I got out to Cantigny Golf last month for some client golf (the best kind, not on my dime). It was a warm and windy one out in the West ‘burbs and we had a good time. I played pretty damn bad on the front 9, but did finally get it somewhat together on the back.
Cantigny routinely makes the “best of’ lists for IL, and while I wasn’t really wowed by the place, it was in pretty solid condition, and there are enough good holes out there to help you past a few ho-hum ones. Roger Packard/Andy North designed 27 holes out there in the 80s and the facilities are run by Kemper Sports. They tout the visit as one of those “country club for a day” expeiences and mostly deliver. Bag drop, forecaddies available, GPS on the carts, club wash at the end, plenty of amenities. Like I said, a pretty good time can be had. We played the Hillside/Lakeside nines; cost was $120 per player.
Lakeside #2 is a gettable par5 with a good tee shot (you work around the lake on the right side), lots of green grass everywhere and a fairly accessible green; there's a lot of greenside bunkers out here, so plan for that. The sand was just ok; I found a few of them to be getting thin and/or wet for some reason. Only logical reason was overwatering, it’d been pretty dry the previous days. Lakeside #3 is a great hole, a tight tee shot par4 with an elevated and guarded green. A note on the greens, pretty consistent (a strength) but very hard to get right. A lot of putts look like they’ll break and just don’t and we never got really comfortable. It’s the kind of thing that will wear on you, so by the end of the day, my putter was in a dark place…so sad! Lakeside finishes with a great par4, the tee shot using some misdirection, pointing you a bit askew from your landing area, with water lurking right, and a bunkered green. See the video.
Hillside was our second nine, and the two pair together fairly well. Number one is a good opener for the nine, with a nice dogleg right, ideally set up for a cut tee ball. I hit the green and…3 slapped for bogey. They have a few really big greens and that’s another level of defense for sure. The stretch from Hillside #6 thru #8 was my favorite. The sixth hole opens the video and is a placement tee shot, then over the water to a masssive double green complex; we were dead into the fan, so hitting that bunker complex off the tee and still hitting the green felt like a hero shot. Hillside #7 is a great par5, with a well-framed tee shot to a rumply fairway; the green is guarded by a false-front and bunker trouble right (surprise!) and I managed par from just off the front in 2. The eighth is a long-ish par3, with the green a bit elevated, mounds to the right, with another big green.
Overall I liked the place even if I started so poorly (it can be hard to be a “review guy” when you’re playing, even more so when you’re jacking the ball all over the place). Tons of green grass, a lot of bunkers to negotiate, pretty solid tee boxes (in need of a little work) and the greens were consistent all the way around. I’m not convinced the course is worth the full freight we paid, but keep in mind it was Chicagoland, so there’s a differential ain’t there? I would much more like the place if it was $80-90, that just sounds about right. They have three nines, ample facilities, and a very large practice area; everyone was quite nice. If you’re looking for something out west in Chicagoland, they definitely are in the running.
