The Prairies of Cahokia Golf Course

Found a last-minute tee time and decided to play over in Illinois. I’ll say that the course is not in the best part of town with a lot of trash and broken glass in the entry to the city park. I hadn’t played there in a few years.

First off, none of their workers wore any type of CoVID-19 protections, so that was unsettling. The course was packed. It looked like they just tried to cram as many tee times in as they could to take advantage of a nice fall Saturday. Took us nearly three hours to play the front nine. Got a little better on the back nine but it was a big disappointment and a long day.

As for the course itself, it was in decent condition. Teeing grounds were pretty hard. The fairways had a lot of leaves on them and a couple had so much goose poop that we had to move our balls to other areas. Four or five of the greens had large dead areas that were unplayable. None of the pins were near them but it looked like some of the holes had not been moved in a while and were beat up. Greens rolled very slow. The bunkers did not have much sand in them. The lakes looked pretty stagnant and did not smell good.

In addition, the power company is installing some equipment, so there are all these wood pallets and metal tubes on the ninth and 11th holes and a few other locations but they don’t impact your play.

A long day on a course that isn’t in great shape doesn’t beg me to comeback any time soon. Maybe they will put some work into the place.

The fairways were in good shape and cut closely, as was the rough. Some of the fairways are narrow and tree lined, and there several water hazards. The greens were in good shape. There were some bare spots but none near the pins. The only real issue was the sand traps; they’re just dirt.

I really enjoyed my round today; plan on coming back.

The fairways are in very bad condition. Clumps of dead grass everywhere so very hard to see ball. I really like Prairies but probably won't go back this year. Hopefully next year fairways and greens will be repaired.

Make sure to stop by the bar to grab a drink. Bartender was great

Over grown weeds everywhere. Sticky mud everywhere. Sewage water every few holes. You’re not missing much by not playing here, better off go somewhere else

Grounds were not in good shape. Slowest greens I’ve ever played. Can’t complain much for the price though.

Sand traps are rock hard. No trash cans or ball cleaners.

Showed up for our tee time this morning and the gates were locked. There were about 20 players waiting outside and no one answered when you called the clubhouse.

We played the front 9. There was only one green that needed attention (hole 6). On hole 9 there was still some VERY tall grass that needed to be mowed. All in all, the course was in pretty good condition.

The course needs a lot if work. If you can tolerate overgrown patchey fairways, the bugs will drive you insane. This was one of my first courses I played when I first started playing and it's sad to see it go downhill over the years. If they could just get a handle on the fairways, the course wouldn't be so bad. There's only so much you can do, but they can stand to do a bit more.