Orchards Golf Course

Played the back 9 twice.

Front 9 closed for major repairs/renovations.

Enjoyable course.

I play in a Sunday group for many years and we have a rotation of courses that we play. The other day someone added the Orchards to the list. I was interested to play here again because I heard they have a new greenskeeping staff and the course has come back to its glory days in the early 2000s.

The last time I played this course in 2018, I walked off the course and demanded my money back after 5 holes in because it was in such atrocious shape. So for the benefit of the course, I will say that the Greens have generally come back, however, there were a couple of the holes that still showed signs of recovering. These were the holes that had the most damage... and when I say damage, they didn't even have grass on them, they had sand.

The course's fairways unfortunately still showed signs of burnout and poor upkeep. There were many many many areas where I would have staked the area and made them Ground Under Repair, as they were bare or showing some signs of making an attempt to come back.

The practice area was poorly maintained. The grass was too thick and bare. When I asked for a small bucket of balls to warm up, I was given a large bucket 1/4 full. I would have expected a small bucket filled uniformly vs. a guess.

The one nice part of the course that I was happy to see was they had their beverage cart working and the snack shop was open at the turn. So if you were in need of a drink or candy bar it was no issues.

The tee boxes needed to be cut as they were "shaggy" but manageable. The tee box areas were set up in some very interesting configurations. Hole 15 had the tee box set up on a downslope. The pins were placed in some pretty heinous positions as well.

Overall, the course has come back some; but charging $50 to play was a stretch and I feel they were overcharging for a course that has not returned to warrant such a fee. There are far better options for less in the St. Louis area.

To the defense of the course, it is on the mend... but still has a way to go. Lowering the price and maintaining it for the weekend players would bring me back, but unfortunately, if they keep their prices this high... I will give it another year before I come back... which is a shame because this course used to be a true gem for the area.

Gave this track a try again today even though I said I would never play this course again because it has been in really bad shape for the last 2-3 years.
Must say I was impressed with the progress they have made. The greens rolled really good and the fairways have definitely improved. Still need to work on the tee boxes. Feel like your hitting out of the rough because they still do not mow them down very short and it is hard to find a level lie on some.

Another packing in of players, and slow slow play. Add to that they had the cart path only due to a little wetness, makes for an extremely long day. Course is certainly in better shape than last time I played, was horrible last few yrs. Marshall did not do his job, keeping pace going. But was quick to remind me as I was walking It was cart path only ????. Will give another try, but only because am committed to tourney.

Fairways are great,, but if you miss by just a little there is really no rough to hole the ball , a fade or draw to one side or the other will typically roll OB or into woods , you’d rather hit out of rough then have to drop ,, greens were very receptive soft eve but I have never seen greens that soft that fast , and rolling undulating greens , greens should be considered in rankings this course is tough

Hadn't played this course in a while so was nice to return. They were doing some repair work on the course but didn't really interfere with play. We played the course in 4 hrs. so loved the pace. Will play it again.

Even though the course was busy on the day I played, I was able to join up with other players and had a lot of fun. The course was nestled in a subdivision of beautiful homes. I enjoyed the layout and found the second set of tees just about the right distance to challenge me. Real close to one of the best apple orchards and restaurant in Illinois which made this day a winner!!

Enjoyed my first round and was impressed with the layout and the friendliness of the golf pro. Met and joined with two other golfers and had a blast. The sand traps were being worked on and were in rough shape overall. I would recommend playing this course.

It hurts me to say such harsh things about this course because I have always loved the layout. But the greens are simply unplayable! Bunkers are hit and miss but majority of them are rock hard and have no sand. Fairways are actually pretty nice; but some of the tee boxes have almost no grass. Talked to management afterwards and they said they just hired a new superintendent so let’s hope for some vast improvements quick!

I wanted to play this course before I leave because I’ve heard mixed reviews on it since I got here. The staff was not very friendly for an early morning teatime but I wrote that off as personalities differ from place to place. The course was extremely saturated with all the recent rain and having an 8 some tee off in front of us In front of us didn’t make the experience that much better. We skipped a few holes to get the round under five hours. But the course layout has a lot of potential .

Course in descent shape for this early but greens rather rough with quite a bit of “weed like” matter which caused a lot of Boucher

It's not fair to judge the course based on how much water was on it, because I made the decision to golf after a day of rain. That being said, there are a ton of improvements the course needs to undergo. The tee boxes are horrible! Some have wild patches of grass while a couple are just dirt (mud)! The orchards used to be a really nice course to play. It's sad to see it has turned into an over priced dog track of a golf course. I play it once every year, and every year it looks worse! C'mon guys...get a greens crew that cares!