WCPGG 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW

How does a Hole-In-One not be the highlight to anyone's golf season?  My first one ever (after 53 years of golfing) was without a doubt the best thing that happened to me on a golf course in 2023.  CLICK HERE to read the full story of my magic moment and my life-long love affair with public golf in Chicagoland.

I played 83 rounds of golf this past year covering 6 states outside Illinois, including 53 different public courses in the Windy City, some really good, a few not so good and everything in between.  North, south, west, I covered every corner of metro Chicago.  Is it presumptuous for me to say that I am one of the foremost experts on public golf in Chicagoland?  Maybe, but I'll stack my local knowledge against anyone's.  

Here are all the courses I played locally in 2023:

North/Northwest - Brae Loch, Chalet Hills, Chick Evans, Countryside Prairie, Foss Park, Fox Lake, Fox Run, Glenview Park, Heritage Oaks, Makray, Randall Oaks, Schaumburg, Steeple Chase

West/Far West - Arrowhead (West), Bowes Creek, Flagg Creek, Fresh Meadow, Glendale Lakes, Hughes Creek, Klein Creek, Maple Meadows, Oak Brook, Orchard Valley, Prairie Landing, River Bend, St. Andrew's #1, St. Andrew's #2, Village Links of Glen Ellyn (9 Hole), White Pines East

South/Southwest - Bolingbrook, Boughton Ridge, Broken Arrow, Cardinal Creek, Carillon, Cog Hill #1, Cog Hill #2, Cog Hill #3, Deer Creek, George Dunne, Green Garden Gold, Harborside Port, Heritage Bluffs, Hickory Hills, Lincoln Oaks, Mistwood, Naperbrook, Old Oak, Prairie Bluff, Sanctuary, Silver Lake South, Tuckaway, Water's Edge, Woodruff

Outside Chicagoland, I played 16 rounds covering 6 states including:

* A round at Dancing Rabbit in Mississippi in February.  The resort features two 18 hole championship courses and I played the Oaks course (the Azaleas was closed for renovation).  Although the conditions at this time of the year weren't ideal, the layout, a collaboration between Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate, seamlessly rolled through wooded hillsides in central Mississippi on the ancestral land of the Choctaw Indians.  A well appointed hotel and casino is nearby to make Dancing Rabbit a travel destination for adventurous golfers.

* 2 rounds near Williamsburg, VA in April, including a visit to Royal New Kent, one of the 9 courses designer Mike Stranz created in his much too short career.  Stranz used his vivid imagination to showcase bold features rarely seen in conventional routings, and this was one of the wildest rounds I've ever played and I'm hoping to try another Stranz layout some day.

* 36 holes in May at Geneva National, the upscale 54 hole resort in Lake Geneva.  We played the Player and Trevino layouts, 2 very different designs by legendary golfers.  The Player 18 has more drama and difficulty, while the Trevino layout has a more traditional parkland feel, but both are excellent and worth a trip to Wisconsin.

* 5 straight days of golf in steamy Phoenix in late August.  Yes, it was very hot, but I wanted to play some of the really expensive courses that I've avoided in the past, and We-Ko-Pa, Boulders and Quintero lived up to the lofty reputations.  CLICK HERE for a recap of my Hot Fun in the Summertime trip to the Valley of the Sun.

* 3 rounds over Halloween in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Reno.  The weather in Reno is similar to what we have in Chicago and I got lucky with a week with temps in the 60's and plenty of sun.  The mountain views were amazing and the rounds at Wolf Run, Sunridge and Genoa Lakes on the east side of Lake Tahoe in Nevada were fun and affordable.

* 54 holes in Indiana, including all 36 holes at White Hawk, a semi-private club in Crown Point with four challenging 9's, with the Silver Hawk quite possibly being the toughest 9 holes I played all year.  A late season trip to LaPorte to play Legacy Hills was a joy, an entertaining layout with plenty of elevation change at a super bargain green fee.

I make no secret that my golf skills are modest, but I was able to shave 3 strokes off my Index during the year to finish at 16.9.  I have to give some of the credit to the new irons I bought at the beginning of the season, Sub 70 699 Pro V1's.  If you haven't heard of Sub 70, check them out, they are located an hour west in Sycamore and offer a full line of clubs at an appealing price point.  CLICK HERE for more details on Sub 70 and CLICK HERE to follow my process to determine which set of irons were the right fit for me.

Out of the 72 eighteen hole rounds that I played my own ball, I broke 90 fifteen times, which is a good year for me.  I even flirted with breaking 80, but a few bad shots dashed those hopes.  Here are 10 of my most memorable Windy City rounds in 2023:

Glenview Park, July 3rd - 9th hole, 145 yards, into the wind, 5 iron, 2 hops and in the hole!  Nothing before or after that shot gave any indication that something special would happen this day.  I'm glad I got to share this magic moment with 3 good friends who I've golfed with for years.

Silver Lake South, July 21st - I've never broken 80, but I had that dream dancing in my head after a scorching start on a hot summer day in Orland Park.  I grew up in Oak Lawn and have played SLS dozens of times, and I'd always found the South as a tougher play than the longer North course.  A double bogey start on the long par 5 1st hole was erased by back-to-back birdies on 4 & 5 and had me at even par through 7, and a few weeks after my HI1 another milestone was in reach.  And then reality reared its ugly head, as a double-triple-double stretch effectively ruined my chance.  I finished with an 83, but the thought of what could have been...

Heritage Bluffs, June 24th - I had a 42 on the front nine in my golf league mid-season tournament, and continued to play steady (for me) bogey golf thru 14 on a tough layout.  And then I pulled my drive into thick prairie on 15, and to add to my misery I stepped in a hole searching for the ball and rolled my ankle, total blowout.  I soldiered on and finished the round, but a good score in a competition was blown up by 1 bad swing.  I was back on the course 2 days later with a tightly wrapped right ankle and it was a couple of months before I was pain free, but I was not going to let that unfortunate miss-step ruin my summer.

Schaumburg, July 10th - I had not played Schaumburg since before the renovation so a visit was long overdue, and a spin on the Tournament / Player's 9's did not disappoint.  A fun, playable layout over rolling hills with top conditions at a competitive rate for the quality offered led to a great day of golf.  It didn't hurt that I played pretty well, too.  I got to the Baer 9 a week later, and a lousy score didn't hinder my enjoyment of a really good northwest suburban muni.

Harborside Port, September 25th - I don't play at Harborside very much as it's a bit pricey and is one of the few local courses that don't offer a senior discount, but the Port course was the perfect way to enjoy a beautiful early fall day.  I carded 8 pars, my high for the year, but 2 triple bogeys marred an otherwise solid round at a tough layout.  The course was the star, a true prairie links experience, and the last 3 holes on the shore of Lake Calumet give a wisp of British Isle seaside magic.  The Starboard course at Harborside will be on my list to play in 2024.

Fox Lake, October 3rd - 1st time visit to this far north suburban layout and I knew I was in for something different when I say the "no walking allowed" sign.  Fox Lake is about as dramatic a topography as you'll find in Chicagoland with steep, rolling hills aplenty, but it was the stretch of holes at the far end of the property, 13 thru 16 (3 short par 4's and a par 3 over a pond) that sold me.  The future of this privately owned course is a little murky, but here is one vote that this really fun, unique layout stays open.

Mistwood, October 17th - Everything about Mistwood is focused on a first-class experience for golfers.  The pro shop, driving range/practice area and clubhouse are all impressive, and the golf course is arguably one of the top 5 public layouts in Chicagoland.  A fall weekday senior rate of $55 with cart was one of the best deals I scored all year.  There is little not to like about a day at this exemplary southwest suburban facility.

Oak Brook, November 6th - Ideally located at the southwest corner of 22nd Street and York Road, getting a prime tee time at Oak Brook is no easy feat.  But if you can, you'll be playing one of the better muni's in the Windy City.  The front nine is fairly flat and defined by the prominent water hazards in play on over half the holes, while the back nine adds in some elevation change, especially on the 16th, a sharp dogleg left that is one of my favorite par 5's in the area.  I don't play Oak Brook often, but I'm never disappointed when I do.   

Steeple Chase, November 7th - I've always felt that Steeple Chase is one of the most overlooked and under appreciated courses in the Windy City.  This is a really good layout, with the right mix of challenge and fun at a fair price point, but I rarely hear it mentioned in the conversation of the best public courses in the area, which is a major oversight in my golf world.  There are so many good holes here, and the 18th is the big finish par 5 that this layout deserves.  Playing back to back rounds at Oak Brook and Steeple Chase in ideal fall weather was a perfect end of the season duo.

Cog Hill #3, August 1st - A golf league I've played in for many years at the now closed Gleneagles shifted down the street to Cog Hill in 2023.  9 holes count, then it's as many as you can get in before dark.  I had my best league score, a 39, so those thoughts of breaking 80 again popped back in my head.  I couldn't get off the bogey train on the back 9 and settled for an 84, but golfing on a picture perfect late afternoon summer day on a course I've played since high school and scrambling to finish in the last minutes of daylight just felt so right.  I didn't reach the elusive goal, but I had a great time trying.

And that's why I can't wait to get back on the links in 2024 and sample more of the great public golf in the Windy City.