Oak Grove Golf Course

A couple holes were arerated and still sandy. Others had such holes that looked like left overs from last year. Customers should be advised of the maintenance being conducted on the greens. Overall, have played this course many time and it is a good one. But maybe not for another few weeks!

great course, only disappointment was that several greens had been aerated, and were very sandy.

I usually get to Oak Grove once or twice a year. For the past 3 or 4 years, the course has stayed in great shape. Its on many people's lists for best courses in the Chicago suburbs (but its really no where near Chicago). The course can be great but its not there yet and might never get there. Let's dive into this.

Pros: The course design is very good. There is a good balance between straight forward holes and "quirky" holes. While a large tree in the center of every fairway would be annoying, having one in a downhill par 5 is kind of fun (it makes for a good target off the tee as well because how many people actually hit a straight tee shot). The par 5, 11th hole used to annoy me. Its a double dog leg with a creek that runs through it. It took me 4 or 5 times playing the course to actually figure out how to play it and see some of the thought behind the design.

The remoteness of the course makes for a very picturesque setting. The only building you will see during your round will be the clubhouse. When you are out on the course, you feel like you are at a resort somewhere where golf is the sole focus.

Cons: You can tell the golf management company GolfVisions is running this place on a shoe string budget. There is usually only one person working in the clubhouse at a time. When you walk into the clubhouse, most of the lights are turned off. The pro shop is sparsely stocked with anything. The driving range is in rough shape. The range balls are terrible. Half of the balls in my bucket were sliced up, very old, or various colors. The course conditions were good for the most part except for the bunkers. There was absolutely no consistency to the sand in the bunkers. There were rocks in the bunkers the size of golf balls. Should you hit one of those, be ready to purchase a new wedge.

While there are some picturesque holes, there are also some very bland holes. I'm also not a fan of two of the toughest holes on the course being the first two right out of the gate. I believe the first couple of holes should ease you into your round. On this course, the first couple of holes slap you right in the face.

Verdict: The foundation is there for this course to really be something special. Besides the bunkers, I'm a fan of the course in all aspects from tee to green. If some money was spent on increasing the playability for golfers of all levels, I think the number of golfers making the trip to this course would increase. In my opinion, some trees need to be removed and the rough needs to be thinned out. Waste areas where you can actually find your ball and advance it are good. Super thick rough just paces off the fairway where you automatically lose your ball are bad. That very thick rough is found throughout the course and is what makes this course so tough. Bring a couple of extra sleeves of balls when coming to play here.

My hope is that someone else or a group of people will see the potential here and try to save this course. Plum Grove GC was another very nice course outside of Harvard that closed several years ago, My hope and prayer is that the same fate does not happen to Oak Grove. Make the drive to play it. Definitely one of my recommended courses in McHenry County.

This is a fun course to play. Definitely has some challenging holes. Greens need to be read from both sides unless you know them from playing there. Price was right. In fact, it was so right it was easy to leave after 14 when it was 90 degrees and we were waiting 20 minutes every shot/hole. We were a 2 some buried in a bunch of 4's so it wasn't necessarily their fault, but I could see where pace is an issue out there. Also only had 1 guy working the entire joint so we could not get food at the turn, he was buried in the kitchen trying to cook, clean, answer phones, do dishes and who knows what else. I do enjoy playing the course though, it is a fun round of golf.

Large outing was booked and the last group teed off just before my tee time. Play was extremely slow because group was playing in some fivesomes so participants could play with friends etc. Group had few experienced golfers so course management was poor - people waiting on the tee for the green to clear, on a Par 5

etc. Course had almost no help - bartender had to double as cook so the wait at the turn was at least 20-25 minutes. Wait at No. 11 tee was over 20 minutes. Many, many lost balls by group and elongated search time. As the round went on, players became more inebriated extending time. After 4.5 hours with four more hole to go, we left. Pro shop attendant said we should know better than to book a tee time on a holiday week-end and expect good service and fast play. Never patronize this course again as this is the second time this has occurred.

I arranged for a 10:48 a.m. tee time on Sunday, September 3. I discovered that a large outing was teeing off its last foursome just before my tee time. this outing had fivesomes playing, drunken participants, and no respect for the rules or other players. It took three hours to complete the front nine and management told me directly that there was nothing they could do. They had so little staff available that the bartender also had to double as the cook. Wait times at the turn were about 20-25 minutes. We waited for 20 minutes on the 11th tee as the outing participants cavorted around the fairway, This is the second time that I have experienced such slovenly management here and the representative at the pro shop told me that I should have known not to play on a holiday week-end. They offered no apology or restitution. We left the course on the twelfth tee after 4 hours and 20 minutes of play. I would not encourage anyone to play this course unless they have infinite patience! Needless to say, maintenance, especially the condition of the greens, was poor.

A hidden Gem. A few holes seemed a little unfair. 600yd par 5 with a tree in the middle. I was lucky and put my tee shot in the left rough so I had a shot. # 11 is ridiculous. Everything else was great. Definitely need to think your way around. Huge greens.

Have played this course many times. The course is beautiful. There are 4 holes in particular that are vexing. 10 seems to have a really small landing area for the 1st shot of a par 4. Hard to judge the needed distance without going too long. 11 is an S-shaped par 5 that should be the picture next to the definition of "target golf" in the dictionary, and is too gimmicky (in my opinion) but a necessary evil for playing 14 really nice golf holes. 15 is really really narrow and requires more precision than your typical golfer can muster. From the whites, 16 leaves too much of the fairway obscured and thus too much uncertainty on where to aim. The other 14 holes are great and make up for these 4, so go play it anyway!

I think this is one of the best public courses in IL.

A few holes of target hole a couple of wide fairways were you can try and bomb away.

4.5 stars. Oak Grove is always a fun play and the folks in the clubhouse are nice. Course is well maintained and the greens are in very good shape....with all the rains they are slower than usual but still have a very good speed. Unfortunately we were the 2nd group behind the typical two complete idiots playing the tips with their wives in full golf regalia holding up play abusing the course (no rake, no divot repair) for everyone behind them on their 2 3/4 hour plus "I own the course" pace for nine not even attempting to keep a reasonable pace with the several 4 somes in front of them.. It's amazing how quickly they play the 8th and 9th holes (because they were completely clear when they got to the 8th tee for 15 minutes)....and this happens way too often....but this is the first time we've had this issue at Oak Grove. This time the course help actually berated and warned these mopes several times....thanks Oak Grove...and I wish other courses would do this because these types of folks know exactly what they are doing/don't care and ruin the experience of all other golfers behind them the remainder of the day.

Our outing was cut short by rain but they honored us with 9 hole rain checks. The fairway tree on the 15th was cut down....unfortunate because that's what made it a difficult driving hole. Otherwise everything was in fine condition. Highly recommend this place, they have decent range and the track routing is interesting and challenging. $40 value. Well worth the drive to Harvard.

I've played Oak Grove many times, and it is one of my favorite courses. It's mostly a great layout with excellent conditioning. My sons took me this time on Father's Day for a great special twilight rate of only $25! That is one amazing price for a course of this quality! Oak Grove is fun and fair for the novice, but is a stout challenge for any low handicapper or scratch golfer.

Pretty nice layout with a few confusing holes on the back side. Course was in good condition, fairways perfect, greens a little firm, traps decent. Only negative to my visit was going into the pro shop and waiting 10 minutes for someone to show their face, finally went over to the bar area where a couple of workers were huddled together and they helped me. Sort of out of the way but I would go back again.

Really fun course. Makes you think and play strategically. Obviously you wanna keep it on the fairway, but more-so on this course because lots of bunkers and the wetlands guard the course. A couple of blind tee shots. Greens were fair. Hole #11 is interesting (ugh!). Even with the 45 min it took to travel from Schaumburg, really liked playing here. Was not crowded on a Saturday afternoon so we were able to enjoy very quiet round. Definitely coming back for more!

Great lay-out, very nice condtion. Greens were smooth and true. Bunkers need work, more dirt and rocks than sand. Over all I would give it a 9.

The course layout is good. Challenging par 3's and strategically positioned bunkers highlight this beautiful nature setting. The unfortunate thing about this course (and clubhouse) is that it's not very well maintained. The traps are terrible (variety of hard packed sand and lots of rocks) with rakes either hard to find or broken. There are weeds growing in the fairways and traps, and the greens look and feel like they have not been plugged and dressed in a very long time. The clubhouse and staffing is in similar condition as the course. The deck overlooking the 18th green is full of slivers. The walkway to the clubhouse/pro shop is old weathered wood that was slippery from an earlier rainfall (it looks like there used to be a runner there). There was one person to tend the bar, check people in and bring carts out. The upstairs bathroom smelled terrible and the pro shop is ill equipped with scarcely anything other than golf balls, tee's and minimal selection of shirts. I wish someone with a love for golf and some money to invest would buy this place. It is a worn down venue screaming for some love.