Bittersweet Golf Club
About
Bittersweet Golf Club in Gurnee, Ill. is ideally situated for a scenic round of golf. The diverse landscape flows seamlessly from lush wetlands to native prairies covered with colorful wildflowers. The layout also winds across a 100-year-old sage meadow and through forests of mature hardwoods, which serve as a home to an abundance of wildlife. Beyond the beautiful scenery, the terrain presents many challenges. The undulating fairways demand accuracy as you hit from multi-tiered tee boxes. Water also comes into play on almost every hole and there's an array of strategically placed bunkers you'll have to avoid. The eighth is the toughest hole on the front nine, a par-4 dogleg right with a lightning fast green. Bittersweet Golf Club's back nine is known for its scenery, which is best displayed on the signature par-5 11th hole, which offers not only a challenge but also a spectacular view from the tee.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 72 | 6751 yards | 73.3 | 135 |
| Blue | 72 | 6345 yards | 71.4 | 131 |
| White | 72 | 5559 yards | 67.8 | 122 |
| White (W) | 72 | 5559 yards | 72.8 | 128 |
| Red (W) | 72 | 4952 yards | 70.0 | 121 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold M: 73.3/137 W: 79.5/143 | 338 | 565 | 196 | 344 | 371 | 148 | 346 | 422 | 516 | 3246 | 369 | 546 | 403 | 200 | 506 | 420 | 421 | 203 | 437 | 3505 | 6751 |
| Green M: 71.4/133 W: 77.3/138 | 319 | 531 | 169 | 334 | 361 | 126 | 326 | 404 | 485 | 3055 | 340 | 530 | 363 | 183 | 496 | 376 | 409 | 190 | 403 | 3290 | 6345 |
| Green/White M: 69.7/126 W: 75.1/133 | 319 | 531 | 127 | 334 | 234 | 126 | 326 | 328 | 485 | 2810 | 340 | 507 | 363 | 145 | 496 | 376 | 360 | 133 | 403 | 3123 | 5933 |
| White M: 68.0/120 W: 73.0/129 | 298 | 490 | 127 | 323 | 234 | 106 | 309 | 328 | 410 | 2625 | 329 | 507 | 319 | 145 | 445 | 341 | 360 | 133 | 355 | 2934 | 5559 |
| Orange M: 65.2/113 W: 69.8/122 | 283 | 469 | 93 | 279 | 234 | 76 | 288 | 323 | 402 | 2447 | 241 | 424 | 289 | 115 | 371 | 290 | 327 | 126 | 322 | 2505 | 4952 |
| Handicap | 17 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 4 | |||
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 9 | 1 | 17 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 4 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
RestaurantAvailable Facilities
Clubhouse, Banquet FacilitiesAccolades
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Golf Advisor: Top Courses in Illinois (2016 #12)
Reviews
Reviewer Photos
very nice course
We loved this course. It has rolling contours, challenging greens, lots of water and high rough making accuracy important. The tee choices are good with the four tee sites quite different for each hole. After playing the nice but relatively flat courses in the area, this one was a treat. We will be back.
Nice day in Gurnee
Course was challenging and in beautiful condition. Greens were smooth and ball rolled nicely.
Wished play front 9 first
We were arranged to play back 9 first which turned out to be much more challenging than the front 9. After having my worst 9 holes record after back 9, played the front 9 like a pro and had my best 9 holes record. What a up and down day! A very challenging course to play.
Consistently good course
This course is definitely challenging in spots, however, after playing it many times, it's an enjoyable course. The course maintenance is consistently good and it dries fast after hard rains. The staff is very friendly and the clientele is too.
Great Course, Great Value (If You Don't Count the Cost of Lost Balls!)
Bittersweet is a great course that's in great condition. And whether I've been paired up with other golfers on the first tee, they've been great guys. Just be sure to bring plenty of golf balls!
Bittersweet is bittersweet
The course is well kept and the greens are fast. Every hole is a challenge and can make you feel like you need to get a few lessons. But the course is well laid out and very pretty. It has matured well. We will play it again for sure.
Bittersweet is sweet
A fun interesting golf course with lots of water hazards, dog legs and very tight/wooded in some places. We had a nice day (two deer and a very fast turtle were on the eighth hole visiting) and the course conditions were very good....greens were most speedy and overall the course was playing pretty hard/fast. A quality 4 to 4.25 star experience as it was last year when we played it. Recommend the course but you do need to play it a few times to get some good tee shot aiming points.......pay close attention to the flag positions as many of the greens are very large.
Course Review
It was fun and somewhat challenging courses.
BSweet
good course, plays fair but challenging - only a few holes where "local knowledge" is a distinct advantage.
Good course
The course was in great shape. Tee boxes and greens were great for the end of the season. Pace of play was poor. The round started at a good pace but then hit a lot of slow foursomes that would not let you get around them. No Rangers on the course to help speed them up.
I could recommend this course to my friends.
Because of excellent weather the course was busy with some waiting at times, other than that the course was relatively well maintained and the staff members were friendly. I could recommend this course to any of my friends.
Richard N
I play this all the time. Great Staff, great food, course is always in super shape. Each time I play there I seem to find it a challenge.
Everyone needs to play it once. You will want to come back.
Richard
Beautiful layout
Tough but fair, the course layout is great, can't wait to play it again.
Quite a challenging course
Good for long drive and straight shot golfers. Will be back again for a better heat index, lots of obstacles, water, wetland, bunkers, but beautiful natural habitats like geese, unique birds.
Would be nice to have ice cream on food truck, and lots of good directional signage for new comers.
Target ready.....
The course was in good shape. This course forces one to leave the driver in the bag. I find it to be very much a target course. Plenty of water and houses. Lots of interesting layups.
Great day to be out for 18...
We are 2nd to tee off at 6:09 AM Staff as well professional. Great value for Friday morning - $30 w/ Cart. Fortunately, I was covered by my brother in law - he owed me one.
Anyhow, the course was in great condition. Fairways were well maintained but ball would bounce instead of roll due to tough ground. Green were fair but lots of unfixed ball marks. C'mon players, please fix ball mark always.
Overall played within 3 hours. Shot 85. Lost only 2 balls.
Awkward
This was an awkward and uncomfortable golf course. The staff, amenities, condition generally were fine, but the design of the course did not make for a fun round. With 6 foot plus cat tails blocking your shot sight on a number of holes, blind fairway shots with elevated greens angled backwards I found shots in to be unnecessarily onerous.
Straight as an arrow
There is a good reason this place is called Bittersweet. A good deal of target golf. May want to leave your driver in the bag for many of the holes. On some of the holes a score of bogey is good. There is maybe 1 hole on this course that may be considered "easy". If you are not a straight hitter, you may be in for a long round. Beautiful course, greens roll true and you cannot beat it for the money. Play was very slow when I played with a foursome.
Started Slow but was great
We started out the first few holes frustrated on the pace and considered ending after the 9th hole. The pace picked up and we enjoyed the round. We will definitely return to play this course. the staff was great and course was in good shape. Now that we played the course it will make playing it much better in the future as far as course strategy is concerned.
Great Experience!
It had been about 8 years since I had played here. Love the changes. Course is now in very good condition. It is challenging but very fair. It might be difficult for someone playing the first time, as many holes have extreme doglegs. But overall, it was a great morning round of golf with friends. One had played there before, the other had not. I will be back again soon.