To continue the long weekend (while hoping my halfway-decent playing would continue), I played Silver Lake Country Club’s last course: Rolling Hills. The Rolling Hills course is Silver Lake’s 9-hole “sporty” executive course, and consists of seven par-3 holes and two par-4 holes. The course measures in at 1,587 yards from the men’s tees, which is very close to the short course cut-off. As the name implies, the course is pretty hilly, thanks mostly to a small creek that runs through many of the holes. On many of the holes, you have to hit over a valley, where the small creek passes through. Water hazards (the creek and a small pond) touch five of the holes, and sand traps are placed on seven of the holes. The fairways are pretty narrow and are surround by large trees, which means your shots need to be fairly accurate.

Since this was meant to be a quick round, I went alone and walked the course, but there was an option to take a cart. When I started the round I didn’t see any other players in front of me, and it didn’t look like anyone was directly behind me. By the time I got to the third hole, the course’s first par-4 hole, I saw there was a foursome in front of me, all of which were walking, and at the same time I also saw there was a threesome behind me, all of which were in carts. Great. I eventually caught up to the foursome in front of me on the tee box of the 7th hole. They let me play through, and I quickly finished the last couple of holes in a short amount of time. The round ended up taking about an hour and a half.

I had a mediocre round. My first shot seemed to determine the outcome of the hole. Every time I duffed my first shot, I ended up shooting a triple bogey. This happened on three of the holes. Besides those holes, I actually played pretty well. I made par on three of the holes, one of which was the course’s other par-4 hole. My iron shots were still good, and my putting was better than my previous round. I 1-putted once and 3-putted once. It wasn’t a great round, but it felt good to still see some improvement with my irons.

But more importantly, during this round I got a better sense of how far I can hit with my irons. Last season, I had a fairly good idea about this with my old set of clubs, but I was limited to only a few irons. Ever since I got my new clubs, I was just guessing on what I should use for a shot (and luckily up to this point, I haven’t been far off).

I ended up shooting a 42, which was 13 over par. I wish I could translate that score into a full round of 18, but it wouldn’t be accurate at all. Even though it was quick round with some easy holes, I still feel like it helped my game a little bit.

Silver Lake Country Club – Scores & Stats
Rolling Hills course length: 1,587 yards
Rolling Hills course par: 29
Rolling Hills course rating: 27.1
My score: 42 (13 over par)

Silver Lake Country Club
14700 S. 82nd Ave.
Orland Park, IL 60462

To start a long holiday weekend, my friend Mike (yes, another Mike) and I played Silver Lake Country Club’s other 18-hole course, the North course. As I previously mentioned, Silver Lake Country Club consists of three courses: two 18-hole championship courses (the North and the South) and one 9-hole executive course (Rolling Hills). The North course is the longer of the two 18-hole courses, measuring at 6,826 yards from the back tees for a par of 72. The South course measures in at 6,337 yards from the back tees for a par of 70.

The North course consists of only three par-3 and three par-5 holes, and a lot of long par-4 holes, with the longest measuring in at 470 yards from the back tees. The fairways are longer and there are less water hazards and sand traps compared to the South course. Water hazards touch four of the holes, one of which being the par-3 18th hole, and the holes are fairly straight and flat; only three of the holes have a slight dogleg.

For the round, a single walk-on joined Mike and I. His name was Todd, or maybe Tom, and he had just graduated from a college in Iowa. Also, playing behind us, was three of Mike’s friends. It was nice having Mike’s friends behind us, because I didn’t feel like I had to rush to try to stay on pace. I think this aspect alone helped me have a really good round.

But things about this round were a bit odd. The last couple of rounds I’ve played, I’ve always had good luck with my drives, halfway decent putting, and terrible shots with my irons. Things seemed to get swapped around for this round. Nearly all of my drives sliced way right, or went straight with nearly no loft at all (on a good note though, I was still getting fairly good distance because the ball would roll forever). My iron shots made a great improvement, which I think it was because I was focusing on keeping my head down, not overpowering my shots, and just taking my time to make the shot. My approach shots with my pitching wedge were a little better, but were still lacking loft and would roll farther than I wanted. My putting was surprisingly horrible. I didn’t have any 1-putts, and had seven 3-putts, with the rest being 2-putts. I have no clue why it was so bad.

Mike had a fair round also (I think). It looked like he was playing well, but I could be completely wrong. Mike actually played a lot as a junior, and has played many rounds at Silver Lake. He has pretty good drives and iron shots, both of which get a lot of height. He didn’t keep track of his putts, so I can’t comment on how that went.

As for Todd/Tom, it seemed like he had a mediocre round. Sometimes he would have great drives/shots, and other times he would look like me when I first started (or my last round). I can’t really talk bad about his game though, because at least he got par on at least one hole.

Which is something I didn’t do. The best I could do is a bogey on three holes, and a lot of double bogeys or worse. Mike got par on four holes, bogey on six holes, and worse of the others. Mike and I actually had fairly similar scores, with the exception of a couple bad holes for me. On seven of the holes, Mike and I had the same score, and on eight of the holes, Mike was one or two strokes better.

All-in-all, it was a much better round for me. I felt that if I could have kept my drives straight and 3-putted less, I could have easily broken 100. I ended up shooting a 111, which is my 2nd personal best, and Mike shot a 94. I heard Mike’s score was better than all his friends that were playing behind us… which, in the end, is all that matters.

Silver Lake Country Club – Scores & Stats
North course length: 6,457 yards (white tee boxes)
North course par: 72
North course rating/slope: 71.0/120 (white tee boxes)
My score: 111 (39 over par)
Mike’s score: 94 (22 over par)

Silver Lake Country Club
14700 S. 82nd Ave.
Orland Park, IL 60462