Big Run Golf Club

I’ve played Big Run 5-6 times and have always enjoyed it. It seems it’s become more neglected and worn down. The staff member behind the counter and a maintenance staffer are rude and makes you feel like you’re an inconvenience to their day. I love what this course could be however no way I can recommend Big Run to anyone.

Course was in good condition for fall golf. Round was about 4:15 with no waiting on any shots. Course is a bit longer than most for the mid tees (was 6,600 vs norm of 6,200). Layout was nice with elevation changes and a few elevated tee boxes. Never felt like I played two boring, straight holes in a row.

Course was in Great shape for early November. Always a fun course to play. Quirky long and challenging! Pace of play was great. Rangers were out. Our cart ran out of gas and they were quick to come out with another was only blemish. Always a fun day at big run!

Golfed this course for the third time today. Admittedly, this has an “older” course look, but at an almost 7200 yard par 72 (championship - orange tees).. this course has quickly moved to the top of my favorites list.

Challenging greens with two 600+ yard par 5 holes. Absolutely enjoy the slopes from the tee box, through the fairways, to the greens.

No better way to finish your round than a slight dog leg right, leading to a hazard and then straight up to the green. For intermediates, you’ll be challenged to dot the green in three.

I only wish I had discovered this course much earlier in the season!!

If you haven't shot a round at Big Run, do so... you’re in for a rewarding challenge. Oh, and don’t forget to try one of the homemade chocolate chip cookies as you transition to the back 9.

Fairways were horrible. So dry and like a rock. Greens were super soft and slow idk how that can happen on a course. Id rather hit out of the rough.....which you really cant with all the trees

Slowest play ever !!!!

Who lets mommy and daddy take two years old on course . When mommy isn’t picking flowers they are chasing him . I know public course but do yourself a favor and skip this one !!!!!

Ughhhhhhhh

Bad conditions. Bad play. Bad employees/customer service. If none of that matters, play here!

I only saw ranger once n fairways needs to take care

I used to play this course a lot when I was in my early twenties (Over 50 years ago), Back then we used to walk the course and since it was an all day fee, we would play thirty six holes. When we hit the eighteenth hole of the second round and had to walk up "Cardiac Hill) a second time we holed the last putt and headed to the lunchroom for some great food. Today I took my son to play for his birthday (43), thinking that I can still beat him, but lost to him by 3 strokes. I had the only birdie (17) though. The course played tough as the fairways were fairly dry and you got a fair amount of tight lies. Some of the pins were placed in very precarious positions which made for some interesting chips, pitches and putts. The weather today was absolutely perfect and really enjoyed the day!

The pace is slow because of players searching for their ball. The terrain is challenging however many tee shots are blind shots over or down hill. It’s is too punitive for both good players and hackers should be banned. It’s really hard to create any tempo / pace . I’ve played it twice this summer and pretty sure I won’t be back. The leaves have begun to fall, forget it

This is a bit lengthy but I felt the need to share for people looking to try this course for the first time like me. Over the last handful of years, I’ve been told by multiple avid golfers that Big Run was a must play. I finally decided to make the trip ‘south’ as I usually play in the North/Northwest suburbs. For some reason I decided to read the reviews after I had booked the tee time for Sunday afternoon and was taken aback by what I was reading in these reviews. Unfortunately, the reviews for this year are pretty spot on. In my opinion, the layout is fantastic. After the first handful of holes I thought of The Brute at Grand Geneva Resort. A great mix of length, doglegs left and right, and elevation changes off the tee and into greens. The par 3s are well protected with deep bunkers on the front and long par 3s protected by water and bunkers on the back. Great looking holes, but that’s about where the positives end, besides the outdoor grill they had set up for the brats, dogs, and burgers. Tee boxes are in fair condition at best. Quite patchy with some having diseased, burnt out, or non existent grass, but where there is grass it’s the length you’d generally expect from a tee box. The fairways were the biggest issue I had playing. Clovers clutter many of the fairways and the ball sits down making me wish I had not hit the fairway. When you manage to find the grass in the fairway, its not clear if you are actually in the fairway or rough. There’s no pleasing visual off the tee between the rough and fairway as it all kind of blends together. Most of the bunkers seemed unplayable with water from the week of rain, which can be understandable since many are quite deep around the greens, but what’s concerning is the amount of pebbles and rocks and lack of sand in many of the bunkers. I wouldn’t say the rocks and lack of sand resulted from this one week of rain. The greens were decent. A little slow and cushiony, again maybe due to the week of rain, but I could understand why they may be kept a little slower. A lot of undulation and knuckles on some greens could lead to a lot of time putting back and forth if they were faster especially when a few of our putts ran out a little more than expected. After our 2 hour front 9, we ran into a foursome on the back with seemingly no one in front of them. No ranger to move pace along and took nearly 3 hours to complete the back. I’d love to give this course another chance if conditions, mainly fairway, improved. I can fully understand why many people have told me to give Big Run a go, but right now I couldn’t relay that message to someone else. Too many issues that outweigh a course with a fun but challenging layout and greens that have the potential to be great. To the golfer, keep searching. To Big Run, I hope the conditions can get back to the hidden gem, must play, and highly recommended course that I’ve heard about.