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
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Golf Advisor: Top Courses in Illinois (2016 #12)
Reviews
Only 3 stars...slow bad play
On a weekday morning you should not have to fight to just tee off. Checking in we were told there was a foursome and single in front of us. We get to the tee and have to ask what everyone's tee time is. Yep directly after the single except the single was smart and asked if he could join with the twosome teeing off. Thanks for that but then a two some that was supposed to play with the two some that just teed off showed up 10 MINUTES LATE for their time while we were about to walk on the 1st tee box. And these guys actually expected (and assumed they would play ahead of us.....even though they were very late. For good measure both were terrible golfers - had no idea where to park their cart...pretty much made us wait the entire 18 holes...several holes just dawdling to clear and drive away the front side of most greens. Many times we had to back off tee shots because these two Richards were off searching for balls deep into the woods and one would suddenly appear with no club in hand just walking across the fairway with no cart in sight. Clueless. It took them well over 15 minutes to play the 10th hole. They deserved all that bad Karma - both lost a dozen plus balls. This is not a course for twice a season golfers because of all the water hazards and swamps. Several greens are angled (back to front can be 3 clubs and the angles makes them not very deep especially with front or back flags.. Course was in decent shape but over the years we've never had a round that had a decent pace to it...weekday or weekend and I'm well into double digits rounds played here. We're sick and tired of having to be our own starter.....and no ranger to move play along. Golf on a weekday midday should not take close to 5 hours. 3 stars. If you enjoy a tight test of golf with lots of hazards and challenges to navigate this course is for you.
Amateur Hour and no Rangers
Course and practice area are very bmnice and a good challenge but I had to watch fivesomebahead of mectee off on every hole. No rangers! Pace of play is awful. I'd recommend if they ran it professionally. I had the aforementioned five some then when they let us play through (twosome) we got stuck behind 4 more horrible golfers. Once we skipped a hole and got our ahead of them I enjoyed the course. Front nine took over 2.5 hours. If they had someone keeping pace moving, this place is great. They don't though so it ruins the experience for golfers that expect etiquette. Really a shame since layout and course are nice. I wouldn't recommend or go back given this simple lack of attention to detail
Overpriced
Not worth $70 dollars it’s more like a $50 course. Has been in much better shape in the past and better management. Never saw a ranger out on the course to push the pace of the slow pace of play. Seems like it’s ran by a bunch of teenagers with no experience in the golf industry.
Stay in the Fairway
Great course. Lots of trees. Easy to lose a ball (or 10) if you do not stay in play.
Difficult!
Make sure to bring a couple of extra boxes of golf balls. Very difficult course for just your average golfer that likes to play on weekends. 1st time playing here and also the last
Bitter and sweet
We often say, this course is both bitter and sweet. It is challenging, but so beautiful and we really love to play it. Doesn’t even matter if the score was a little high the day was perfect and it was truly enjoyable. I almost think this course is more female, friendly than male, because women tend to hit straighter and not as far. Highly recommend you give it a try.
Bittersweet Review
Nice course. Nice condition. Good price on golfnow.com.
One change made quite a difference.
Last time I played here, the only issue I had was that the grass clippings were not blown off of the grass in the rough, causing us to lose balls that didn’t go OB. This time around everything was GREAT! Everything was groomed nicely. Fun bunch of par 3s on this course. Going to play this course a least a handful more times this year.