Where are you playing tomorrow - Chicago (Round 3)

[ldchristopher]

12 hours ago, MountainKing said:

 

 

I put on an elite level ball striking clinic today, but putted like a 30 handicap.  In the morning round the last I hit every green on the back, the last 8 holes I did not have a birdie putt outside of 10 feet, made none of them.   It's almost embarrassing how bad of a putter i currently am I have zero confidence over the ball on the course and not really sure what to do to fix it.  Both rounds I should have been under par, but due to really poor putting I went 76, 75.  Still a great day with great friends and great weather to have my last 36 hole run of the year. 

Easy fix to the putting woes. Just buy a new one. Go full Justin Thomas mode. Different putter every round until one works. 

[MountainKing]

2 minutes ago, ldchristopher said:

Easy fix to the putting woes. Just buy a new one. Go full Justin Thomas mode. Different putter every round until one works. 

 

I've been going back and forth between two different putters this year, just to see if a different look/feel changes things up a bit.  Had a couple putting lessons, spent hours on the practice green, nothing.    I can sit on the practice green and putt like I should be, minute I'm on the course it's gone.   It's all in my head. With all that, I still am averaging 1.7 putts per hole this year so it's probably not as bad as I think it is.

[Holy Moses]

Played Mill Creek yesterday. Course was in pretty good condition and I can see that they are putting some money into the facilities. They have new carts which ride nice, but no GPS in them. Pace of play was brisk. I saw a beverage cart on the course, but it never came near my group. $50 on a Saturday afternoon is a good deal in Geneva. 

[Shriner]

One of the things I love about this message board are the recommendations for courses that you have never heard of.  That is how we started playing PrairieView and it is now one of our favorites.  I figured I would try something new for only my second round of the last month...so went with Atwood Homestead in Rockford based on a few posts a couple of pages back from LD.  In short, I loved it.  For me, this is the definition of a country course...my observations:

 

- Holes were spread out enough that you felt very secluded, somewhat similar to Oak Grove.

- Gorgeous scenery with no houses (Eat your heart out Bowes Creek)

- No awards will be won for conditions but it was very playable.  Exact same conditions as Ledges which is nearby.  Long shaggy fairways.  Bunkers had sand but very grainy.  Greens weren't great but weren't beat up.

- Very difficult to hit fairways because it was hard to tell what was fairway and what was rough from the tee box.  The lack of playing golf has taken a toll as I took four penalties for balls in penalty areas.  My golf game is pathetic right now.

- It is 7400 yards but really doesn't feel that long since there are no mammoth par 4's.  I can't remember playing a course this long before, but it was FUN.

- Only complaint?  Every par 3 was a carbon copy of the prior.  I believe I actually hit the same club on all 4 par 3's (4i) because of where the pins were.

 

I would love to play this course often but reality is that the distance will likely prohibit that from happening.  It is a hike so the attractive greens fees become less attractive once you factor in the time.  That said, I could see playing it once a year or making it a 36 hole day with Aldeen. 

[VNutz]

Finished off our yearlong league Saturday at Blackstone. Wind came out of the south and east and made the course play wholly different than any time I've played it before. The gettable 4s and 5s played into the wind and thus required different strategies. Course played fine, perhaps a little damp in spots. Greens didn't seem slow but weren't as firm or quick as I'm used to there.

 

Congrats to @DavePelz4 for taking home the yearlong competition. For all the work and love he pours into our league, it's a title that's very well deserved.

 

 

[ssp]

Played Ravisloe and Schaumburg this weekend.  Both were Tournaments.  Ravisloe was a reschedule from cancellation last week due to what I heard was 6 inches of rain.  Probably true as it was challenging with 80% of shots were mud-balls (We didn't play lift/clean/place).  

 

Then Schaumburg was yesterday.  27 hole tournament.  I haven't been to Schaumburg in a few years and was pleasantly surprised.  Nice updates to the courses and clubhouse.  I found the bunkering very strategic and thought it was well done.  Only challenge was the Tournament 9 greens were a bit rough but looked to be aerated recently and we played that as our last 9 mid-afternoon.  That said,  they couldn't have been too bad as the guy I played with shot 31 on that 9 and was -6 for the 27 holes and won it all.  2nd was -4.  Pretty good golf. 

[DavePelz4]

Thanks VNutz for the very kind words.

 

This was our 22nd year of the competition and in a 4 round run early in the year, it looked like I knew how to play a bit and set several records for our group in the process.  I built up a sizeable lead and truthfully only won because as V mentioned, the wind made Blackstone play very different than the course we normally play and there were some really tough pin positions. Everyone in our group 3 putted #5. The players behind me had a tough round and I basically hung on for dear life.  Fortunately, the driver was really good Saturday and I only missed 1 fairway and somehow found another 40 yards off the tee.  Hit 2 par 5's in 2, which is rare these days. A couple of birdies certainly helped as well.

 

Post the final round, we have a celebration and it was finally my chance to light the bonfire.

 

We're now in my favorite time of year to play...less people and no issues with cooler temps.

[B-Man]

Old Oak yesterday. Last time I was there was 20 years ago and the 10th was a dogleg around and through a forest. Not anymore. Condition was fair. Rough was penal. Can't remember the slopes of those greens but oh man. Managed to make a lot of curling putts and ripped through the front nine but not as lucky on the back. Coming into form at the wrong time of year!

[ldchristopher]

12 hours ago, Shriner said:

One of the things I love about this message board are the recommendations for courses that you have never heard of.  That is how we started playing PrairieView and it is now one of our favorites.  I figured I would try something new for only my second round of the last month...so went with Atwood Homestead in Rockford based on a few posts a couple of pages back from LD.  In short, I loved it.  For me, this is the definition of a country course...my observations:

 

- Holes were spread out enough that you felt very secluded, somewhat similar to Oak Grove.

- Gorgeous scenery with no houses (Eat your heart out Bowes Creek)

- No awards will be won for conditions but it was very playable.  Exact same conditions as Ledges which is nearby.  Long shaggy fairways.  Bunkers had sand but very grainy.  Greens weren't great but weren't beat up.

- Very difficult to hit fairways because it was hard to tell what was fairway and what was rough from the tee box.  The lack of playing golf has taken a toll as I took four penalties for balls in penalty areas.  My golf game is pathetic right now.

- It is 7400 yards but really doesn't feel that long since there are no mammoth par 4's.  I can't remember playing a course this long before, but it was FUN.

- Only complaint?  Every par 3 was a carbon copy of the prior.  I believe I actually hit the same club on all 4 par 3's (4i) because of where the pins were.

 

I would love to play this course often but reality is that the distance will likely prohibit that from happening.  It is a hike so the attractive greens fees become less attractive once you factor in the time.  That said, I could see playing it once a year or making it a 36 hole day with Aldeen. 

Glad you enjoyed AH. It’s only about 35 minutes from Prairie View and 45 minutes from Oak Grove so there are some other options sort of close by. Not exactly like doubling up Sunset Valley and Glencoe or Chalet Hills and Foxford Hills but it can be slotted into a 36 hole day. 

[B-Man]

Dubsdread off the white tees today. Saturated. Probably played as long as the tips. 😉 Lots of birdies and a few others. Golf season is just starting right?

[MountainKing]

13 hours ago, B-Man said:

Dubsdread off the white tees today. Saturated. Probably played as long as the tips. 😉 Lots of birdies and a few others. Golf season is just starting right?

 

Dubs is always a weird course for me, I always feel like it plays a lot longer than the card indicates.  Even this past summer when I played it when the ground was rock solid, I felt like I was hitting an extra club or two into holes than I would normally be hitting for the length of hole it was. 

[mci711]

2 hours ago, MountainKing said:

 

Dubs is always a weird course for me, I always feel like it plays a lot longer than the card indicates.  Even this past summer when I played it when the ground was rock solid, I felt like I was hitting an extra club or two into holes than I would normally be hitting for the length of hole it was. 

 

May have something to do with bunkers in what seems like front of every green. Feel like you can never be short there. 

[MountainKing]

7 minutes ago, mci711 said:

 

May have something to do with bunkers in what seems like front of every green. Feel like you can never be short there. 

 

I always feel like I'm hitting 1 or 2 more clubs than I normally would for that distance.  Like 3, 420 normally would be a drive and a 8 or 9 iron and last time a good drive left me a 7 iron.  I dunno it's always confusing to me.

[B-Man]

I had no issue with clubbing but it did feel like more than a few greens were raised/elevated more than your typical layout. Those greens btw are stupid. Great if your hitting wedge shots in but off the tips with mid to long irons in are ricockulous.

[TBone0576]

Playing in the fall scramble out at Pine Meadow tomorrow.   Have played this course many times but haven't teed it up there since 2017.  Based on comments I've seen here in the past it sounds like the greens will be kind of a crapshoot.  Hope they are decent as that is the most important part of the scramble.  At least the weather looks decent. 

[TheBear95]

5 hours ago, TBone0576 said:

Playing in the fall scramble out at Pine Meadow tomorrow.   Have played this course many times but haven't teed it up there since 2017.  Based on comments I've seen here in the past it sounds like the greens will be kind of a crapshoot.  Hope they are decent as that is the most important part of the scramble.  At least the weather looks decent. 

 

Unfortunately, a total crapshoot. I hope you luck out tomorrow.

Edited September 29, 2023 by TheBear95

[Holy Moses]

First time playing Village Links. Had a work event scramble there. Nice course, but a lot of par 4s seemed similar. For the most part no cart paths at this place which resulted in the carts really tearing up the course some on a soggy day.

 

Prairie Landing yesterday was in excellent condition - probably the best I’ve seen it. There was not a breath of wind either. Perfect fall afternoon.

[@_the_crook]

Beautiful morning at SVGC. while we sometimes get so involved in the game, it's easy to lose out on the simple beauty of being outside at a nice venue. Walking up to #3 tee box, we had the sunrise off to the left, and the full moon still glowing on the right. Just heaven. 

Oh, we played pretty good. Were joined by one of the local park district directors. 

 

[MountainKing]

Bull Valley today, what a golf course that is.  Scenic, and extremely difficult, one of the toughest courses I recall playing.  No real issue with conditions or pace, it's a private course so as expected everything was perfect.   Shot a 78 today, left a few shots out there, but then again there's a lot of places there to get in trouble so it's pretty hard to be mad about it.  Couldn't get any putts to drop again, but I didn't really hit any bad putts and no three putts.  I would put Bull Valley easily in my top 10 of all time, it's that good, go if you get an invite.

 

Prairie Landing tomorrow.

[ldchristopher]

I had the full moon/rising sun this morning in beautiful NWI. Tough to get tee times where I’d be home by 10:30. My options were either don’t play or play Scherwood. So Scherwood it was. I had the second time yet I played through three groups. Riddle me that. The course was…fine, I guess. One set of cart bros that I played through were doing the usual “suburban guys listening to Kanye West” thing so it was a real shocker when they switched to Abba. Didn’t expect that. 

[@_the_crook]

1 hour ago, ldchristopher said:

 I had the second time yet I played through three groups. Riddle me that.

 

OMG - similar thing this morning.

there's a regular twosome of riders that are usually within two groups of us, sometimes directly behind us.

today - we did have the #1 time and wrapped in 3:25.

saw that pair sitting out on the patio just after game and they said - 'hey, we finished 45 minutes ago'

thought I was getting pranked.

wonder if they bypassed #1 and started on 2 in the dark.

 

[MountainKing]

Prairie Landing, as usual was in outstanding condition. Not totally sure how they managed to do it day in and day out with so much play, but they for sure are one of the top public courses when it comes to somehow always being in great shape.  Pace also was great coming in at just under 4 hours, not bad for a busy Sunday morning. 

 

This probably is going to be one of my last rounds of the year.  Have a couple of scrambles coming up, but otherwise with things going on in my personal life not sure how much more I'll get out, but I did go out strong today.  Not sure what it is about PL, but this is my third time shooting under par there.  Put up a 33 on the front 9, really thought I might be able to finally break 70 (something I haven't done in years)  I managed to throw a few shots away on the back but birdied 18 for a 71.  Great weekend of golf, perfect weather, and if this is my last official round I feel great about how I ended the season.

[zer0]

Stonewall was in great shape yesterday.   Teed off at 11 and didn't see another group till the back.  we did wait on shots on the back, but nothing too long and it gave us great opportunities to burn a joint at every tee box on the back.  Good times.

 

Had a crazy round.  Playing from the whites had a 48 on the front with 5 bogeys.  And then a 180 degree turn on the back with a 37 which included the greatest putting display the game has ever seen probably.   Starting at #12 I drained 5 straight putts only one of which was a tap in.    3 of them were in the 10-15 foot range.    Then a 2 putt on 17 before sinking another 15 footer on 18.     8 total putts over the final 7 holes.     Never done anything even close to that before.

Edited October 2, 2023 by zer0

[TheBear95]

I got absolutely kicked in the teeth this morning at Shepherd's Crook. However, it wasn't the golf. Golf was fine. Course was wet, but no wind. Shot my usual for Shepherd's.

 

No, the gut punch happened in the pro shop when I was checking-in with the shop jock. Gave my tee time, that I was just checking-in for myself and that I would be walking 18. Standard stuff.

 

He looks up and after a brief moment, he asks "senior rate??"...…. I'm 41.

[DavePelz4]

Played Saturday at Green Garden with the college guys.  It's about in the middle of where we all live.

 

First of all, when the starter puts the 10:24 group in front of the 10:08 group, the round is off to a bad start. Let's add to that travesty as on each of the first 6 holes, we were the third group on each tee box.  At the turn, that wonderful 10:24 group who was wrongly put in front of us decided to stop for lunch. The fact that there was a hole plus open in front of them made no difference to them.  Yes, you're correct that they were playing from the tips and when one of the guys in the group hit his third mulligan off the 10th tee, the groups waiting could only laugh. Ranger?  Yeah, no.  Clubhouse do anything about pace, yeah, no.  We finished that travesty in 5 hours and 18 minutes and thankfully I had enough sunscreen to get through the round.

 

Oh no, it can't get worse, right? It can?  How?  Ever hear the term "fairway only" related to where you can drive carts?  Yeah, me either.  Apparently they'd messed up their watering schedule and the entire course resulted in mud balls and the rough was so wet that absent a few chips, it was a mud ball on every shot. We don't care if you F up the fairways, just don't F up the rough. For example of how bad it was, on 9 (the 160ish yard par 3), I hit a tee shot that ended up pin high, but plugged, underground, in the left fringe. Took a minute to find the ball as underground was the last place I looked. Fortunately was playing a lime green ball as I'm not sure white would have shown up.

 

What's the good part of the day? Late September, 80+ degrees, shorts, and the driver is back. Oh, and the range balls were clean. Yeah got nothing.

[@_the_crook]

3 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

He looks up and after a brief moment, he asks "senior rate??"...…. I'm 41.

 

my regular golf partner is about twenty years younger than I am. most of you know we place the same course every weekend.

 

one morning in the clubhouse - a groundskeeper asks him, "Is that your Dad?"

I about dropped to my knees. .

[zer0]

17 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

  Ever hear the term "fairway only" related to where you can drive carts?  Yeah, me either. 

 

 

They do that on the Links course at Lawsonia if it gets really wet.   The fairways drain so well they prefer that you drive on them as opposed to the rough.

[MountainKing]

18 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

Played Saturday at Green Garden with the college guys.  It's about in the middle of where we all live.

 

First of all, when the starter puts the 10:24 group in front of the 10:08 group, the round is off to a bad start. Let's add to that travesty as on each of the first 6 holes, we were the third group on each tee box.  At the turn, that wonderful 10:24 group who was wrongly put in front of us decided to stop for lunch. The fact that there was a hole plus open in front of them made no difference to them.  Yes, you're correct that they were playing from the tips and when one of the guys in the group hit his third mulligan off the 10th tee, the groups waiting could only laugh. Ranger?  Yeah, no.  Clubhouse do anything about pace, yeah, no.  We finished that travesty in 5 hours and 18 minutes and thankfully I had enough sunscreen to get through the round.

 

Oh no, it can't get worse, right? It can?  How?  Ever hear the term "fairway only" related to where you can drive carts?  Yeah, me either.  Apparently they'd messed up their watering schedule and the entire course resulted in mud balls and the rough was so wet that absent a few chips, it was a mud ball on every shot. We don't care if you F up the fairways, just don't F up the rough. For example of how bad it was, on 9 (the 160ish yard par 3), I hit a tee shot that ended up pin high, but plugged, underground, in the left fringe. Took a minute to find the ball as underground was the last place I looked. Fortunately was playing a lime green ball as I'm not sure white would have shown up.

 

What's the good part of the day? Late September, 80+ degrees, shorts, and the driver is back. Oh, and the range balls were clean. Yeah got nothing.

 

 

I have seen Fairway only! It seems like a lot of older courses with no cart paths do it.  The only ones I've really seen it here is Ravisloe, but seen it a lot in WI. 

[ssp]

17 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

 

my regular golf partner is about twenty years younger than I am. most of you know we place the same course every weekend.

 

one morning in the clubhouse - a groundskeeper asks him, "Is that your Dad?"

I about dropped to my knees. .

Had a similar situation .... was mistaken to be the dad.  From then with that crew of friends I have been known as 'Pops' for the last 20 years.  

[mci711]

1 hour ago, zer0 said:

 

 

They do that on the Links course at Lawsonia if it gets really wet.   The fairways drain so well they prefer that you drive on them as opposed to the rough.

 

A few courses in my area do this as well. Pretty common around here. My club is always fairway only, never supposed to drive in the rough. (or cart path only if it rains)

Edited October 3, 2023 by mci711