List the top 5 courses in this area

[frsty50]

My friends and I would like to travel to some other courses in the area. List your personal top 5 courses, within a 2 hour drive of Waukegan.

Thanks
Johnny B.

[Bruce Brakel]

Not in order,

UW Parkside, Kenosha Wisconsin
West Park, Joliet
Lemon Lake, Cedar Lake Indiana

Can you get to Madison in two hours?

And how good is that course in Milwaukee?

[CEValkyrie]

Dretzka Park in Milwaukee is SWEET!

[shawn]

Madison is within 2 hour range, all 3 courses are pretty good.

Milwaukee has a new course in Sussex...very well designed..but a young course.  Dreska is a Championship style course with multiple pads and anchors.

Manitowoc, silver creek a must play

Kenosha,Parkside... it's worth the trip..  tests most of your shots, good mix of holes.

I'm not too familiar with IL courses.

[frsty50]

Not in order,
UW Parkside, Kenosha Wisconsin
West Park, Joliet
Lemon Lake, Cedar Lake Indiana
Can you get to Madison in two hours?
And how good is that course in Milwaukee?

Hi,
Parkside is a favorite of ours. We play it whenever we have enough time to make the trip.

Joliet...that's a possibility for a summer road trip if it's worth it.

Indiana...probably only if we went camping near there, but we'll keep it in mind.

Madison...another one more likely for summertime.

Milwaukee...I heard a few good things about the courses up there, must be a reason.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Johnny B.

[frsty50]

Dretzka Park in Milwaukee is SWEET!

Thanks for the glowing review.
We'll put it on the list of "must play's"

Johnny B.

[frsty50]

Madison is within 2 hour range, all 3 courses are pretty good.

Milwaukee has a new course in Sussex...very well designed..but a young course.  Dreska is a Championship style course with multiple pads and anchors.

Manitowoc, silver creek a must play

Kenosha,Parkside... it's worth the trip..  tests most of your shots, good mix of holes.

I'm not too familiar with IL courses.

Ok, that's another check for Madison for this spring/summer.

It looks like we'll definately be making a trip to Milwaukee sometime soon.

Manitowoc...now there's a place I haven't been in a long time. I used to shoot at an outdoor club up there. I'll add it to our list.

Parkside, yes, one of our favorites.

Thanks for replying.

Johnny B.

[airspuds]

joliet area

play all five in one day

shorewood
channohon
west park
new lenox
lockport


 

[Myk]

Round Lake is a personal Favorite
Libertyville is a nice change of pace
Parkside of course
Elver and Token Creek in Madison.

[airspuds]

just to clarify

new lenox used to be a top notch course
but the challage would be to play
the " gary lewis "courses  

[D]

My top three* would be

Adler
Fairfield
Lippold (a fun 18)

I haven't been to any Wisconsin courses but I would love to go up there and toss. And I've yet to visit the Joliet courses

[frsty50]

Well, played Fairfield yesterday. It was chilly, but had a great time anyways. Played it twice.

I REALLY like this course, but the tee pads suck. If that's what they are stuck with, so be it, but that course would out of this world with cement pads.

My favorite holes were: 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, and 18. I got 2-5's on 18. Just don't have the arm to get a 4 there.

So, scratch that off my "to play" list. On to Milwaukee or Joiet!

Johnny B.

[mirth]

If you think the limestone tees suck, you should have seen it when they were muddy pits!

Its a vast improvement, trust me.

What would you suggest to make them better? Concrete is out of the question, the park district is under a delusion that some day there might be soccer fields at that park.

[shawn]

Thing is when most courses put down limestone they do it wrong.  I'm not sure how you guys did it, but I will give you a quick lesson.  

1.  Dig down to clay or a hardpacked fill.  

2.  Make a frame out of treated 2x4's or 4x4's the size of the pad needed and set flush with the ground around the pad.

3.  Road fabric must be layed down.  This is much heavier then landscape fabric.  Most Park districts have this stuff available.  If you don't use this stuff, the stone will just go into the dirt and make a muddy stone mixture that is no good.  It also, prevents potholes

3.  Fill the frames with stone and tamp down with a whacker a few times as you add stone.   NOTE:  backfill your frames with dirt before tamping the stone.

4.  Enjoy your tee pad that will last forever.


Any other way and you wasted time and material.

[frsty50]

If you think the limestone tees suck, you should have seen it when they were muddy pits!

Its a vast improvement, trust me.

What would you suggest to make them better? Concrete is out of the question, the park district is under a delusion that some day there might be soccer fields at that park.

 Well, the only thing in between concrete pads and a limestone pit, would be to build a platform out of 2x6's, sunk into the ground a bit. Fill 1/3 of box with limestone, another 1/3 leveling sand, and top with pavers or 1ft sq stone patio slabs.

 With some care in keeping a grade when laying the box, drainage should not be an issue.

 As long as the R.L.P.D doesn't mind a small dump truck making small stops around the field dropping material off, it wouldn't be hard to do.

 The issue would be the cost of the pavers. That's the biggest cost. That and the wood. The platforms would be easliy removable with a Bobcat and a dump truck if they ever decided to kick us out.

 I'm sure I'm gonna get bashed around on this, but it's a suggestion. It's probably been hashed around in the past for all I know.

 Johnny B.

[frsty50]

Thing is when most courses put down limestone they do it wrong.  I'm not sure how you guys did it, but I will give you a quick lesson...

Darn, beat me to it!

[Jon Brakel]

We did it how we were allowed to. We made suggestions and they said this is how its going to be done. They are holding up well, but will need a bit of maintenance every year.

[CEValkyrie]

Jon is right. The park district said they wanted to do it their way. It was quick & easy with the bobcat. If you throw in front of the # stone, most of the tee pads really suck. I'm glad all the chuckers throw out front & stay off the level part of each pad. It keeps them level for the rest of the players. There is no wooden frame around the tee pads. The park district did not want to do it. It actually ended up working better. The old dirt tees extended nearly 20 feet on some holes. We didn't dig up all 20 feet of dirt. Limestone has covered that dirt & it is no longer muddy. Compared to the old dirt tees, these are 100% better. Some are worse than others but that was expected. Yearly maintenance will be required but the park districts bobcat will make short work of it.  

[jim]

Jim's Top 5:

UW Parkside, Kenosha
West Park, Joliet
Dretzka Park, Milwaukee
Vallarta-Ast (Token Creek), Madison
Bevier/RoundLake - tied for 5th

[Laura]

Hi I just wanted to let everyone know that a new course is scheduled to open within the next couple of weeks in Mokena, IL.  It is going to be awesome.  It is a 27 hole course with 54 tee boxes on a 35 acre space of wooded, rolling terrain.  It is going to be unbelievable.  The course is opening soon, but on May 2, 2004 there is going to be an opening celebration at the park.  The park district has obtained several sponsorships so they are going to have tons of giveaways!!!!  I will keep everyone posted on the official date that it opens so you can go check it out!!