The (un)Official 2006 Guide to Peoria Golf
Many years ago the Journal Star would rate the golf courses in their annual ‘golf guide’ using a common 5 star system. I’m personally a big fan of opinionated rankings, best of lists, etc, so I was disappointed when they became sensative to the feelings of the course owners and did way with it. Now we just get listings of courses with a map, statistical information and a short description. Not too exciting.
So I now submit to you the UnOfficial 2006 PeoriaIllinoisan Guide to Peoria Golf.
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5 Stars:
Weaver Ridge. I can’t stomach the greens fees, but no-one can argue that this is the best course in the area. Unless you have alot of dough, this is for special occasions only, or comped corporate outings, if you can be so lucky.
Coyote Creek. Not nearly as challenging as Weaver, but much more enjoyable to play. It deserves a close second for it’s impecable maintenance alone, and although it isn’t cheap, it’s a virtual bargain at almost half the price of Weaver.
Lick Creek. The original bad-boy of Central Illinois Golf. Tough before it was cool to be tough. After the makeover this fall, it will return to it’s former glory and will again be one of the premier courses in the area. With greens fees under $20, this is a no-brainer.
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4 Stars:
Pine Lakes, Washington. This course has come a long way from it’s roots. With continual improvements in both design and maintenance, this has evolved from a fun course that’s hard to find, into a tough and well maintained course that is still hard to find.
Newman. A classic course, that the Park District unfortunately tries to dumb down to please the weekend hackers. Take the new green on #7. It previously had an inverted bowl green, ala Pinehurst. Hit a good shot and you are rewarded. Hit it a little hot and you’ll be chipping back on from behind. Now it’s more “fair”, so even bad shots stay on the green. When the tree that protected the #9 green finally died, nothing was done to replace it. No new plantings, no large sand trap. Instead of having to position yourself to approach the green, now you can shoot straight at it with a fairway wood. A former tough hole turned lame.
Kellogg. A more modern design that is not as mature as Newman. For my money, this is the Park District’s best course, although I know that’s debatable.
Quail Meadows. Maintenance and a wonderful front nine puts this in the 4 star category. It’s a great 9 hole course. I think the designer fell asleep on the back-nine though. Repetitive. Back and Forth. Enough hitting over the damn creek already!
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3 Stars:
Sunset Hills, Pekin. They can’t seem to figure out if they want this to be a public or a private course, so they went wishy washy. A private course with the public welcome. Some great holes mixed in with a few lame ones. If you want to join in a game of Basketball while you wait on tee, and don’t mind being squirted with a watergun by a 5 year old playing in his pool, nor are you scared of killing someone with a golf ball through the dining room window, then this place is for you.
Donovan. (aka Northmoor) The front nine is quite boring, but the back nine makes having to trudge through the front worth it. Short, hilly, full of doglegs, and an impossible green on number 14. Thank goodness they didn’t sell out to Proctor. Yet.
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2 Stars
Madison. I know it’s short and has a reputation of being for the seniors. Well, that’s true, BUT, go in the off-peak hours and play the front nine. It oozes with classic course design and it can be walked in a little over an hour. Skip the back-nine and go spend some time with your family.
Special Entries:
Kaufman Park, Eureka. On so many levels, this is the absolute quirkiest course I’ve even played, but what a joy. It’s just about the most fun you can have on 9 holes.
Gibson Woods, Monmouth. A great designer with a demented mind built this course. Another classic design that is every bit as good as Lick Creek. Play here once and you’ll realize why the tiny town of Monmouth seems to win the State Championship every year.ÂÂ
May 8th, 2006 at 8:31 am
Our buddy is the greenskeeper at Madison and I can attest to the transformation of that course since he’s been there and they implemented the sprinkler system. I love Detweiller though. It’s classic and so laid back.
May 8th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
I was asked last week to play in the Ludy’s outing and I’m glad I did. The outing was played at Midland C.C. by Kewanee, and I would gladly make the drive to play over any of the Park District courses.
Some shorter Par 4’s and longer Par 3’s with the best greens I have ever putted on. It’s a very cool old course with tight fairways, long rough and a LOT of doglegs.
Sadly, one of my buddies asked the pro if it was public and he said it’s only open to the public until May 15th and then after September.
Also in my top three, though not in Peoria, Prarie Vista.
And I think Weaver is still running the special if you tee off before 8 AM during the week it’s $50.
May 9th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Truth be told, I play Madison more than any other course. It’s fun, close to home, and I can put in a quick nine and be home in a 1 1/2 hours. They ought to advertise that C-130’s do maneuvers over the course. How cool is that!!?
My thoughts on Detweiller. Haven’t played there in years. With that being said, it’s where I learned to play golf. A few memories- my first ball lost until I shook the pine tree and it fell out, and my first experience of an island green… number 7. When the river floods, it’s an island green. I’ve done it a few times; shoot at the green with no chance to recovering your ball without wading through the Illinois river. I wasn’t the only one though, there were tons of balls on the green. Whoever was the first to get to the green once the water subsided got alot of shag balls.
For Midland, never played there, but it sounds fun.
I have a love-hate relationship with Weaver. I love it, but I hate the greens fees. $50 to tee off before 8 doesn’t entice me. I’ve only payed to play there once, and that was when it first opened. I’ve played two or three times since, mostly in scrambles and corporate stuff. If I’m on vacation, I’ll hunt out the best course and dish out the dough to play a great course, but something in my brain (or bank) prevents me from driving 10 minutes to pay that much when I could just as well go to another local course much cheaper.
I stayed away from Bloomington courses in my post, but I totally agree, Prairie Vista is awesome, other than I lost my driver head into the 17th hole’s lake and the guy I was betting against wouldn’t give me a mulligan. I’m not much for mulligans, but it seemed to me that was a special circumstance. My friggin driver head flew into the lake, along with my ball. What ever happened to friendly competition? That pissed me off, so I went on to bogey 17, including the penalty stroke, and par 18 teeing off with a 3 wood to beat him. Jackass.
I played the Den once, but it was years ago and I don’t remember much other than a general impression of it being a very very nice course that was reasonably priced and I wished Peoria could have, since it was owned by (either Bloomington or Normal’s) Park District. I also haven’t played the ISU course in many years, but I’d like to go back. Lightning fast greens and tight fairways. Fun, if not frustrating.