Ruffled Feathers Golf Club

Tee time: 2:36 on a Saturday ($50). I hate to give Ruffled Feathers a 3 stars given the excellent course layout & design by Pete Dye, but the extremely long rough and poor bunkers render this course unplayable in parts. On hole #13, the back bunker has 4 feet of water in it (no joke). After having the pleasure of playing this course two years ago in much better conditions, I know how majestic this course can be and it's a disappointment to see the grounds crew not giving it the respect it deserves. With a little more attention, repairs to the cart paths, and water coolers every few holes this course can contend with any other great course in Chicagoland. I hope the owners turn things around soon!

The course is terrific - a fair challenge with some interesting holes.

The issue we have is we got rained out, and while the course will give us a rain check we could not figure out anyway to contact GolfNow to process the rain check - and the course would not give it directly to us from the golf shop b/c we paid for the round directly to GolfNow.

Very frustrating GolfNow customer service issue.

Course in worse condition ever. No maintenance since winter. No sand in traps. Terrible

I went out to play on Tuesday, conditions were wet and windy. The course is a very nice layout not too long so it suited me very well. It was not a bad experience for me overall, but I just the course was not well kept from a groundkeeper perspective. It just looked as if the grass in the rough had not been cut in a while. The rough must have been at a minimum of 5 inches or higher. The rough around the greens was the same and it had a lot of weeds. The club on the outside looked very nice not the same inside the ropes. I think that this certainly needs to be addressed

We completed front nine just over 2 hours but the back was brutal 3 hours! Foursome in from became a sixsome on hole 15. Had to call pro shop to break it up. Need rangers on course to manage pace.

Ruffled Feathers is a challenging Pete Dye design featuring sculpted fairways, strategically placed bunkers & water, and beautifully framed and contoured greens. I will definitely go back to play again.

More times than not, I'm disappointed after playing Ruffled Feathers. This time was no different. On one hand, getting to play December golf in Chicago is great. But, Ruffled Feathers doesn't seem to know how to make Fall/Winter golf more palatable.

1. Most of the greens were littered with goose crap and leaves. It's like the staff hasn't even looked at the greens lately.

2. Leaves EVERYWHERE! I know it's fall, but if you're going to keep the course open this time of year, drag a leaf blower around once in a while.

3. Pace of play. This is always an issue at Ruffled Feathers, but this day was cart path only, and it took nearly 4.5 hours to play as a twosome. At least allow carts in the rough to help people get around quicker. Unfortunately, some REALLY long green-to-tee distances make walking a non-option.

4. Cost. Again, December golf is great, but courses need to align their rates with the experience this time of year. With everything above considered, RF should either lower the Fall/Winter rate or put some effort into making it a better experience if they're going to ask nearly $40.

Third time playing this year and even though it's November, the greens were in the best shape I've seen them. There was a fairly significant goose dropping problem here and there but I've seen that at other courses.

The fairways and greens were cut short and rolling nicely. While other courses tend to shut down cart service this time of year, we were happy to see that it was out, fully stocked and making regular returns throughout our round. All staff encountered were excellent as they have been each of the other times we have played here. The players in front of us as well as behind us were well mannered and in good humor despite a relatively slow pace of play. Really love the layout, brutal as it can be, it's really very fair from the appropriate tee boxes. The fall colors this week were phenomenal.

After gaining some course knowledge I really look forward to playing here again next season.

Cart path only on the day, however, the fairway and greens were excellent, all the greens ran true and fast for even having wet grounds. have to play from the blue tee next time when the ground are dryer, I would definitely recommend to play this course for all of my friends.

The course was in great condition and was very challenging, but our round took 5.5 hours on a Saturday morning. We had an 8am tee time, but were unable to tee off on the second hole until 8:30 due to the 2 groups in front of us. This set the tone for the rest of the day as we consistently waited for them on every hole. We did not see a ranger all day either.

The Greens Where are horrible. Some greens trunks were missing off of them. All the greens were aerated and in horrible conditions.

It was a very hot day, 92°, and there were no drinking fountains on the course. Did not see a Cart person entire day until the 16th hole. When I stopped at the halfway house no one was present, I rang the bell and yelled out is “anybody there and still no one showed up. After five minutes I left

Keep in mind that I played on a Tuesday with a 5:54am tee time so... The course is amazing course that is very challenging but very easy on the eyes. Unfortunately the greens were pretty dinged up with ball marks, which made putting interesting. A buddy and I were able to get through the course in 2:45, but again it was a Tuesday at 6am. I will definitely be back to play the course but I do hope they get the greens cleaned up.

Why did I wait to play this course? It's just so fun. Every hole provides something new. Something unique, and every hole requires your full attention.

Ruffled Feathers eases you in with nice looking and reasonable par 4.and a relatively flat green.

On the second tee things tightened up and the thinking cap is on.There, I found myself saying, "well this is a really great looking hole!"...only to be saying that over and over and over again, hole after hole. Even after taking a birdie on #1 my game was in real trouble by #6 but that long, rolling green in the shade there was beautiful and I didn't care! Several times putting I read 3-4 inches of break to the left and the ball goes straight as an arrow and I didn't care. By hole 14 and 15 my game was beyond busted and just I didn't care.

Never before have I enjoyed such a terrible round as I did this day. I put 2 in the water on the Island par 3 (refused to go to the drop zone) and I didn't care. I snap-hooked two into the water on #10 and I didn't care. Overall, I took *gulp* 11 penalty strokes this round and I didn't care!

Perhaps it was because I was with my wife on our 25th Anniversary on this very day or perhaps it was also because we also had our son, now 23, with us and we were there and choosing this course on this day to enjoy ourselves no matter what.

Could the cart paths use some work? Yes. Is the rough around the cart paths deserving of its name? You bet. Are the greens beat up from careless players not properly repairing their ball marks? Absolutely. We had to clean our lines quite a bit but when finished the ball rolled true and we didn't care The sand was plentiful and it was in good shape. The pace of play was swift.

Let us not forget the people: From check-in to starter, to cart staff. Everyone at the course was smiling, kind and helpful, and at times humorous and generous. How awesome is that? Overall, really, what a gem. With some course knowledge now gained, we really look forward to playing Ruffled Feathers again!

Nice course but course up keep apears to have fallen off. Back 9 is more picturesque, greens were littered with ball marks and sand traps in need of work. Being sold on the idea of playing a Pete Dye course is what brought me course staff would keep me they were great. Good food and drinks. Ultimately I'd replay the course but would have to value shop it.

We played it the night after a few inches of rain and the rain/mist continued as we played. Needless to say, it was pretty wet. Greens were in pretty rough shape and somewhat beat up. Course conditions overall used to be better when I played it last a few years ago. It's not awful, just not worth the full price you pay, in my opinion. Still a cool layout and a fun course. Lots of variety and not easy. Definitely not a good place for beginners or high handicappers.

Worth it for a hot deal price. The weather had the course pretty empty for a Sunday, so we flew around in under 4 hours without any issues.