Glenview Park Golf Club
Vital Stats
Date Played: 5/27/07
Tee Time: 1:40
Turn Time: 4:10
End Time: 6:25
Price: $45 (walking)
Tees Played: Blue (6,133 yards, 68.9/123)
My Glenview Park Golf Club photo set at Flickr.
Summary
Glenview Park Golf Club is a North Shore municipal course that ranks somewhere south of middle-of-the-pack when compared with the group of muni courses you find stretching from Winnetka to Lake Bluff. It’s short (6,133 all the way back) and there’s only so much you can do with a par 70 layout, but there are some interesting holes. The conditioning was decent, but they just got socked with some hard rain so it precluded them from doing some maintenance that morning.
Golf Course
The problem with the layout is that there is a certain level of monotony. It’s a par 70 so there are 12 par fours. This wouldn’t be so bad, except that they string par fours of the same distance together. Here’s how they do it on the front nine:
- #2 - 402 yards
- #3 - 411 yards
- #4 - 416 yards
- #5 - 409 yards
And on the back nine:
- #11 - 372 yards
- #12 - 385 yards
- #13 - 345 yards
- #14 - 349 yards
- #15 - 347 yards
As you can see, there is a little variation, but not enough to keep you interested. My favorite par four is actually #15 because of the unique approach shot that has a tree partially blocking the green. They need to do more of that to give this place some zing.
The two long par threes at the turn are pretty solid. The take you over and around a few picturesque ponds and are long and challenging. But, once again, they put them right next to each other.
Conditions were decent. The fairways are bluegrass, but it’s a very tightly mowed bluegrass. I think it’s in a low lying area (kind of like Winnetka) so it doesn’t shed water very well. The fairways were spongy, but I didn’t have any bad lies. The greens were nice bent grass and rolled true.
Facilities
It has a nice, spacious clubhouse with a great selection of equipment in the pro shop for a muni. There is no driving range, so if you need that to loosen up, be warned.
Service and Other Items
I can’t blow any holes in their service. The starter parks himself about 25 yards from the first tee so we had to battle a little to get our starting time right, but no big deal.
I messed up because there was a coupon in the Wednesday Tribune that I missed, so I could have played it for about half price. Oh well.
Rating
In the end, I just feel a little uninspired by it all. The reason they have to put a discount coupon in the paper is because Winnetka Golf Club is about 10 minutes away and only costs $1 more, so Glenview really can’t compete unless they discount. Winnetka has a range, bent grass fairways, and a challenging par 71 which measures almost 6,500 from the back tees. It’s a no-brainer, go there instead. On my 100 point rating system, I’m giving Glenview a 41. Play it if you’re a resident of if you get the coupon, other than that, you’re better off at another North Shore muni.