofts. The MP-18 CB were also good. I’m not wild about the look of the 243 or 223. They look like Pings. But the S1 and S3 look good. The S3 has some forgiveness. No more demanding than the old 64.

Gotta get on the groups who are…….early? Fluffing absurd. Are there good area courses with equally decent employees? Landing, HOE, Arrowhead, Blackstone, Foxford. Just…oof. People said Cantigny has good staff at least.

I’ve still been playing the same Mizuno ST190G since it came out. For years, I kept trying to kick it out but nothing beat it. This year, it’s been a much more mixed bag off the tee. I think it’s time for something new. Or newer.

When the guys holding everything up are buddies with the ranger, this is what you get. It’s why I’ve always thought a great prison work release program could be golf course ranger.

Brighton Dale Links Blue today with Bear. We had a 6:37 tee time but they moved us to 6:45. Supposedly BDale only wants foursomes on weekends, yet they let a twosome go off two groups ahead of us. So they’ll let twosomes go if they play in a cart. Because carts play faster. As always, death to all carts. The upside to getting bumped back was we got some big unintentional comedy from the group in front of us. Generally, it’s an idiom regarding someone’s intellect when the phrase, “I’ll bet you think strippers like you” is uttered. One guy, however, was boldly proclaiming that the “the stripper last night was super into me.” Sure, bud. Another guy was battling the rare two way shank. But carts play faster. The course was pretty saturated and the bunkers were basically mud. The fact that I was 2/3 on sand saves was a minor miracle. The greens were pretty good though. Not super fast but smooth. The only standing water was in a couple of bunkers. I didn’t play great on the front but managed a 39 with three bogies. On the back I finally birdied 18 to shoot 75.

After a bunch of rounds at or under par, the tips at White Hawk brought me back down to Earth. I’m pretty decent, especially this time of year, but I’m not 76.3/149 good. The course is in solid shape and the greens are running very quick. They could use some rain as a few holes have some dollar spot but it looks like they did a good job of combating it. I played alright with 9 fairways, 12 greens and no doubles but considering I hit the first six greens yet had no birdies on the front, I left some strokes out there. I bogied 7 and 8 Black and 2, 4, 7, and 9 Silver with a birdie on 5 for a 77. That easily could have been an 80 or 81 but I had a lot of solid par saves.

Or not

Watch he holes out his approach.

The raw face of the Taylormade MG line is…fine. Not great, not Earth shatteringly cool or anything, but it gets raw pretty quickly.

Bear is visiting his parents in the Western suburbs so we agreed we’d play off 55, 355, or 394. I got a text from him midweek that said, “I’m looking at our options for Saturday. God, it’s depressing.” That’s how we ended up at Deer Creek. 5:45 AM tee time though, so they at least get the party started early there. Anyway, I was expecting more dollar spot fungus since it’s right down the street from Balmoral and they haven’t gotten as much rain, but the course was disease-free and in pretty good shape. Using a nice combination of water and pesticides there. I endorse. It’s not a difficult course at all but hilariously it got re-rated and now allegedly plays 1.5 strokes over par. Sure. 8 fairways, 13 greens, 3 birdies (6, 12, and 17) and two bogies (10 and 16) for a 71.

Chalet Hills and Stonehenge yesterday. No fungus in the Northwest suburbs. Chalet was in phenomenal shape, sans one dead patch on the 11th green. Kudos to Chalet for still having a walking rate while Foxford across the street now sits on my permanent s*** list. I’ve finally accepted that I have to hit 5 wood or 4 iron off the tee on 5. First par on that hole in a long time for me. I shot even, though even there is a 73. Two birdies on 3 and 17. Nothing really changes at Stonehenge, though it needed the rain it’s been getting. I played the new combo tee. That’s the only course I know where the combo is the blue tees on the front and the tips on the back. After playing the first 5 holes in about 30 minutes, I slammed on the brakes. Everyone who didn’t play because of the heat was out yesterday. Oh well. Shot even again, though I had so many great looks to finish under. Lipped out a 6 footer on 16, one rotation short on 17, burned edge on 18. It wasn’t to be.

Balmoral Woods today. They’ve got the dollar spot fungus bad. It’s all over every tee box and most fairways. They’re trying to fight back. They did lots of tree removal, especially along 9 and 13, and they had the sprinklers going during the round. The course kind of looks like Whittaker Woods last year, though it’s not built on sand so it’s not quite so egregious-looking. I played pretty well but left myself some nasty putts that were pin high but broke 8-10 feet. It’s kinda funny. No greens look sillier than those at Angel’s, but I didn’t play a single putt to break that wide on Monday. Anyway, I did make two birdies on 11 and 14 but I’m kicking myself for the strokes I left out there on all those short 5’s. 74.