Arboretum Golf Club

great layout and well maintained for the play they get. The greens are tricky - and in cases players need to take care of their ballmarks....that's not on the course, many of them fresh - gotta ask what's wrong with people? I must have fixed 3-4 ballmarks on every hole. But terrific day, forgot how great a golf course it was....been too long since I played but will be back

Not an easy course, a lot water so need to plan shots. Pace of play was 4 hours 10 mins.eed

Greens and fairways nice. Only suggestion is needs a little TLC on cart paths.

Definitely suggest playing here

What an incredible course! Easily one of the nicest courses I've played in years. The course was in fantastic condition, with challenging holes, lots of water and bunkers, and fast greens that really test your game. The clubhouse was beautiful....really enjoyed relaxing by the fireplace with food and drinks after the round. Just an awesome experience all around, and I can't wait to come back!

Nice course, great value friendly informative staff

Geoff and company have once again thrown a tough test at our group. Today pins were tucked and the golf course required shot making skills to go low. It’s always in good shape the only problem I ever have here is between my ears. The course is perfect, fairways slightly moist but who cares it’s cold enough that there’s definitely dew in the morning. There’s no whacking it anywhere here, just find the short grass and you’re good! Better yet bomb it when you feel like you can thread the needle because it definitely narrows at the landing areas.

Thanks again for having our group will definitely be back again soon.

I keep telling my friends that this is the best hidden secret on The North Shore! Why do I say that? Simple question, and the answer isn’t because of any one thing. It’s a combination of things. Let’s list what happened by number

#1 pulled into parking lot and headed to shop

# 2 was pleasantly greeted by Head Golf Professional Geoff Tollefson who was outside greeting his guests (something that’s one of my personal favorites, something that is getting lost in the industry but not here) Thanks Geoff

#3 played the golf course and got the opportunity to tee off a bit early and jumped on it.

#4 was greeted by every single maintenance worker throughout the entire round

#5 Tee boxes were freshly cut and pristine

#6 Fairways even better than the tee boxes. Absolutely beautiful. The only divots I see are already beginning to completely heal!

#7 The GREENS!!! Those babies are amazing. When playing here this is one of those special unique features that separates it from the rest of the local munis up here. They have large undulation and clearly you must place the ball on the proper shelf for your to score. If you’re just on the green, but not in the correct area sounds like you’re just lagging it and hoping for a two putt. There’s a spine that runs through half of the grave on the front line and it clearly tells you that you need to be on the right level. One of my favorite features out here. Not to mention they look as good as they roll. Absolutely perfect.

#8 the greens, again that’s why we love to play here, they’re fantastic and quite speedy.

#9 The entire experience was a classic pure golf event. I got there with one intention, to enjoy myself. Not only did I enjoy myself but my playing partner and good friend who primarily plays private clubs up on The North Shore was impressed and a little bit mad that there was so much water.

#10 this is a very docile first hole that says I’m an easy opening hole just please don’t throw the ball in someone’s yard! Then there she is, the beast is starting to get uncovered. 2 is an easy par 5 for me but it’s not easy at all. 3 comes and you say to yourself,” I pounded that and I’m still 165 from the stick and there are bunkers and both sides. Gotta love it. From 4 which is so easy and horrifying if you don’t know what to do, to 9 you simply have to find the fairway. Easier said than done. #10 is a simple risk reward option that literally crushes spirits for going for that tiny postage stamp green or just knock an iron to your go zone like I do (5 iron, gap wedge, birdie). 11, very fun and terrifying if you’ve never played before. It’s basically a 90° dogleg left with zero chance of getting there in 2! Lay up to the 120 and hope you stick it and move on and nail one right at the willow with a baby draw! Need I say more? 40-60 yards left is about all you’ll have left to that beautiful double green.

13, Water covers the entire right side so just draw one off the bridge and hit one about 220 giving yourself an easy wedge in. Love that elevated Green, make sure you add one club. 14 is the other half of the horseshoe shaped double green that it shares with the 12th hole. So cool and very well done. This beauty place about 125 typically. Naturally remember it’s slightly elevated so I always add a club. I don’t like having to pitch it straight up to the Green without being able to see the flag or the green. 15 is amazing. Easy three wood followed by an easy short iron to a very well guarded green, again the fairway slopes to the right towards the water and the green is elevated so add another one. 16 is a great one. Smash one with the miss being slightly to the right and then now another iron or Fairway wood up towards the green for an easy wedge in, remembering it is a little uphill on the approach shop. 17 is well guarded with bunkers and finally a hole with no water. It is elevated and it definitely adds a club, but it is well guarded by bunkers on both sides. Then the fun finisher 18! A tee shot either cut to the bird house or drawn over the birdhouse is the way to access this elevated guarded green with a 70 yard beach like bunker on the right that runs from front to back of the green and right of it is water. Left off the tee is bunker and so is left on the approach.

Need I say more? Get out here and see it for yourself. Distance has zero to do with it. This place requires placement and planning not pure distance. That’s why I choose to play here to practice. Off you can go low here which can easily be done, you have spent your day focusing not just shooting the stuff with your buddies. This course requires thought process to get it to stay in the acceptable range in regards to score. It can easily get away from you quickly.

A word to the wise, use the simulators as the driving range that they have here. It looks great and it is clearly a drag range. It just is the long , just a simulator, but you still get a full swing in and it’s great. Much better than nothing at all. Thanks guys for having it. It’s also great for the winter. I’m pretty sure Geoff and his team run league play throughout the winter. This entire property is amazing. Love it. Most people say too bad at the end of their review. Here’s my too bad, too bad I didn’t try to read my putt better on 7, it slid right down the hill. That’s my too bad, everything else is too good!!!

Geoff, Jamie and the rest of the team are wonderful. I can’t thank them enough for not only personally greeting me every single time I walk in the door, but for also providing a true test of a golfers ability and knowledge of the course. Yesterday I heard my buddy say, “ did that just splash?” I said yep, he said, “I didn’t even know there was a lake there” that’s a true testament to me of a golf course that screams hit it exactly where you’re supposed to. Don’t whack it anywhere just find the short grass. Which by the way was being caught yesterday and is perfect as always. The greens are also immaculate currently and I can’t thank you enough for having the golf course and such incredible shape so late in the season. Thanks so much for having me and of course I’ll be back. See you guys Thursday morning thanks again.

This golf course is like a mini Kemper Lakes. It’s not only fantastic. It has water on almost every single floor. There is no water on one and that’s the easy way to start a golf course however, Water does come in to play on every other hole just about with the exception of 17. If you’re a player and you’re looking for target golf in the Chicagoland area this would be this spot. If you spray it all over the place and I have no control over your golf ball then this is clearly not a good location for you. It’s impossible if that’s your case. It’s not mine, which is why I love it. It becomes an equalizer for everybody because the golf course isn’t long, but it is narrow. It requires shot, making not whacking it anywhere and hoping you find it. I love this place. I love the staff. I love the layout and most importantly I love the deal that they have which is to buy a frequent players card and Page is 40 bucks for the Golf. Thanks Arboretum for having me it’s amazing and I can’t thank you enough for doing such a great job keeping the golf course in great shape.

I love playing here! The employees as well as the maintenance staff are truly fantastic. I enjoy playing here many times a week and lI feel like it’s my own private club. Why do I say that? That’s because I’m treated like a king and just like everybody else that plays here. This staff is kind of courteous and most importantly Customer Service based. They truly care about their customers. And I can’t thank them enough for that. It’s my favorite place to play around here and it’s gonna stay that way. This is not a hit it anywhere golf course. It’s clearly target Golf and that’s why I love it. Thanks Arboretum team for making it so much fun every day. You guys deserve a pat on the bat for working so hard this late in the fall. The golf course looks awesome.

First time. Enjoyed the track. Nice layout. Hit the simulated before teeing off which was nice.

Played as a single and decided to play 2 balls and things were fine until I caught up to 2 groups of three that wouldn’t let me play through.

Almost hit into them when they decided to stop and look for balls in the water for over 15 minutes on back to back holes.

I would play again but if that’s how the golfers there act then forget it.

Also, the regular players there need to discover how to use a divot tool.

We got on the T box at 11:30. By 415 we were still on 17th.Tee box. Not for one second did the Ranger, who did absolutely nothing but look For Golf Balls in the lake all round or the group in front of us who are more than 2+ holes behind starting on the second even take one second out of either of their times to spend one minute with us. The group in front of us wouldn’t fix a single ball mark all four players would watch each other hit. It was like either beginner golf or big money. Neither would be true. Just a bunch of clowns that thought they knew what they were doing. They don’t and didn’t and probably won’t ever. Watching somebody shank five balls into the lake and then re-hit another three or four balls towards the Green is inappropriate and the Range should 100% be not only on them which she was but say something which he did not instead we saw him like three or four times during the round and unfortunately he did zero. Not a whole lot of fun there, especially when the ranger doesn’t do a gosh darn thing except for say, how are you doing? I didn’t wanna answer him because I am in The Golf business and a Golf professional, but my answer should have been. I’m not great because you’re not doing your job but it wasn’t because that’s not the person I am. His job is to take care of the golf course and the Pace and he didn’t not one time during the 5 hours of golf, did he say anything except for yeah it’s slow out here. Obviously it’s slow because the group in front is 2+ walls behind. That’s why it’s slow. There’s no other reason because the group in front of them finished in 335. We were an hour behind that not fun and won’t do it again. I’ll merely ask for a rain check for the back nine next next time. I love this golf course. It’s great. The only problem with it is when it’s wet the bunkers suck and when it’s dry, the bunkers suck. In the sand that’s what makes them a hazard. Unfortunately with no sand, it’s kinda hard to hit the ball out of there without shanking it up and over the Green 50 yards. My guys in my group actually raked the Bunker and then placed their balls. That’s the only way to hit them out of there unless you’re in the fairway and you want a heart bunker then. Not to mention the po is getting you and spreading everywhere. I don’t mind it, but it’s not a good look. It’s a great potting surface but looks terrible.

This is one of my favorite golf courses in the area. The best part about it is it’s not very long and it requires a shot making as well as creativity. You may not walk up to the tea box with a driver and just bomb it. Placement is a necessity, as well as placing your ball in the proper llocation on the greens. Often times they have quite a bit of break to their putts, only important if the greens have been cut as well as new cups. While it is the fall, there is no excuse for not cutting cups on a daily or every other day rotation. It’s not a whole lot of fun when the cup is raised half an inch because it’s been the same one for a week. That’s called a lumpy doughnut, which means that the cup has been walked around all week meaning it’s raised all the way around the cup because nobody steps on the cup. They stepped around it to get their ball out, but never on. The. Bunkers are trouble because sometimes they have sand and sometimes they have none. That’s the same golf course at the same time by the way. The first hole might have a full bunker of sand and the ninth hole might have none.it’s totally acceptable to have issues but once they’re addressed, please fix them! .

Nice course and a decent price, but took 5.5 hours to finish our Sat afternoon round due to a delay from a morning outing. Waited on every hole.

Our tee time was at 10:39a and tee times were 30 mins delayed due to an outing. We were the first tee time after the outing and knew at that point it was going to be a long day. Our round finished at 5:45p - 5hr + round - easily the longest round I've ever played. No rangers to move along the slow moving group. Everything else about the course was excellent - Course shape, staff and clubhouse.

The course was extremely nice, greens were fair and in great shape. Enjoyed the restaurant at the 19th hole. Pace of play was a bit slow.