Chalet Hills Golf Club

I am a 5 Handicap and this course is a great challenge from the back tees.Fast greens . Beginners and Intermediates have trouble and slow the pace.

The course is excellent, the staff is very accommodating, food is good and they have Swing Trak.

This course challenges a golf purist in every way. From the scenic layout to the bunker locations, there is trouble everywhere. It is an extremely fair course, but requires consistently solid shot making. There is no EASY holes. The picturesque final hole, playing around the lake with Hole 9 on one side and Hole 18 on the other, is as pretty and challenging as any Public course. The sand trap and cart paths need work / upgrades. Maintenance is lacking on those (2) areas. Overall, the course is the best value and best layout that can be found in the Northwest Suburbs.

I thought to play with other 3 players, but I was forced to play with 4 people, in total 5 players in my party. I could not enjoy the play.

you have a few very hard holes and a balance of nice holes to make you want to come back and they have cut down some of the tall grasses which I didn't like

I don't recommend this course for the average weekend duffer, unless you're out to sight-see and don't mind losing several balls. It is pretty, hilly and resembles a wildlife sanctuary on several holes. Add a good 10-15 bucks to the green fee for lost balls. I'm a 13 handicapper and have shot in the 70's several times. Several holes are extremely narrow....like #5. I mean" tricked out" narrow and if you have't played here before you really don't know what club to play. It's like that on several holes with many blind shots and OB everywhere including the first hole to the left. Course knowledge is a big plus. But I won't take the time to play it 5 times to get it down pat. I prefer a more traditional layout where you at least have a chance to punch it out on most holes and you can see the fairway. It can be long and frustrating if you like to score. Get me another beer please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I played this course a couple years back and it was really in bad condition, green was slow, bunkers had no sand. This year with the new management the course is in much better shape, green was fast and rolled nicely and bunker have sand! I will definitely go back and play.

No joke, this is one of, if not THE hardest course in the northwest Chicago suburbs. In my book its right up there with Bull Valley CC, which is consistently rated as one of the toughest courses in the state of Illinois. As the title says, be ready to have all aspects of your game tested when you play here. The first two holes ease you into the course but then after that, you better have warmed up because the fairways narrow drastically and the birdie opportunities are few and far between. Hazards are plentiful and will gobble up a couple of sleeves of balls if you don't drive the ball straight.

Pros: In my book, the challenge of this course is a good thing. If I want to test myself or any of my advanced playing partners, this is where I book our tee time. I know going into this course that I'm going to lose some balls and that I'm really going to have to grind to par most of the holes. The course design will cause you to question what to hit off the tee on every hole. My favorite holes are the 9th, 17th, and 18th holes. The holes border a mini-"lake." The 9th hole is a very high risk/reward hole which forces you to pick a line over the water by aiming at bunkers and then trusting your tee shot will carry that line over the water. The 17th hole is another favorite as its a downhill par 3 into an "island" green surrounded by bunkers. Another very high risk/reward hole which you have to trust yourself on. Very picturesque and worth grabbing a picture or two of.

For a middle of August round, I was happy with the course conditions. Greens were running fast and smooth. The fairways were in good shape (minus other golfers being too lazy to replace their divots) and the rough was even throughout the course. Some of the bunkers were in poor shape but I'll give them a pass due to a very rainy summer in Chicagoland.

Pace of play was great for me. I've played here multiple times and never had an issue with pace of play. My recommendation: do yourself a favor and get out before 8 AM. WIth getting out early, I don't think I've ever had a round last over 4 hours here.

Cons: For me, as I play and review more and more courses, playability for golfers of all skill levels is a big deal for me. I always ask myself, can I bring a newer golfer with me and will they enjoy themselves as much as me. I feel like newer golf course designs as well as very old golf course designs have done a very good job with that. Golf CAN be fun for both beginners and advanced golfers playing the same course and the advanced golfer can still be challenged by some of the nuances around the course. A prime example of this is The Loop which I had just played the week prior to playing here so I know its possible.

That being said, this course's playability scores low on my scale. On more than a handful of holes there are narrow fairways off the tee where a drive that goes anywhere but straight is either OB or lost. The tee shot on the 5th hole gives me nightmares the night before I play here. Forced carries over water exist both off of the tee and approaches into the greens on a handful of other holes. The course designer did not have new or average golfers in mind when they designed this course. Bunkers and hazards prevent you from playing low, running shots into most of the greens. I have no doubt that the difficult course design is what leads to other reviewers' complaints of slow pace of play.

Verdict: There's always merit in stepping out of your comfort zone and testing yourself. This is the place to do it. If you're playing the course for the first time, swallow your pride and play up a set of tees. Trust me, this course will still be enough of a test for you even from the shorter yardages. Go into the round with realistic expectations and knowing the course will be tough. Then enjoy the test and the risk/reward options this course provides. I recommend this course for average to advanced golfers.

I was disappointed with Chalet Hills because

the course needs improvements done.

The sand bunkers and fairway bunkers had sand with rocks in it did not play out of bunkers because did not want my clubs damaged

Chalet Hills is always a joy to play. It's a challenging and fun filled layout with 3 greens surrounded by 60% - 85% water. It has nice elevation changes and the course is always in great condition. While the course isn't long, its tight fairways, water and fairway bunkers will challenge even the best golfers. It's my favorite course in the Chicagoland area.

Live 3 minutes from course and have played it many times but never saw it in as poor a condition with grass growing out of the near sandless traps. Fairways were nice but seems ranger / starter should "warn" players to fix their ball marks and divots. Was once the premier course in McHenry County in my view but not so much now. Under new management so hope they are reading this.

This course is my regular on Sundays afternoons. The staff is fantastic especially the Golf Pro Pat. They work with my foursome to get us out when we need and to let us know in advance if there are outings that will slow us up. The course will beat you, play defensive golf or bring more balls. This is not a driver on every hole kind of course. Do not pick your tee box by yardage. The whites play just under 6000 yards and will eat up most golfers up if they do not play target golf. The nature and the views are second to none in a 50 mile radius from the course. Love this place!

Played two Thursdays in a row in June. Course was in great shape, except for the bunkers. Although there had been some heavy rain the first week and the bunkers were unplayable, by the second week the bunkers had still not been pumped out and power raked. That would include the weekend, usually the busiest time. Don't get it. The rest of the course was outstanding. Well kept fairways, rough, and fast greens. Someone needs to wake up. Really affects the rating. Serious golfers will take notice.

Chalet Hills is a well designed and well maintained track. From the White tees a very strong 132 slope. The further back tees most players don't have any business playing at all....blue are 6600 yards 139. We caught a good morning to play.....and just made our 924am time gutting through horrible weekday rush hour traffic from the Western Burbs. Had our twosome teed off after that we would have been in for a very very long day due to 3 somes, 4 somes and even 2 somes of very slow players. We made it around in 310 saw no one in front of us and the 3 some directly behind us may have just reached 13 by the time we finished. There was a two some 4 groups behind us that was still on the 8th hole when we teed off on 15 and just observing them they were on close to a 230 plus pace to just finish 9.

Course was in extremely nice shape featuring Ken Killian very contoured greens running fast and smooth (too fast, too many slopes and too difficult for any player with less than an average game). With all the recent rains the sand traps were basically ponds or mud however even when the grounds crew can maintain them most feature horrible/sketchy conditions and most dirt....some with just hard pan/rocks. This course is so challenging with lots of forced carries and water hazards that for most of the clientele slow play is a given and most rounds take over 5 hours routinely even during the week. I've never seen pace of play enforced and it's quite common on weekends that 6 hours is the norm. It's also been overly expensive to play the last couple of years since the new management has taken over......but from tee to green except the traps....4.75 star plus conditions.

A couple of hints...upon arriving just drop your playing partner at the bag drop and have them grab a cart to take out to your car. The drive to check into the proshop is completely on the other side of the building from where the bag drop/carts are located. Check the tee sheet on line....if crowded strongly consider playing elsewhere....some of the slowest playing golfers I've ever experienced play here (and they don't take care of the course either)....we saw one guy spend well over a minute just figiting (think Sergio/Dufner except 5 times as worse) over his ball and waiting for him to hit his tee shot on the 8th to drive away from the 15th tee......try to play before 930am or even 9am on weekdays because if you have a foursome in front of you and if one or two are less accomplished players - 5 hours plus....long cart drives between many holes some with sharp unexpected curves and be careful around the clubhouse just making the turn....first timers getting lost, etc......on weekends expect and anticipate you'll be out there for 5 1/2 hours plus and gird yourself to wait a lot.

Recommended only for the quality/difficulty of the track.....it's a real fun challenging play if you can get a nice flow going and it's very picturesque. Downgrades are the sand traps and the horrific slow play. 3.25 stars....it was a 4.25 to 4.3 day for us and that's only because we didn't spend 1/2 our day waiting for some of the clientele that frequent this course.

Happy to have a cooler cart on the course. The greens were hard from the lack of rain. Was clear due to the day (Monday) and the temp in the 90s. Had fun playing and would recommend to all levels of players