Course #3 at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club

I mean it is what it is at Cog Hill. Great practice facilities. I played 4 and got my butt kicked. It's a decent bag for your buck at cog hill and 3 is no exception. it's definitely an overcrowded course with the the holes from 1 and 3 all on top of each other. I'd go back to play 1 and 2 and call it a day after that with cog hill.

The greens are big and smooth and rolled true and fairly fast. The bunkers had sand and were well raked unlike most courses these days. The immediately noticeable problem is the rough was way too long. The rough is about three inches high and over grown and unkept. It is extremely difficult to find balls that are only a few feet off the fairway. The last four or five holes are the best on the course. A few in the middle are short. They should follow the lead of other modern public courses and widen the fairways a bit and and cut the roughs to a playable length. It would be more fun and spend a lot less time looking for balls.

Overall conditions were good and a fun, somewhat easy track, but the tall rough spoils the experience.

I tell it like it is. Unvarnished.

Here goes - course was really well maintained. All areas including the sand traps were groomed nicely. Greens in good shape with good speed. Teed off early because the tee sheet was very empty (even the starter was surprised) on a perfect weather Thursday afternoon. Played in 3:20 but actually had to wait on the back nine a tad....so there was slow play earlier in the day. All of the staff I interacted with were really friendly, helpful and welcoming and wanted you to enjoy your experience. So me and a playing partner had a very pleasant afternoon. The Cog Hill beer in big cans - "Long Drive" by Lemont's Pollyanna brewery is also pretty decent quaff on course..

That being said the course itself is pretty unremarkable. It's old school with lots of back to front sloping greens and only a couple of somewhat memorable holes. It starts out with a tightly treed driveable Par 4 with some sand in play greenside & can be soul crushing beginning - absolutely promotes slow play by less skilled golfers. After not playing #3 since at least 1990 I was then expecting the rest of the course could easily be some claustrophobic over treed nightmare....but after the 1st....all of the holes have very large corridors to be errant off the tee and still score. So they cut down or lost a lot of trees since my last play. Playing partner remarked late in the front nine.....so far very unremarkable course architecture....this hole in particular is a bunch of low land and is pretty ugly. I said - it's a bunch of well groomed grasses with some shorter grass areas where you get to use a putter from time to time.

My real pet peeve is that all of four the Cog Hill courses are ridiculously over priced and expensive for what you are getting....the exception being excellent grounds keeping & some nice staff. It's always amazed me how the lemmings just continue to flock to it. So be it. On a perfect weather afternoon there's a reason the tee sheet was light - a $49 green fee after 2pm is outrageous freight for the really patently average golf course you play. You can play Ravisloe for less....and I can easily think of 20 other courses I'd rather play and pay a more reasonable $30 to $40. Plus the golf motor carts they have are old as dirt and creaky. No gps. The tires on our cart were practically bald and not to proper pressure, drivers seat had a repair, the suspension was completely shot and you rattle over the smallest of bumps. I really do miss "parts" of Cog Hill (red relish hot dogs).....used to play all four courses tons in late 70's/80's all of the time.....but this visit just confirmed my 30 year hiatus from #3 was warranted....probably rode in the same golf cart I did 30 plus years ago.....

Elected to towel off/change a shirt post round in the basement Men's locker room in the clubhouse. Don't drink any of the tap water! Getting my towel wet the fond return of familiar from my youth really foul smelling rotten egg well water.......same as it's always been when we used hand pumps on Cog #2 to get drinking water. (St. Andrews in West Chicago probably still has the same crappy water too....). Absolutely recommend this course for all the lemmings who feel the need to pay top dollar. They'll receive a really nice experience but fact is there are much better golf values for far less our of pocket just a short distance away (Big Run/Ruffled Feathers??).

Cog Hill #3 was in great condition. The greens were true, and the layout good (although not many hazards). Pace of play was good. We finished in under 4.5 hours. Our group had a very enjoyable round.

...too bad pro tournaments do not come here as before.

Wishing my game played better, but overall the course was great.

Thought course #3 would be in much better shape considering this is Cog Hill. Course #3 is supposed to be an easier course and is cheaper than the others, but was not worth the $55 to play. The rough is overgrown, full of dandelions and other weeds, and looks like it hadn't been cut in weeks. I shouldn't be losing balls when I hit them two yards off the fairway. Even the grass around the tee boxes didn't look like it hadn't been cut in a while either. The fairways were also covered in clumps of grass clippings. I know its earlier in the season but Cog #3 was one of the worst courses I have played in the Chicago area.

It was 35° with an 18 mph wind. The course was pretty soft, from an earlier rain and melted snow. Course #3 has a mixture of some very challenging holes and some easy holes. However, on a day like this in March, every hole is challenging, especially since they haven't cut the greens yet for this season. It was quite a test!

Ok, bottom line is this is a very straightforward course with minimal hazards. A very nice, older layout that's surrounded by a preserve, so quite enjoyable from those angles. The greens were pretty hard to read, though - I average around 30-32 putts per round, but had 36 here!

So, here's the deal. The course was seemingly empty for the first 8 holes...I saw no one in front of me at all and no one was behind me after I teed off (played the first 9 in 1 hr 5 mins). Just what you'd expect for a Monday at 12.00pm, but when I got to the 8th tee, a surly ranger rolls up and proceeds to tell me I should turn around and "play some holes again" to avoid running into a school tournament ahead of me at the 11th. I was like, ok..why would I do that? I paid for 18, and since I've never played the course before I wanted to play all of it 1 through 18, in order. He insisted, I nodded ok and just went about my normal round. However, I did catch the last tournament group at the 14th hole, and when I was about to go to the tee I was told the same thing by a couple of guys who I assumed to be coaches...basically that I had no options and that I should just meander around the previous part of the course for a while. That might have been fair enough if I would've known in advance, but I was not told anything when I booked the tee time over the phone, nor did either pro shop tell me that I'd be playing behind a tournament. It took 1 hr 30 mins to play the last 5 holes. Sorry, but that's just unacceptably poor service on their end. When courses aren't up front about what's going on regarding leagues, maintenance, etc, I usually don't play there again.

I mean, I'm not even accounting for the fact that they didn't give notice that the fairways had been recently punched in areas, but because most of the course was in pretty good shape for this late in the season, I still have to give it 4 stars.

Course was in great shape. Fairways and greens were very well maintained. The course is challenging but fair.

Fantastic course, great value for money

Everything of the course is great except the greens being pretty slow. There are a lot of trees on both sides of fairways so you got to keep your tee shot fairly straight. Hole 9 through 11 are more challenging than other holes. There are also a couple of long par 4's but overall it's a fun course to play. Will definitely come back again.

For the money it was a terrific afternoon. Front 9 player fast and the back 9 is very challenging!!!

I have been playing Cog for years and it is definitely a nice place to golf. Course 3 is the entry level and is short and easy. It has been a couple years but it appears as if they lost a lot of trees due to the Emerald Ash borer. This makes the course that much easier and robs it of some of the character. Conditions are normally fairly well maintained. Large slow greens. The front nine is too easy, there are 4 holes where you can go iron/iron if you like that sort of thing. There is really only one long par 5. The back nine has three par 5's, so it seems longer.

Playing Cog was like going back in time. The proshop reminded me of playing golf as a kid in the late 80's. The carts are just as old and of course, gas powered which I always hate. The course itself was in fair shape, maintained well enough to be enjoyable but nothing to make you think they're putting forth a lot of effort. The course is just long enough to not give you your choice of color putt putt balls upon signing in. It plays VERY SHORT! Measuring at 6402 from the tips and having four par 5's. Only one those playing as a legit par 5. The others are nothing more than driver, long iron and you're home with ease.

This course, though a bit over priced, is great for beginners, juniors, seniors or anyone needing a boost of confidence.