First course I ever played was Sinisissippi. I wonder if I played some of you in junior tournaments? I'm loving all this Rockford golf nostalgia!

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Never played tournament golf as a kid. I was a total hack for years - bad grip, bad stance, etc. Had to unlearn a bunch of bad habits in my late 20s. Took a lesson from - what the hell was his name - used to coach at RVC - Chuck...somebody - on that big open field near Elliot. Got my grip and takeaway where they needed to be. Also, I had my bachelor party at Elliot.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Chuck Behrends. I took lessons from him in that same field as a yute. Remember him saying "that's better...that's better"?

He died on the golf course at Swanhills in Belvidere a couple years ago. Birdied the first hole and dropped dead on the second tee at 82. We should all be so lucky.

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Yeah, I remember that! He taught me the football handoff as part of a takeaway drill.

A poetic ending indeed. Good for him.

I fucking hate Swanhills.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Swanhills serves it's purpose as a confidence booster if you are playing bad. I need it once a year.

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I suppose.

That reminded me about Timber Pointe. Haven't played there in many years. Ever play there?

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Oh yeah. Not for a couple years though. My buddy and his Saturday crew were members there a few years ago and I'd play with them now and then to round out the group if they needed a fourth. Dirt cheap membership to this day I think. I always thought it was a decent course for the price if you lived in Belvidere.

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Yeah, I liked it. Bent-grass fairways and fast greens. It was fairly new the last time I played it. Some blah/non- descript holes that probably are better once the course matured.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Holy shit the little signal was going off in my head about this thread....

I also spent many days as a yute on a junior pass on the Rockford courses. Pretty sure it was $105 per year, but with some hours restrictions (no prime weekend hours). I was a Sandy Hollow guy growing up. Me and a couple JH/HS buddies would have one of our parents drop us off before work on a weekday...play until it was dark if we could. Scoop balls out of the woods or pond and just keep going. I loved Sandy....600-yd par 5 coming in on #9.

I also played a few rounds with some of the Nielsen boys growing up. Couple times with Erron - he was a REALLY REALLY good golfer back then. He basically lived at Elliot GC, and went to Miami, OH on a golf scholarship. I knew Miles a little more, he's my age, and easily the most musically talented of the Nielsen boys. Also a pretty good golfer. Daxx is younger, I don't even know if he golfs. But he makes Cheap Trick $$. (There's a story there...)

I once took a golf "proficiency test" for a college credit with Chuck Behrends....I passed. But only because of a screw up by my advisor at NIU about course requirements. It was clearly a favor somehow that I didn't care about.

Just a bit of clarification for T-Bone's question: Elliot golf course is not Native American property. Neither is the old Clock Tower. And Rick Nielsen is not an owner of the existing golf course (that's park district property), he's an investor in the new casino going in at the old resort site.

Finally - Sinnissippi is a bizarre 9 hole course. Lots of hills on some holes, tons of old tall oaks, and yet....consistently an hour+ wait back in the day. I never understood it. The hole that bordered the old JCC - par-5, up the hill blind tee shot, then down the hill 2nd shot, then uphill to the green....great hole. Straight as an arrow, but challenging.

And I'm sure it grew in, but Elliott was just a wide open, windy course with some length, built on a gently sloping hill back in the day. Not my favorite, it was fine.

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Said goodbye today with one last round. Shot a nice 76. My best round of the year. Fitting.

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Playing a 27 hole scramble Saturday with my guys. I have a guy in his late 50s and a couple early 60s. This thing brings out the college guys and sharks as the winners get free golf passes next year. Playing 2 groups together this year which I think will take the -24 scores off the table. Beautiful weather expected. I’d love it if we could get under -18. My guess is -22 will win.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I played four times in a week. A couple of repeat courses, one I had played in July, one I had played a few years ago (it's down in South Carolina and a great course cut into the forest http://www.playcheraw.com/ ) Scores were meh (best 9-hole was 50, worst was 57), but the courses were a bit more challenging, definitely more bunkered. I found some specific things I need to practice, for example I kept on leaving myself shitty uphill chips of 25-35 feet into the front of elevated greens from tight fringe. Not a shot I ever really had to play in Chicago. But on the plus side, my driving accuracy has improved to the point where I feel comfortable hitting driver on most par 4s instead of dropping back to a 3H or 7W if the fairway is narrow.

With this week off I've burned all my excess comp time that I had picked up at the beginning of COVID, so this barrage of September and October rounds has mostly come to an end. There is a "golf center" about 25 minutes from me with an 18 hole par 3 course for $13 weekdays and a driving range with a $9 large bucket. So I'm going to do that for the next two weeks (once with co-workers, first time I'll have seen them since March) and then try to get a couple of regular rounds in before Thanksgiving when weather permits.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Shot -18 in pretty windy conditions today at the 27 hole scramble. They grouped us in 8 somes and there were 48 groups. It took 8 hours! Brutal. Anyway we played about as good as we could and ended up finishing in 2nd place. Pretty impressive considering my 3 partners were between 58 and 65 years old. Winning team shot -22 which is pretty incredible. Turns out they had a woman on the team who could hit it 230+ off the tee according to the pro we talked to. Pretty nice strategy when the women’s tees are 2000 yards shorter than the men’s on one course and 700 less on the other 9 holes. Huge advantage. The guys on my team struggle to hit it that far off the tee most times. Winning prize was a $700 walking season pass for 2021. That would have been a nice prize.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Played Tam O'Shanter in Niles today with my cousin.

Haven't played there in years, but always pretty cool to walk the same ground as Snead, Hogan, Nicklaus, Palmer, Byron Nelson, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Billy Casper.

Also, pretty cool that it didn't take 8 hours.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

A few weeks ago I was going to the driving range on a Friday afternoon. Two post asked where I was going, and I told him I was going to hit some golf balls.

He got pretty fired up and asked to go with me and hit some balls. So I got to spend 40 minutes or so with my six year old hitting balls on the driving range just him and I. He enjoyed it and we went back and hit again last Friday.

Its really fun to have those 40-60 minute moments where he's captured by the whole experience and he's focused and energized. It's like there isn't anyone in the world except for he and I at that point.

Any chance you get, you take it. It doesn't matter if it is eating ice cream, range balls, ball field, music concert, whatever. Time flies, enjoy it all.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I don't think T-Bone is on board with you.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

This is truth.
Amazing how fast everything goes.

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Got out Monday for what could have been my final round of the season. University Park Golf Club out south, not a bad little track. Definitely priced well. I found it for $29 w/cart on GolfNow, but normal price is $30 weekdays and $40 weekends/holidays with cart. Was in pretty nice shape. Some drainage areas and dry creeks that aren't really marked and that you can't even see from the tee box which was weird. Hit the hell out of my driver. #16 is a 608 yard par 5, and I went driver, 4iron, 9iron, two putts which was quite tasty. Bladed several chips which really cost me though I did get better with that on the back 9. One putted seven greens though, by far the most I've had in one round. Shot 49-42. Kind of played a hybrid set of tees that was about 6300 yards. Nice enough course, great weather, and finished the round (season) par, par, bogey, par.

Trying to hold out hope for one more round even if its 9 holes, but I'm just not sure its in the cards. Have the chance to go Saturday, but no way do I want to play in 40+ MPH wind gusts.

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Meet me at Bartlett Hills in 56 minutes, Franklin.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

I'll be playing at least one more time this year in Illinois and hopefully once in a warmer climate.

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@audioidkid

I'm with you on that. Bartlett Hills was in great shape on Friday. Playing into November until I can get down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for 5 days of golf.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Perfect day today, 78 and sunny in the afternoon. I played a muni out in Wilson today, a small city on I-95. Flat ex-farm course, you could drop it onto Village Greens of Woodridge or Wilmette Golf Club and nobody would notice. I shot a legit 101 with one par (one of the four sub-300 yard par 4s) and one triple. I should have been at least three shots lower, my chipping was shit again for the third round in a row. Course slope off the senior tees was supposedly 116, which is bullshit it's a basic 105 slope parkland course.

$14 riding on a GolfNow hot deal. $27 riding weekdays normally, or $60/month walking for the locals. It's an hour long drive each way, but I've learned to stack up podcasts for golf days. I will definitely return, as that GolfNow rate is likely to be available all winter. The tee time was really just a suggestion, no foursomes on the course today so it was start when you're ready and let faster players play through.

Fifteen rounds in the books since late June. I'm hoping to get two rounds in during November, and I'm playing a par 3 on Thursday with coworkers that is supposedly open all year and lighted. I may resort to that in December and January, or I may drive down to Georgia some long weekend.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Might be getting the final 9 in tomorrow after work.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Same. I don't even like when I'm playing a neighboring hole and there is music coming from the carts next to us.

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Really, I love when music is on, there are carts with Bluetooth now that are awesome.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

That's different though. More of a distraction. You can still hear your club making contact with the ball. He's really talking about earbuds.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

I'm with Frank on the music coming from carts. Some people are reasonable with it and keep the volume down so that just the people in the cart can hear it, but more often the music is blaring from a hole or two over and it's like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. The last thing I need is an ear worm while playing golf. I am there for the nature and quiet. I only listen to AM talk on the way to the course for the exact same reason. If I am on the putting green for an extended time while practicing I will occasionally put headphones on

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami