schofir

I've been coming here annually for ten years and love this course despite the cost per round($360). I was comped my first round this year due to some issues last season and I was grateful. The staff is super friendly and professional. At issue is the course conditions. The fairways were brown and crusty in most spots and every tee shot ended up having mud on the ball from them trying to keep it moist. The greens were very inconsistent and patchy. It was in bad shape and played like a heavily used muni. I don't know if it's anyone's fault on the conditions, but the course shouldn't be charging what they do for a course in this bad shape.

I love the layout of this course and been playing it since the clubhouse was a small trailer on the hill. I try and take friends from out of town there and always advise them to bring extra balls because so much water is in play on the front nine. It's often a bit slow but the pace of play this time was so bad we had to skip around and eventually only got in 14 holes, and this was a week day. The other issue is during my last few visits, they had the actual tight grass driving range area closed and they set up practice tees on the end in the high grass that wasn't cut very low. Basically, you practice in the heavy rough. Over the years, the only time I found the real range open was during an outing. Great course but need to fix the pace of play and the range issue or those in Chicago may as well go to Harborside. With the tolls, it's cheaper, with great practice areas and two courses. Lost Marsh needs an on course ranger and let us beat up the range a bit. I go there less for these two reasons alone.

I played this course a week ago and it was in great shape but a little soft. Heavy rains meant a couple of balls plugged in the fairway on a good drive. That happens. I honestly love this course and the facility is beautiful. However, we never saw a marshal and the pace of play was fine until we got to #9. We watched a single tee off followed by a twosome, then my twosome. We waited for 10 minutes there on for the tee shot and the approach. It got unbearable, my scores started to suffer and we skipped four holes, played #18 and left. A morning weekday round should not have taken that much time. I will hold off on going back until I hear they are doing a better job keeping guys moving.

My group of 12-16 golf buddies have been doing a trip annually for over 20 years. Most of the time was in Myrtle Beach but we grew tired of it and decided on Tampa. The city and amenities were great. Cheval was one of four courses we played but the least enjoyable. The greens were dry and bumpy and we decided we will replace Cheval with another course. It was the worst of the four by far.

I play this course fairly often because of the relatively low price and if you are willing to get up early, you can easily walk on and finish in 3 hours. The course conditions have steadily improved over this summer and the greens are better than country club and resort course greens. The staff is friendly and they seem to finally have a grounds crew. Fairways and greens are as good as any in the Chicagoland area. The bunkers have never had sand but a fine powdered dirt so it is what it is. The course gets very slow on weekend mornings after 8am and it needs but doesn't have a marshall to keep people on pace. Most people who are slow will let you play through if they are the ones holding you up.

My group of 12 usually stay at the Legends Resort but it was full so we made a return to Barefoot. The courses are all very good, Fazio, Dye, Love and Norman, in that order. The last two trips we made, the condos were cheaply furnished and my group really disliked the small twin beds. The courses are great so let me be clear. The staff is very friendly. BUT: No buffet and one waitress trying to feed 12-20 guys was a problem every morning, and course managers didn't make any moves to resolve. No practice facilities on Fazio, Love, Norman so you have to be shuttled 1/2 mile away. No chance to practice at night after dinner. We will go back to Legends as soon as there is vacancy. Time off the course is important too.