Acorns Golf Links

I had not played the Acorns in a long time. It has a 4.5 rating and almost 97% of the golfer's recommend this course. So I gave it another try.

Just 7 miles north of the Acorns is a course called Annbriar. Rated the #1 golf course in Illinois last year by Golf Advisor. It receives a 4.8 rating and about the same percentage of golfers recommend it.

Folks, the Acorns is no Annbriar. It is so overrated on Golf Advisor. It is not a 4 star course and defenitely not near a 5 star course.

Let's first talk about the good things the Acorns offers.

The price is outstanding. $25 for a senior on a weekday. They had the maintance crew blowing leaves and pine needles off the greens, The staff is very friendly. I thought 3 holes were very picturesque: 6, 17 & 18. I thought the conditioning of the course was decent. The rough at times was not the best with a lot of erosion in places..

Now, let's look at the things that were not so great about the Acorns:

First, they did not have any carts sitting out for you to take. You had to go into the basement of the clubhouse to get your cart. I have never experienced this in my 40+ golfing career. That is not being customer friendly.

The course is poorly marked as far as distances. I only saw faded red, white and blue stripes on the cart path.

This only slows down play.

You really need some course knowledge to play this course. A range finder would be very helpful tool. Holes that are tough to play the first time are: 2, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 18. Many times you stand on the tee and have no idea where to hit it and what club to use.

Same holes are extremely difficult. Which only slows down the pace of play. We waited on every shot during our round. Hole 7. Very tight and OB left. Hole 8. Actually a pretty hole but not sure where to hit your tee shot. Hole 10, OB left, water right and water if you hit your drive too long.

Hole 11. OB left, water right, the landing area gets squeezed down to about 10 yards.

Last thing, too many holes look the same. Flat and boring. These are holes 3, 4, 5, 13, 14 & 16.

If in Waterloo, IL - if you're looking for an average course with an excellent price, the Acorns is for you.

If you want to pay for more for an upscale, wonderful design, immaculate conditioned course, then Annbriar is for you.

Greens were in great shape for Oct. The guy running the pro shop seemed like he'd rather be elsewhere than working the pro shop. There was a long delay due to fog...and that was not communicated to any of the players but overall...we had a great time playing the course.

Nice course for the money. Pace of play was awesome. Cart paths need a lot work. Greens were in good shape.

Course is in great shape on hot deal you can’t beat it . The bunkers need a little work just like every other course at this point

Been playing Acorns for years now. Best value for price I’ve seen around me in SOCO area.

Love this course. It is easy and challenging. It is so beautiful.

Course is green all year round and you can’t beat the price

Overall, the course itself played great. For the most part it was well kept and the greens were amazing. Obviously with the lack of rain, anywhere outside first cut off fairway was concert. Can't really rate amenities because I didn't use them. As for play pace, well we got there towards end of a tournament, so first nine was prey slow. No fault and hard to judge on that.

Definitely would drive the hr to play again.