ParMachineGolfer

My second visit to Kankakee Elks was very much on par with my first round over a year and a half ago and nothing short of fantastic. The 1926 course design by Langford and Moreau is truly a treasure with 17 of the original 18 holes intact. Every hole is unique with no repeat design routing and yardages. The difficulty of this course is the green complexes - all of which are built up with severe contours and generally are very quick. Mounds in the fairways and fronting the greens are deceptive so it is vitally important to trust your yardage and not you vision. Many of the greens are elevated and needs to be accounted for with club selection for your approach shots. Greens had been aerated about 3 weeks ago and were nearly back to normal. Most putts rolled true and consistent pace. All of the green fringes and tee boxes were recently aerated and heavily watered so it was slightly muddy in those location. Fairways were lush and cut to a good height. The rough was also recently cut. Find balls in the rough was made difficult only due to the recent falling leaves. The Pro Shop selection of clothing is rather sparse, but the attendant was very welcoming and accommodating. Kankakee Elks is well worth the drive and a great value to play this classic design.

The Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West has the best greens I have ever putted. Smooth and quicker than any of the other PGA West Courses with absolutely no ball marks. Some of the pin positions made putting difficult in some situations, but were generally manageable if you had good direction and distance control or followed Jack's principle of aiming for the center of the green. I had expected to find three distinct pin locations and/or green levels on every green as that was a Nicklaus trademark, but the Tournament Course greens were large and undulating and without the aforementioned level separation. The clubhouse was impressive and the pro shop was large and well stocked. Driving range was expansive with numerous targets to shoot at and a large practice bunker also. Putting green was comparable to the greens on the course - which generally is not the case at most golf courses. Fairways were generous in the landing areas on most holes and the rough was playable. Tee boxes were a bit overgrown - needed to be cut, but were in good condition including the par 3 holes. The only real issue was a lack of sand in the greenside bunkers - fortunately I managed to steer clear of them for most of my round. The course layout was varied and quite interesting. The course staff were friendly and helpful. I was paired with a member (Michael S.), who unfortunately quit after nine holes, but he was helpful in describing each hole and the challenges before us. This was by far the best course I played at PGA West (compared to the Dunes and Mountain courses). Highly recommend this track and hope to play it again the next time I visit the desert!

The Pete Dye Mountain Course at PGA West is worthy of it's name for the 7 holes that are situated up against, in-between and/or over the nearby mountains. The remaining 11 holes are good golf holes, but are similar to the sister Dunes Course. Course conditions were very good although I would have enjoyed faster rolling greens and sand in many of the bunkers was almost non-existent. Very comfortable clubhouse, with very nice pro shop attendants and tee starter. Pace of play was excellent as our threesome completed the round in just over 3 1/2 hours. I would play this course again should I ever return to the area, but would hope that I would either stay out of the sand (dirt) or that the bunkers would be more playable with ample sand within them. An additional water/ice comfort station on the front nine would be appreciated - especially in the hot weather.

The Dunes Course is a classic Pete Dye design from tee to green. Generous landing areas and straightforward layout design is visible from the tee box with very small elevated green complexes surrounded by bunkers and runoff areas. Best to take an extra club and be precise with your approach shots as noted by the tee starter. Green speeds were on the slow side, but roiled consistent and true. There is good variety in the design of the holes and course conditions were generally good with the lone exception being the par 3 tees - need some work due to excessive divots- possibly due to a lack of sand filling by the golfers or maintenance crews. An overall Very good experience and a fun round of golf at Pete Dye’s Dunes Course!

My experience at the Country Club of Hilton Head was nothing short of top notch. The club personnel at the bag drop, pro shop and first tee were exceptionally friendly and informative. The practice facility is awesome and included complimentary balls. I had conversations with a few members prior to my round and found them to be engaging and enthusiastic about their club. I was paired with a member and a guest who were familiar with the course and were helpful in providing assistance on the strategies for playing each of the holes. The main advice provided (and needed to be followed) was to always take an extra club on approach shots as every green is elevated requiring a few extra yards more than what your GPS or Rangefinder was providing. Course conditions are very good. The rough and fairways are dormant, but the fairways have been sprayed with green fertilizer so it was very easy to see where to go on each hole. The greens are FAST and smooth and although they have some pitch marks, most had been repaired correctly and did not impact the roll of your putts. All of the par 3 holes are forced carries over water or marsh with bunkers or runoff collection areas on all other sides. The rest of the holes are a good mix of straight and doglegs left and right. None of the holes appeared to be a repeat of another - so each is memorable in their own way. GPS on the cart would be helpful to know distances to carry bunkers and especially on holes where it is cart path only as my ball always seemed to be on the side of the hole opposite the cart path! On all of the holes, the greens appeared to be appropriately sized and shaped to accept properly struck approach shots. I rate this course a 4.7 out of 5 and hope to find the time to play the Country Club of Hilton Head again!

Old South was recommended as an interesting layout with challenging holes along the marshes - these recommendations were spot on! The bag drop staff were friendly and sent us on our way to the first tee, practice green and driving range. The starter seemed a bit preoccupied and did not ask if we wanted any range balls before our round. He was quick to tell us that the course was busy and we would not be teeing off until our slotted time. I managed to find a few balls left by previous golfers on the range so we tried to hit a few warm up shots before the round. The hitting zone on the range was on a downslope, so it was quite difficult to warm up with every shot taken from a downhill lie. We were fortunate to be paired with a couple of older men who had played the course many times and were able to assist us with the strategies on each of the holes - especially holes 7, 15, and 16. Course conditions were very good - especially compared to the driving range and practice putting green. The landing zones on holes 7 and 16 were full of divots, otherwise the fairways were dormant, but very playable. Old South offered an unique opportunity to wager on hitting the 4th green with your tee shot from any tee of your choice so that if you hit the green, your wager was doubled as a credit in the pro shop. If you missed the green, your wager was given back to you as a credit in the pro shop. This opportunity may have been taken more seriously had it been identified to us in the pro shop or at the first tee check in as we could have looked at the pro shop merchandise and determined what to wager assuming we found something that we would want to purchase. I would like to play this course again to see if I can find a way to par holes 7, 15 and 16. Many of the holes at Old South were challenging, but those three were definitely the most challenging. A solid 4 out of 5 stars for Old South.

Workers at the Bag Drop and Pro Shop were very nice and accommodating to me and my son. We were provided with ample balls to warm up at the range and given the freedom to tee off whenever we wanted as we had arrived almost an hour ahead of our tee time reservation. We hit a few at the range and rolled a few at the practice putting green before teeing off a half hour early. We felt like we had the course to ourselves as we played the round in about 3:15 and finally caught up with the lone group in front of us on the 17th hole.
The course layout has many doglegs in both directions with only a few straight holes and of course, the par 3s sprinkled in between. Course conditions were fairly good - especially on the tees and greens. Fairways and rough are dormant so it was hard to differentiate the difference between the two from the tee box. Bunkers on the dogleg holes were all very similar with a shorter bunker on the inside corner and further bunkers on the outside corner - making it appear as if a complete line of bunkers was awaiting your tee shot on nearly every dogleg hole. Green complexes were all unique with different challenges from angle of approach and bunkers or water/marsh/waste areas surrounding the greens. Although previous reviewers had noted how tight it was off of the tee, we found the tee shots to be playable on all holes with trees lining both sides of the fairways, but yet ample room to miss hit some drives off of the fairway and have a playable second shot. Will return to Bear Creek should I find another great tee time deal. 4.5 stars out of 5.

I enjoyed my day at Oyster Reef as I was promptly greeted in the parking lot and directed to the range for a warmup prior to the round. The driving range was quite nice with yardages clearly marked and excellent turf conditions. The Starter was very helpful in providing me with a description of the course, the various local rules - especially with cart restrictions on a few holes, and the pin placement for the day. I was paired up with two golfers who have played the course many times and could provide guidance as to how to strategically play the holes. Course conditions were very good, although I had a hard time adjusting to the fairways which appeared to be dormant with very little cushion under the ball - nothing like the turf conditions on the range. Tees and greens were in excellent condition. The challenging aspects of this course include visual deception with placement and size of bunkers - both fairway and greenside. Many of the green surfaces are not visible from the fairways or the tees resulting in needing to trust your yardages and placing a premium on controlling your approach shot distances. Other than the fairway turf, as previously described, the only downside for a course of this caliber would be the lack of GPS on the carts - this issue may be eliminated with the rollout of their new cart fleet that was delivered the previous day. Overall, I had a very enjoyable day of golf at Oyster Reef!

Dolphin Head is a good golf course with a number of interesting holes that require you to play varying shaped shots. It is not overly long or challenging so long as you keep the ball in play. Wayward shots can easily find the water hazards that exist on many of the holes or trees that tend to be fairly close to the fairways. Course conditions were better than expected after having read a number of the recent reviews. A couple of tees were somewhat bare with one of the par 3s (#17) completely bare - hitting off of green sand. The fairways and greens were in very good shape and it appeared that most golfers were doing a good job of filling in their divots with the sand provided and repairing their ball marks on the greens. The greens were smooth and fairly quick with true rolling of putts. The course was not crowded and the pro shop staff gave me the freedom to skip around and play multiple holes if/when I caught up with any golfers in front of me. Dolphin Head was a good choice for me to play my first round on Hilton Head Island as I was able to play a leisurely round at my own pace and practice by occasionally hitting multiple balls/putts, etc. without feeling rushed. Dolphin Head was a very good value for the money - especially using the Daily Steal deal on the course's website.

The former private course has been open to the public for the past few years and is worth playing - especially if you can snag a good deal. This Donald Ross design is quite fun, not overly long and relatively flat - easily walkable. I have played here a number of times in the Fall of 2020 and 2019 and with very few exceptions, the course conditions have been excellent. It has been said that this course is going to close. That would be unfortunate as I have seen days when CCC has been overflowing with golfers. The only rough situation that I encountered on my round was that the grounds crew had a difficult time keeping up with keeping all of the fallen leaves off of the fairways and greens. Hole #13 was unplayable as the entire fairway and rough was covered in leaves from tee to green. My playing partners lost their golf ball on every shot. I took my par and walked to the 14th tee. I can only imagine how many golf balls were found once the leaves were removed! CCC has been offering package deals for 2021 - hopefully they will sell enough to secure sufficient funding to keep this course open for the foreseeable future. I give CCC a 4.3 out of 5 rating.

This was my second time playing this course and I enjoyed the round this time even more than the first time. As a single, I was allowed to tee off ahead of a foursome with the tee time ahead of mine...thanks to the BW staff and the foursome ahead of me! I caught up with other groups in front of me on hole #6 and was able to play through the lone foursome in front of us all by the 10th tee. From that point on, it was smooth sailing. I completed my round in under 3 hours. The golf course is in great shape and, as noted in my previous review, there are no two holes that are alike. There is no GPS on the carts and without my range finder, yardages were difficult to figure - especially on the par 3s. I look forward to playing Balmoral Woods again in the future!

Based on a review of this golf course on thefriedegg.com, my son and I decided to play Mt. Prospect Golf Club. We were not disappointed in our decision! We were quite fortunate to be paired with two players very familiar with the course as they have annual memberships - their insights provided us with a most enjoyable round of golf. The golf course was dramatically transformed through a redesign by Dave Esler, who incorporated many architectural principles of C. B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor including many of the famed green complexes found at Chicago Golf Club - Redan, Biarritz, Double Plateau and Punchbowl. Each hole is different from each other and requires a unique strategy from tee to green. The green complexes are amazing and with large undulations and subtle breaks even when they appear to be level, successful putting requires local knowledge and most likely multiple rounds. Many thanks to Jerry and Bobby for an enjoyable round and drink afterwards. I'm looking forward to returning to play Mt. Prospect Golf Club again in the near future.

It is too bad that Calumet Country Club was not prepared for the number of golf reservations made on this beautiful Fall day. We were told that there were 155 golfers, but only 50 to 60 available golf carts. Our 2:30 tee time was delayed for nearly 30 minutes as we waited for carts to come off of the 18th hole. Some golfers decided to walk rather than wait for the next available cart while at least one golfer decided to leave and try again another day. Although very friendly, there were not enough staff working - one person in the pro shop and one person working the carts. No on-course ranger to keep things moving along or to request golfers to complete their round in a timely fashion and pass their cart on to a group waiting to start their round. One twosome easily took 25 minutes to play the 18th hole as they were playing multiple balls and having a difficult time keeping track of errant shots. No tee starter to keep things under control and keep the tee times in order. Certainly not the right impression to make on golfers who ownership are wanting to consider becoming members of Calumet Country Club.
Once on the course, the round was quite enjoyable. Course conditions were a bit wet from the rain the previous day and evening. Tee boxes, fairways, and greens were all in very good condition. Numerous ball marks on the greens, but once properly repaired, all putts were smooth rolling and green speed was fairly fast and consistent throughout the entire course. Unlike other reviews, no complaints regarding the course layout and the ease of finding the next tee - especially since a course diagram is included on the scorecard. The variety of hole design was good with a good mix of straight and dogleg holes in both directions and green complexes that differed throughout the course. Because of the delayed start, we were unable to finish our round before sunset. On the other hand, the pace of play was quick enough, despite the large number of golfers on the course, that we were able to play a total of 17 holes (played 1 - 15 and replayed 10 and 11) on a Sunday afternoon in 3.5 hours. I hope to return and play the entire course the next time.

A perfect day to play golf was equaled by the service by the pro shop attendant and first tee starter (Spencer) who were both very accommodating to me and all of the other golfers. Ravisloe Country Club's layout is a wonderful mix of short, long, straight and dogleg holes with bunkers and mounds strategically placed requiring strategy on all shots. The key for scoring well on this course is to keep the ball in the fairways and out of the green side steep-faced bunkers that are very deep. The golf course superintendent, who I met between holes 7 and 8, and his very small crew (5 guys) have the course in excellent condition with the exception of the par three tee boxes. The divot repair containers on each tee box were empty of divot replacement sand and seed mix. Additional water coolers would be a great addition to this course also - as previously stated in my earlier review. I look forward to returning and playing Ravisloe Country Club again!

Our trip to play Ravisloe was well worth the drive. Although we had to park remotely due to a wedding taking place in the afternoon, the club provided shuttle service from our car to the clubhouse. The pro shop attendant and starter let us tee off early to get in front of a foursome that had not yet checked in. The course conditions were generally excellent with the exception of non-repaired ball marks on the greens and a few fairway locations that were bare - presumably due to the excessive rain earlier in the season. The green complexes can be very challenging as there are deep bunkers with steep faces existing on every green. Most of the greens have a good amount of slope and undulations that can make for some tricky putts. A few of the greens have false fronts or are crowned - typical of a Donald Ross design. The course is not excessive in length, but strategy is still required from the tee to green.
No two holes are the same which makes for an enjoyable round. The only true negative issue was the limited number (2) of water fountains available on the course. It was humid during our round and the lone water station on each nine was insufficient. After the round, we celebrated an ace recorded in our group on the 11th hole with a refreshing beverage at the clubhouse outdoor bar!

Balmoral Woods is a big tree lined golf experience where strategic placement of your tee ball is required on nearly every hole. The course layout is exceptional as each of the holes are unique - requiring the ability to move the ball in all directions with a variety of straight, doglegs (both left-to-right and right-to-left), elevation changes and a few blind shots as well. Course conditions were quite good despite the wet conditions requiring 90 degree cart rules on most holes and 'stay on cart path' required for 6 holes. The par 3 tee boxes were in need of care with significant bare spots from unrepaired divots despite a divot repair sand bucket available for use at each tee. The only significant negative was annoying 'horse flies' were swarming on holes 10 through 12...otherwise a very enjoyable golf experience!

Great Rate on GolfNow.com. I had been considering playing this course for some time, but never previously found the time to fit it into my schedule. I was fortunate to find the time recently just days before the course was closing for the year. This golf course is somewhat hard to find, but well worth the effort. The course layout is truly exceptional as no two holes are alike. It pays to review the caddy tips provided on the website along with watching U-Tube videos of each of the holes by Wes Widdows prior to your round. Course conditions were excellent as the greens were perfect - fast and true with no ball marks! The fairways and tees were all very good. Yes, there are some blind shots into a few of the greens, but the course was not tricked up or impossible as noted on some of the other reviews - it does require accuracy and distance control on your approach shots. My only recommendation would be to clean up the edges of ponds/water hazards and add aeration so that they are not stagnant and covered over with algae. Hole diagrams on the scorecard with yardages would also be helpful - perhaps a yardage book is available in the clubhouse for purchase. If in the area again, I would definitely play Harbor Links at Sagamore Resort.

I had high hopes after reading recent reviews and upon pulling into the neighborhood - beautiful homes surrounding this golf course. The course claims to have fast greens running at a 10 on the stimp meter, but they were all fairly slow compared to what I normally encounter in the Midwest. The condition of the greens were excellent with very few ball marks and all of them rolled true. The condition of the rest of the course was terrible...dirt pan fairways and tee boxes. Bunkers had little sand and the ponds were nearly dry. The course layout was interesting with a lot of variety in the hole design and there was some welcome elevation changes - generally non-existent for Florida golf courses. Club house/Pro Shop/Bar closed before 6:30 p.m. - could not watch the final holes of Masters Sunday when I finished my round. Inexpensive round, but not a very good experience.

Enjoyable round of golf at Indian Ridge with a few minor gripes...greens had been aerated recently and did not appear to have been cut recently so the pace was slow and roll was very unpredictable. Tee boxes were generally good with a few that were not level while all of the fairways were in excellent condition. Pace of play was fairly slow as the round took 5 hours to complete. Due to the hilly terrain, many tee shots were blind as were many approach shots to elevated greens - perhaps the reason for slow play. The course layout had good variety and some interesting risk/reward opportunities - most par 5s and the par 4 1st and 7th holes.

I was warmly greeted by the Pro Shop Staff and Tee Starter and promptly paired with two locals who were regular players at River Islands. Without the direction of these two men, I would have struggled to know the correct strategy for playing this course. The course layout is tremendous as each hole is unique from the rest and course conditions were superb as the tee boxes, fairways and greens were as if no one had played the course all summer. The round was played in just under 4 hours, but due to the difficulty of the course, it is easy to see why others have complained about a long round. This course should be on your list if you play to a mid-teens to low handicap and can keep it in the short grass - fairly high Slope from the Member tees. Minor issues: the water jugs were empty after the 15th hole, and some portions of the cart paths were gravel. Unfortunately, I learned at the end of the day that this golf course may be going to auction and perhaps closing - that would be a shame for such a unique, interesting, and picturesque golfing experience. If you live in the area or are visiting, River Islands is well worth the drive. Thanks to Eric and Al for making my round extremely enjoyable!