Big Run Golf Club

I'm amazed every time I play Big Run. It has so many beautiful and challenging holes. If you shoot over 90 I would recommend staying away from this course unless you play the green tees. Pace of play is great 4 hours. Staff is awesome.

20 years since I played this. Big Run had 3 different faces the day I played. Good is probably understated, the course it self was fantastic. Fairways, greens and layout makes me want to play this a lot more. Lots of trees and elevations, greens were challenging but very fair.. Fun to putt on and read. Now for the bad. Fairway bunkers were horrible, either standing water or not taken care of at all. To be fair after the round a local said they had so much rain part of course was closed previous week, so not sure if this is typical. Ugly was pace of play 5 hours and 20 minutes (Friday). Longest round of the year. Playing partner said this was not typical, once again but not sure about this. I will definitely play again

Big Run has a lot going for it and a number of areas for improvement. I am a scratch golfer and played the course from the back tees. The layout has tons of elevation change and is one of the most unique and challenging in the Chicago area. That being said, average golfers will easily find errant shots. Water comes into play on several holes, including the extremely difficult par 3 13th.

Course conditions are decent. Tee boxes and fairways are in average to above average condition. You won't be disappointed. The greens are in good shape but are significantly slower than most courses, which may be a good thing given the ungulation. The bunkers are functional at best with a very coarse sand mix (no silky white sand here).

The club house is very old and tired. The carts are gas, which may be necessary given the elevation changes on the course, and the cart paths are in down right terrible condition.

Probably the biggest negative is the lack of practice range. They have a net you can hit balls into to warm up but a net is no substitute for warming up on a range.

Bottom line is, this course is a wonderfully challenging and unique layout that I highly recommend. This course could be one of the best courses in Chicago if the owners put money into the clubhouse, cart paths, bunkers, etc.

Recent storms had left parts of the course flooded, but the greens and fairways overall were in great condition. This course is long, almost boderline unfair for an average hitter, 15 handicap like myself.

Pace of play needs to be addressed. Over 3 hours to play the front 9 and 2:45 to play the back. I know it was a holiday weekend (8am July 3rd) but a 6 hour round of golf is unacceptable. I will never, ever play this course again on a holiday and/or weekend. Tee time are way too stacked up. They are 7-8min intervals when they should be 12-15, but they have to make that almighty dollar.

If you have 5-6 hours to kill and want a challenge this course is for your. I would rather play a 4.5 hour round at a better local venue however, and not have uphill 600 yard par 5's to shoot at.

I can't believe I've lived in the area for over 5 years and never played here. Really cool layout with large elevation changes and numerous doglegs. Not an easy track by any means. Really hard par 5's/3's, but a bunch of beautiful holes. I thought the course was in excellent shape overall. This course is not for novice golfers. It plays longer than the scorecard indicates, and requires very precise shotmaking. If you're up for a challenge, this is your course.

greens were aireated and slow would like to play it when in better shape nice layout easy to get to,

Course is better than I ever remembered; Great condition; tough; 9th & 18th hole is a cornerstone of golf in Chicago. Par 3's 4,7, 13 (amazing), 16 were awesome; Great day, lots of fun

One of the best layouts I've played. The only issue with the course was some of the bunkers had lots and in some cases big rocks in them. Also, none of the fairway bunkers were raked. Unless there was a puddle in it, each of them were basically hard pan. The biggest problem was lace of play. About 5 hrs 20 min on Saturday morning. The course is way too tough for the novice golfer, but the ranger never did anything about pace.

Course is long and challenging. Need to drive the ball well otherwise it could be a long day. Pace of play was pretty good. Clubhouse is old and smells musty. The course has some great holes and is in very good condition. Booked with GN and got a great hot deal rate.

This is a humbling course bring your A game or be prepared to add a few strokes to your score.

tee time ran half hour late, then played in 5 hrs.

course in good shape, staff and pricing very fair

Loved the course and the challenging layout. The pace was brutally slow, even for a Sunday.

Big Run is a tough, challenging grind. There are not many flat lies on this course. The hilly topography is rare for a course in Illinois. The hills add to the beauty of the course but also adds many blind shots. The facilities are a little tired but the course condition and landscaping is very nice. Narrow tree lined fairwarys forces you to stay in the fairwary or you will add strokes punching out of trouble. This is not a course I would want to play every week, but a must play 1-2 times per season.

Really like how this course has matured. The putting green play similar to the course, which is not common in my experience. Just a fun adventure if you are a casual player.

Beautiful course. Super challenging. Pace was brutal but on a Saturday afternoon it's to be expected. Love everything about it.

I enjoyed. I will be back again. It was in great shape. Some of the markers for the tee boxes were missing

Some greens were not clean at all, the rest was awesome...

This course has elevation changes on most of the holes. That is something the Illinois golfer doesn't get very often. The course was challenging for me because I hadn't played it before and didn't know where to place certain shots. I am looking forward to playing the course again using the knowledge I have gained. It is long but if you place your tee shot in the fairway you will have a chance to attack the flag. The greens are contoured and I don't recall ever having a flat putt. Some of the greens are near impossible if you are on the wrong side or tier. The carts have laser link to find distance to pin only. Distances to doglegs (which there are many) are not marked and make it hard to determine tee shot angle or distance. Definitely worth a play and may become a course I frequent more often. No beverage cart on course and I was there on Fathers Day Sunday with the course packed. Halfway house at the turn was only option other than the two vending machines out on the course. Low on amenities but the high on the quality of golf.

This is one old classic golf course. In my mind, it's reputatation was that of "fantastic layout, but poor course conditions". Not true anymore. The layout is still treelined and classic, but conditions are much improved. The greens could use some rolling for improved speed, but overall this course is a value for the $.

This course could be one of the best if the bunkers actually had some sand in them and they cut and rolled the greens. Great layout and a real test. Would definitely play it again. Unfortunately, got stuck behind a foursome that was all over the place and didn't seem to care that they were holding up the course. Didn't see a ranger to manage the pace all day.

Be ready to lose a few balls and turn a potential par into a double/triple bogey. The elevation coupled with rolling hills can quickly turn a promising shot into a disaster. Its awesome. There are few courses that have the natural conditions of this course. Fairways and greens were in great condition when I played. If you shoot under 100 your first time out here then you played a good round. The 620 uphill par 5 has to be top 5 hardest holes in the state.