Makray Memorial Golf Club

Enjoyed the course in spite of the windy cold conditions. Pace of play was great given the weather conditions and many elected to pass on playing in cold and windy weather. The course was in pretty good condition however, the greens were way too fast. Nothing held and in many cases, if you were too miss your putt the ball rolled off the green. The food in the clubhouse is great but the service at the turn was much too slow. We waited 15 minutes to get brats and hotdogs.

There’s no excuse for a higher end quality golf course to play 5+ hour rounds. I don’t care if it’s a Saturday or not. It’s the courses responsibility to set the tone with each foursome for the expected pace of play and following that up with consistent monitoring of the pace and getting slow playing groups back on pace. You charge too much money to expect anything less. This was not a cart path only day. No excuses..

Considering the large amount of rain over the last few days the course was in great shape. Fairways were soggy the greens were in nice shape. Great clubhouse friendly staff. The beverage cart came around just enough.

This is a pretty mediocre course for a premium price. I used to play here as a kid when it was Thunderbird and it is marginally better but I’d rather play the old TBird for half the price. Still very dry. Seems underwatered. Traps are hard pan under a thin layer of sand. Didn’t like the fact that they made us start on 10. Service people were very nice.

Really enjoyed playing this course. Suggest downloading or making a copy of the descriptions from their website first time playing. Lot’s of blind shots off the tee on the front 9. More straight forward on the back 9. Hard to find a straight putt on any greens. Pay attention to the flag colors as the greens are big.

Had a great time today at Makray. Greens are lightning fast, but in great shape - stay below the hole! They layout is great, and the course is tough but fair if you execute your shots. A little forgiving off the tea, but very hard on you if you miss the green. We played in under 4 hours on a tough hot day. I have lived in the area and never played Makray before because it is not an $80 course during the week which is what is normally charged. There are so many great courses that are much better values...Bowes Creek, Highlands of Elgin, Prairie Landing, Thunderhawk.. At $49 on golf now, this was a great value and well worth playing.

I recommend this course if you are looking for a challenging round. You definitely have to stay focused and play to your length off the tee. I played from the gold tees and should of played from the silver. Would definitely play this course again.

GREENS ARE VERY DIFFICULT. VERY FAST AND UNDULATIONS ARE NOT FOR THE AVERAGE PLAYER. COUNT ON 3 PUTTING MANY GREENS. HOLE 4. & 9 GREENS ARE HORRIFIC AND THE SUPERINTENDENT MUST HAVE HAD A BAD DAY AS THE PIN PLACEMENTS WERE VERY CHALLENGING IF NOT UNFAIR AND WOULD NOT BE APPROVED BY USGA IN A TOURNAMENT.

was not blown away with the way the course was manicured. did not live up to the hype that this place is THE place to play. staff was not accommodating when they saw me waiting to check in as they picked up phone to help them when clearly, I was waiting for over 5 minutes while the person at the desk chatted away with another patron. very bad first impression and will not come back to play at this garbage course

I'm all up for a challenge; however, the greens here are ridiculously difficult which is why we didn't go back last year. The challenging pin placements would not have been so bad except the ball, even with a slightest of taps, rolled by again and again. The collective foursome was beyond frustrated and it certainly did not help pace of play.

Course layout is great and fair. Greens are fast, sloped, and two putts are a bonus for first time player.

always liked this course , great condition -fairways & greens. sandtraps a bit inconsistent in sand displacement. many elevated greens-& many greens on the smaller side. overall a joy to play.

The whole experience at Makray was very positive. Course is beautiful and in excellent condition. Treat yourself and play this course.

Great course, well maintained and great layout. Not very forgiving so expect to lose some balls but country club feel for a public course.

Great layout in great shape. Keep your ball below the hole!! Practice green needs a rework not a flat spot on it, sort of like the course I guess.

First off, the good. This is a beautiful golf course with a nice, challenging layout. Greens were impeccable on 5/5/18, rolling true, fast, and firm - honestly some of the best greens at a public facility. Bunkers were fantastic, firm packed and freshly raked with just the right amount of sand.

If my review was based solely on the quality of the golf course it would be 4.5 stars all day. But, as you know, your overall experience at a course can either be enhanced or diminished depending on the staff working at the course and how the property is managed.

This is where we get into the bad....

Our foursome started our round @ 10:10am... and had a 20 minute buffer from the group in front of us (a couple of foursomes that we noticed on the 7th or 8th hole). Pace of play on the front 9 was just under 2 hours, perfectly normal and relaxing pace. Upon finishing the 9th hole @ 12pm our group stopped into the clubhouse for a beer and quick hotdog, spent 5 mins at most. As we approached the 10th tee we noticed a long backup (group on #10 green, fairway, and 2 groups waiting on the tee). This didnt make sense as we never had to wait for a shot on the front 9... on top of that, ALL of the groups in front of us were completely different groups that we had not seen previously. The course was sending groups off of #10, ahead of groups making the turn - even though the 1st & 2nd hole were wide open. By the time we finished the 10th hole it was now 1:00pm - thats right, 1 hour from the time we made the turn. 1 hour to play 1 hole.

We called into the proshop from the 11th tee box to advise them of what was happening and find out why they decided to send groups out in front of us. They offered NO assistance and the course pro actually hung up on me after our 3rd call into the shop. It took 1 hour for a ranger to come out and talk to us and when he arrived to our group he jumped out of his cart and screamed "What do you expect me to do!!!"... Really poor approach to customer service when spending $94 to play the course. He said that those groups must have stopped for lunch at the turn and that caused the backup.... no apology, no respect, nothing but a mean old man that obviously didn't care. Our back 9 took 2:50 for a total round time of 4:40.

Wont return, there are plenty of good courses out there. Take your $$$ to Cantigny, Stonewall Orchard, Thunderhawk, Prairie Landing, Shepard's Crook, Harborside, Mistwood, Seven Bridges, or Cog Hill.

Very fair lay out with a number of holes that are nice to look at and make you think. Tough approaches with reasonable elevated greens. Greens ran true. This is a fun golf course that is a pleasure to play. We are single digit handicappers and picky. We will be back here. Their senior rates are good.