Bittersweet Golf Club
About
Bittersweet Golf Club in Gurnee, Ill. is ideally situated for a scenic round of golf. The diverse landscape flows seamlessly from lush wetlands to native prairies covered with colorful wildflowers. The layout also winds across a 100-year-old sage meadow and through forests of mature hardwoods, which serve as a home to an abundance of wildlife. Beyond the beautiful scenery, the terrain presents many challenges. The undulating fairways demand accuracy as you hit from multi-tiered tee boxes. Water also comes into play on almost every hole and there's an array of strategically placed bunkers you'll have to avoid. The eighth is the toughest hole on the front nine, a par-4 dogleg right with a lightning fast green. Bittersweet Golf Club's back nine is known for its scenery, which is best displayed on the signature par-5 11th hole, which offers not only a challenge but also a spectacular view from the tee.
Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
---|---|---|---|---|
Black | 72 | 6751 yards | 73.3 | 135 |
Blue | 72 | 6345 yards | 71.4 | 131 |
White | 72 | 5559 yards | 67.8 | 122 |
White (W) | 72 | 5559 yards | 72.8 | 128 |
Red (W) | 72 | 4952 yards | 70.0 | 121 |
Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Black M: 73.3/137 | 338 | 565 | 196 | 344 | 371 | 148 | 346 | 422 | 516 | 3246 | 369 | 546 | 403 | 200 | 506 | 420 | 421 | 203 | 437 | 3505 | 6751 |
Blue M: 71.4/133 | 319 | 531 | 169 | 334 | 361 | 126 | 326 | 404 | 485 | 3055 | 340 | 530 | 363 | 183 | 496 | 376 | 409 | 190 | 403 | 3290 | 6345 |
White M: 67.8/120 W: 73.0/129 | 298 | 490 | 127 | 323 | 234 | 106 | 309 | 328 | 410 | 2625 | 329 | 507 | 319 | 145 | 445 | 341 | 360 | 133 | 355 | 2934 | 5559 |
Red W: 69.8/122 | 283 | 469 | 93 | 279 | 234 | 76 | 288 | 323 | 402 | 2447 | 241 | 424 | 289 | 115 | 371 | 290 | 327 | 126 | 322 | 2505 | 4952 |
Handicap | 17 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 4 | |||
Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
Handicap (W) | 9 | 1 | 17 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 4 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
RestaurantAvailable Facilities
Clubhouse, Banquet FacilitiesAccolades
-
Golf Advisor: Top Courses in Illinois (2016 #12)
Reviews
Solid course
Played here for the first time this morning. I was the first person out so pace of play was no issue. Started at 5:55am, was in the car headed to work at 8:05am w/o rushing through holes. Course is routed well through forest/ wetland area. Feels like a $70 course, costs half the price. Awesome.
My impression after my first round is its a shot makers course. Distance off the tee really is not paramount, but if your comfortable with your long game, you can turn many holes into pitch and putts. It's the classic risk/reward scenario. There's a lot of hazards on this course, but because most holes are short, the need to be aggressive off the tee just isn't there. Conservative still gives you a short iron into most greens. Greens have nice shape to them. Some undulation, but nothing crazy. Not extremely fast. A bit bumpy at times. If they could get these greens rolling a bit faster and more true, I would be a big fan of them. Later in the summer hopefully!
My one suggestion: If you hit the ball only one way (aka fade or draw), there are holes that will demand you play very conservatively off the tee. Play within these holes, wait for the ones that set up well for you to get aggressive. The course is shorter and the greens aren't terribly difficult. Pushing it on the wrong holes is how big numbers are made here.
Nice Round
Glad the course is still open. Weather on the cold side but the course is still in good shape. Good job on clearing the fairways and greens from leaves. Lots of golfers out but the pace was good. Enjoyed the round very much. Thank you.
Rainy day
Course was ok. It had rained the night before so there was a bit of water on the fairways and a few greens. But the round was still enjoyable.
Beautiful day
I have played this course several times this year. The course is usually in great shape. However, this time around it was not. The sand traps had too much water, several fairways had too many leaves and it was difficult finding the ball even in the middle of the fairways. Many of the greens were completely covered with leaves also, and to the point that it was extremely difficult to put. Please have the leaves cleaned.
Poor maintenance
There were too many fairways and greens that were covered with leaves ;you couldn’t find your ball or make a putt without impeding leaves. There was no maintenance staff on hand to make the course more enjoyable for play. I asked the pro shop manager why they weren’t clearing the leaves and she replied that they couldn’t afford to pay Maintenace to work 24/7.. How about paying maintenance to work during business hours. I’ll bet, my round was extended 40 minutes searching for balls covered in leaves.
Tough but Fun Layout
This was my 5th time playing Bittersweet, but my first time playing in ~2 years. Practice facilities are solid. Great short game area, plus grass tees at the driving range. Putting green is a little small. Bittersweet isn't for amateurs, so if you're not striking the ball well... come prepared with plenty of extra balls because the course can be very penalizing. What surprised me most about Bittersweet was the speed of their greens and quality of their traps. I don't recall either being in this good of shape this late in the season. It was a treat to play and great way to round out the Chicago golf season.
Bittersweet
I was impressed with the layout, the challenges and the condition of the course, Greens were nice, could be cut a little more but easy to read. The difficulty are the doglegs into blind areas, sand, marsh wetlands made target golf the method to play. I would play again had a penalty plague 87 because of lack of knowledge hitting into areas causing drops. Next time it’ll be 80!
Mature Course
I played here 20 years ago returning this week on vacation. The course has matured into something special. Defined fairways, forced carries and excellent greens. It would be my go to course if I lived in the area.
Bring extra golf balls
Getting off tee boxes were punishing for slightly off track shots. Water and hazards will eat your ball on every hole - bring a dozen of your forgettable golf balls.
We had younger players in our trio - a beginner and a second season player. We felt eyes on our shots which caused some nerves as the pace of play was stop and go with 2 groups lined up in front of us and 2 groups staring us down behind us…didn’t make sense for anyone looking to play through as there was nowhere to go.
Course was in nice condition. The greens were soft and slow - needed to hammer on some of the putts. For a round of 9 at $30 a person, we definitely enjoyed and will return with a bunch of balls.