Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[chrisf60526]

Coyote Run yesterday. I figured that a 4pm start and the heat would weed out some of the slowness. I was partially right. There were a few walkers slowing things up waiting for the group in front to reach the green.

In regards to the course. It was in good shape. The fairways were nice and the bunkers decent. The greens were a bit beat up do to a lot of marks not fixed.. Kudos to them for the heavier than normal Chicago rough.

It's on the shorter side and i am no means a bomber. I think i lost 4 balls by blowing through the fairway. There are some holes where taking a club or two is advised. Not my favorite track TBH.

 

[shantanu1203]

Prairie Bluff is in great shape and great course to walk - Pretty open in the afternoons - love to play there!

[Argonne69]

#1, #4, and #15 are generally less than driver, although one can drive the 4th with a good shot. If one hits driver on #12, it has to be on the right half of the fairway to avoid the PA.

[AUTIGER07]

 

Took 6 weeks but can’t wait to get these out on the course. First time with new wedges in the bag since 2014-2015.

[DeeBee30]

Back in Chi after 189 holes in Michigan over 6 days. @VNutz and @ldchristopher , you were both right about Pilgrim's Run. That's one phenomenal course that has it all - interesting hole layouts, elevation changes, risk/reward options, great conditioning, good value. That's a course that'll be on my list whenever I have to/get to travel to Michigan.
I really don't want to see my clubs for a few days, but I'm looking forward to George Dunne this Sunday.

[Argonne69]

Absolutely beautiful day in Minnesota. I snuck across the Cheddar Curtain to play Troy Burne in Hudson. I played The Jewel on Sunday. I call this course The Gem. What a wonderful layout. It's primarily a prairie style layout, but there are some trees on a few holes. Reminded me a bit of Prairie Landing. There's plenty of elevation changes, and it's well known I'm a sucker for elevated tees. The fairway bunkering is excellent, but at the same time the longer par 4s are quite fair off the tee. The short par 4s require a precise touch. Par 3s were a bit of a letdown, but three of the par 5s were beasts. The greens were large, and very undulating. Not crazy, but they required your attention.

Conditions were excellent. The only bit was that the bunkers were wet and needed grooming. Greens were rolling at least 10.

Solid day ballstriking with 9 fairways and 10 greens. Found a few of the fairway bunkers when I tried to get greedy. Only one birdie on the day, along with four bogies. Highlight of the day was my approach to the par 5 5th. My drive left me with a funky side hill lie in the fairway, and I completely blocked a fairway wood into the adjacent hole. I was expecting a horrid lie in the rough, but somehow I landed on the small forward teebox. I had a blind 170 yd shot over a mound and managed to put it 20 ft from the hole, allowing me to save par.

The course is a definite must play. I can see why it's ranked 11th on Golfweek's in State (Public) list for Wisconsin. Given the number of great courses in the state, that's saying a lot.

Full photo set: Troy Burne

[mci711]

Are you going up to Giant's Ridge or Madden's?

[Argonne69]

No, I'm hanging out with family in Lake Elmo, and not going far. I'm going to play Royal GC on Thursday, a Palmer/Sorenstam redesign. I'll play another round on the way home on Saturday. Not exactly sure where, but something near The Dells is a good bet. Gotta find a course I haven't played. If not I'll likely stop at Wild Rock.

[TheBear95]

Nice. I'm enjoying my set. Did you go with the Raw option?

[AUTIGER07]

Yep, raw in all 3. Really like the look of these a lot.

[stasek]

Went to Ruffled Feathers to test my new acquisitions that I glued last night - Maltby KE4 TC Tour driver and 4 wood. After 15 minutes decided to finally use the “Free unlimited golf after 5pm”. Teed off on 1 at 7:25pm and would have finished the 9 in an hour (carrying), but unfortunately caught up with a 4-some on the par 3 8th. Lost about 15 minutes on the last 2 holes, but managed to finish in 1:15. Not too bad for free golf..

I’m getting dangerously close to having full Maltby bag (after starting the season with 5 different manufacturers).

 

[jimwgt26]

Club Champion saga update. My driver and 3w came in yesterday, Yeah!! I drove up to Deerfield, picked them up and went straight to the Deerfield G.C. Driving Range. Hit a few warm up shots, then pulled the driver and smashed a few over the back of the range. Very Happy!!. Grabbed the 3w, and as soon as the head cover came off, there was a giant rattle, something loose inside the shaft. I didn't hit it and pulled the driver back out. After a half dozen shots, the driver started to rattle. Now, I'm annoyed. I punt the bucket ($20) and head back to CC. The kid there says, "no big deal. It's loose glue and an easy fix." He takes them in the back and did something. When he handed them back, I swung, bounced the grip end on the floor, and waggled a few times. There was no rattle in either club. I headed home via Willow Hill's range. Hit roughly 20 drivers and the rattle came back. Now I'm pissed. I know many are happy with CC fittings and purchases, I'm quite disappointed.

[geochitown]

ugh, sorry to hear that Jim!!!

very no bueno

[shantanu1203]

My experience with them has been very mixed as well - I went in for the fitting in December (their promo time) and inspite of the their promises of no pressure no selling - I felt it was a very hard sell salesman job.

[DavePelz4]

I've had both good and bad experiences with them and so much depends on the fitter/builder. The last time I was fit in Willowbrook, I was chastised for not wanting to have the shafts pured with spine alignment. He literally said I didn't take my game serious and really didn't care about having the best clubs. I reminded him that I was more likely to go on a Perillo Tour of Italy than the PGA/Senior Tour. Needless to say, no purchase was made.

[shantanu1203]

Agree - I was at Willowbrook too and very similar experience! Having said that I did get the shafts changed for my wedges as the fitter suggested and it helped!

[jimwgt26]

You're way too cool for the Perillo Tour. But, if your interested, I know a good penny/ point Mahjong game to get you prepped.

[mci711]

I also have had 2 experiences at CC. 1 good 1 bad. I went for an iron fitting and it was a good experience no pressure, fit me for a pretty standard and reasonable set - I told him right away I had credit to PGASS and that I would be buying from there. Second time was for a driver and it wasn't great. Was very sales-y and pushy to get me to buy a $400 shaft that barely outperformed my original. If at all honestly, I should have spoke up, but I don't like that you start cold with your current set up and use those numbers to compare. My own fault for not requesting to mix in a few of my current gamer through out the fitting.

[Argonne69]

A simply beautiful day for my 100th round of the year in Lake Elmo, MN. I played Royal GC, an Annika Sorenstam / Arnold Palmer design. I'm generally not a big fan of Arnold's courses, but his nine holes here were excellent. The course sits on a wonderful piece of property. It used to be a 27 hole facility, but their renovation reduced it to 18 holes. Annika designed the front, and Arnold handled the back. The front is shorter, tighter, and tougher tee to green. It's primarily a parkland layout, but it has some prairie style elements. Arnold's back nine is primarily prairie style, with a few parkland features. His green complexes were very challenging, but in a fun way. I thought the course could use more fairway bunkers (again). Each side had a good short par 4, along with a couple of long ones. Par 3s were decent. The par 5s were very good.

Course conditions were very good. A few tee boxes were punched, but playable. The 1st and 2nd fairways had a number of large areas that were GUR. Otherwise it was solid. Bunkers were excellent with fluffy sand. Greens rolled smooth at 10 or so. Pace was 4:00.

Couldn't be happier with the driver hitting 12 fairways. Irons and hybrids were mixed with 11 greens. Two birdies and four bogies for the round. Highlight of the day was a long bunker shot on the 11th hole. After my nice drive wound up in a divot hole, I hooked a hybrid short and left of the green. On most courses you'd be in rough, but Arnold put this huge, deep bunker that extended at least 25 yds from the green. With the pin in front just over the high lip I hit one of the best long bunker shots in recent memory, leaving the ball six feet from the cup, where I saved par.

If you're in the St Paul area, the course is definitely worth a play.

Full photo set: Royal GC

[Shriner]

Got talked into Schaumburg yesterday and the conditions were MUCH better. Only issues were unrepaired ball marks and you can't blame the course for that. The newest renovated nine is opening on Saturday for anyone looking to play it. That section of the course looked awesome.

Worst experience with a starter I have had in my 24 years of golfing. Thank God I am even keeled and not a hot head because others would have gone berserk. If you are 75 years old and not happy with your job, please retire so the rest of us don't have to deal with your misery. One of the players in the group called the course so that this doesn't happen to others. Thankfully I have been playing Schaumburg since 1997 ish so I am not going to let one bad experience stop me from playing. However someone who is playing a random round there would not go back and that would be unfortunate for the course.

[mci711]

You're going to leave us hanging?!

[DavePelz4]

Maybe VNutz will come in and share the story of the last time we played Schaumburg, which was the Saturday before they started to tear up the Tournament course.

[Apindara]

Can you share some starter details so we know what to prepare for?

[ldchristopher]

Broken Arrow and Bartlett Hills today. I can't think of two more different courses but Broken Arrow had 6:00 AM times available and I'd never played BH before. People can bag on Gov. Rod for a lot (his jogging suits, that whole "trying to sell a Senate seat" thing, the football brush for his absurd mop of hair), but he gave us the 355 extension that linked courses in Lockport with courses in the Northwest Suburbs. Broken Arrow was pretty much the same as it always is: wide open off the tee, slow greens, washed out bunkers, lots of scoring holes, and a rating/slope combo that would make Steeple Chase blush. Seriously, you'd think a course that played more than a stroke over par from the blue tees would be...what's the word again?...difficult. They had a lot of rain yesterday and it all seemed to settle in the sand traps. While slow, the greens were smooth and we were able to play in 2:40. Only one birdie on North Course's 1st hole (we played the East-North combo), but I had a remarkably easy 73.

Bartlett Hills was really wet and felt like it was playing much longer than it actually was. I like the overall layout. It's nothing special but it demands actual shot making skills and forces players to take their medicine when they get stuck in the trees. Basically the anti-Broken Arrow. However, despite everyone having their own cart, the pace was brutal. Everyone went off the 10th hole first and I was able to birdie the opener by sticking a wedge inside three feet. However, the amount of guys in carts zooming across fairways and then dawdling on the greens was brutal. Neither Bear nor I have super fast swing speeds but we do this crazy thing called hit the fairways off the tee. It makes the round go much faster. The people who play Bartlett Hills should try that approach sometime. Instead, I constantly felt like I was in someone's line of fire. I also birdied #2 and managed a 75.

[TheBear95]

I'll add, almost all my rounds this year have been either very early in the morning or afternoon/twilight. I really haven't had the pleasure of playing late morning. I would to thank the patrons of Bartlett Hills for providing ample evidence that I've been making the right choices.

[Dashfast]

Played Prairie Landing yesterday morning and it was beautiful. Love the layout and its quirkiness. Had a rough turn (tripled 9 and doubled 10), but put up a respectable par-filled round otherwise. Conditions were great, pace was too. Got through as a twosome in under 3 hours.

 

[Shriner]

Fait enough mci711! I'm not even sure how to describe it to be honest, my jaw was dropped open. Imagine a starter combining rudeness, anger and hatred all in one. It all started with rolling his eyes when I pulled up with my 8 year old son and then promptly said to pick up the ball after he hits so we keep pace. Lol, my son and I play 3 hour rounds. (Maybe watch us hit before you judge a book by its cover?) We were on the players course and I cut the dogleg with a perfect drive. Son hits the ball right down the middle. Other twosome goes and hits one left that may be in range or water so he proceeds to pull a ball out. The starter then goes berserk and says "NO NO, WE ARE NOT DOING THAT GUYS, WE HAVE A LEAGUE BEHIND YOU, LETS GO." Third golfer calmly says sorry but I need to hit another. I look at starter who throws his arms up, throws a hissy fit and then puts his head on the counter. As we drive away, I say have a great day and hope it gets better for you. He stares and shakes his head. Again, I cannot adequately describe the hatred and anger he had when saying all this...just should not be working (or interacting with people in general) if that is how you plan to behave.

[stasek]

Our golf league is heading to Wilmette this Saturday. I can't recall ever playing it, so that might be a first for me. Since we always play the second from last tees, it looks like at ~6000 yards, my 4i/4W should get plenty of practice off the tee.

 

[Argonne69]

It's a par 70 layout with only 2 par 5s. The 5th, 14th, and 15th are short par 4s, and generally less than driver, but there's little trouble, so a driver is an option.

[geochitown]

2nd shot on 11 is blind, and there is a water hazard across the hole that comes into play on the 2nd.