In a thread this past summer on demographics and the game of golf:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40369.0/discussion board poster Bradley Anderson raved about Macktown, a “short and sporty” course near South Beloit, IL, that featured interesting greens and had some great character. Brad mentioned that he learned to play the game there.
As I read the thread, I thought to myself: “Wait a minute. South Beloit is about 45 minutes from my house. I thought I knew ALL of the short and sporty courses nearby that were worth playing.” I had never even heard of Macktown, and put it on my list of courses to play.
Brad’s right – Macktown is a lot of fun to play. The greens in and of themselves are fun to see, and about a half-dozen holes belong in the category of short, quirky, old-fashioned holes that are a blast to discover and play.
The course is a true muni – it’s part of the Winnebago County Forest Preserve, which features two other 18-hole courses near Rockford, IL. Macktown is on the west side of Rockton, a small town near South Beloit. The course sits adjacent to the grounds and buildings of the Macktown settlement, an historic area in these parts.
Macktown has some interesting history. It was host to a regular stop on the LPGA Tour in the late 1950s and early 1960s; distinguished golfers such as Sandra Haynie and Betsy Rawls won the LPGA’s Cosmopolitan Women’s Open here. Jack Nicklaus once played Macktown, and didn’t rip it up – in 1965, when he won the Master’s in a record 17-under, he could manage only a 68 here (a copy of his scorecard from that day hangs in the clubhouse). A local wag recently wrote that comedian and avid golfer Bob Hope’s onetime interest in buying a local Rockford TV station may have stemmed more from his desire to regularly play Macktown.
The course’s yardage is listed on the scorecard as 5,756 yards, although I noticed several individual tee signs with yardages somewhat longer than those listed on the scorecard. (Articles from the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1960 said the course played at 6,100 yards for the LPGA tourney). It plays to a par of 71, with three par 5s and four par 3s. From the white tees, the farthest back you can go, it plays to a rating of 69.1/slope of 112. Its architectural lineage is a bit of a mystery; a plaque in the clubhouse ascribes it to a longtime director of the Forest Preserve. I have yet to find a verifiable attribution for its designer.
Holes of note:
The 1st hole starts off simply – a 327-yard par 4. The tee shot is straightaway to a hogs-back fairway, with a wonderful view of the Rock River valley off in the distance.
Approaching the first green, you get a sense of what Macktown is all about – greens that are open in front, with sharp falloffs all around. These greens can be found on nearly all of the holes at Macktown.
A bit too far with your approach, and this is your recovery shot.
The 2nd hole is a pretty good version of a standard hole – a long, downhill par 3 that takes you into the valley, where much of the course lies. This one measures 189 yards from the tips, and it’s one of the few holes at Macktown where bunkers come into play.
A look at the backside falloff at the 2nd.
The next few holes are some of the duller ones at Macktown – two short par 4s of around 330 yards, and the course’s longest hole, a par 5 of 532 yards. The course regains interest again at the 6th, a stout 226-yard par 3 that used to be a very short par 4. A tee too close to the 5th green forced its shortening. It’s a very good golf hole, if you can ignore the ugly cart path. The green sits benched on the side of a hill; players can use the hill to move their ball toward the green; anything right of the green features a tough up-and-down because of the steep fall-off.
A look at the 6th’s green from the right side; the green itself is one of the larger ones on the course.
For the next six holes, the course really picks up, in my estimation. There’s nothing of great difficulty here, but some good use of the land to create some blind shots, and interesting approaches and tee shots. The 7th is a short (476 yards) doglegging par 5 with a neat element – on a hole that most players will try to reach in two, the approach shot is blind. The tee shot bends left; from 150 yards away, the flag is visible but not the green.
Again, the green features steep falloffs on the backside; here are two looks at the green from behind.
The 8th is probably my favorite hole at Macktown – only 333 yards, but some fun stuff. The tee shot is to a ridge line in the distance, about 180 yards away. Although the fairway is generous, golfers need to be conscious of the line of pine trees left and a wide fairway bunker right on top of the ridge line.
Here’s the view from atop the ridge line – a fairway that drops into a valley, with the green sited on the other side. The green front is open, but mounding left and right of the opening will repel the less-than-accurately struck approach.
The aggressive driver will likely find his tee shot at the bottom of the valley, with a tricky uphill pitch of about 75 yards to a green surface that’s largely hidden.
The mounding left of the green.
A look back at the 8th – like many greens at Macktown, this one is tilted from back to front. Faster green speeds would make these devilish to putt.
The funky par 4 9th – 306 yards of the narrowest golf you can imagine. The tee shot is through a narrow opening of dense oak trees, to a fairway that slants left, bottoms out, then rises to a green nestled among the trees.
The fairway corridor, followed by the approach shot from the bottom of the fairway.
The back nine opens with the course’s longest par 4 at 361 yards. The rolling fairway swings right off the tee, then moves back to the left. A well-placed bunker guards the right entrance of the green; combined with a very steep falloff left, it makes for a demanding approach shot.
Here’s a look at the recovery shot for those who miss left. It’s one of the steepest falloffs on the course.
No. 11, a par 4 of 303 yards, swings right just beyond the ridge line in the distance, which is about 220 yards from the tee.
A tee shot short of the ridge line leaves a completely blind approach.
Here’s the approach shot, and another picture of what faces the golfer should the approach shot fly too long. For such a short course, Macktown has several thoughtful approach shots of this sort, where the golfer has the option of a running shot into the green, or flying it at the flag with the risk of a difficult recovery it not properly executed.
No. 12 has a tee shot similar to the 11th; it’s a par 4 of 353 yards with a ridge line about 225 yards from the tee. Like the 11th, a tee shot short of the ridge line leaves a blind or semi-blind approach.
Here’s the approach shot from about 100 yards; note again the steep falloffs on the flanking and back sides of the green.
No. 14 is a par 4 of 309 yards with a tee set deep in the woods, thick woods all along the left side, and a very narrow green flanked by a deep bunker left. A good gambling hole, as there is plenty of level fairway in front of the green, but trouble all around the green, which is one of the smallest on the course.
The small green of the 14th.
No. 15 – a pretty par 3 of 132 yards over a pond and between two large trees, with bunkers awaiting a shot hit too long.
No. 17 – a funky par 3 of 176 yards in which, from the white tees, the shot is blind. A small ridge line hides the target; the aiming point is the small, crowned tree just to the right of the golf carts.
Here are two looks at the green, an ample target but one that is sloped sharply from back to front. With some internal contours, this was the most interesting green on the course, and one that’s pretty easy to three-putt. The purist may complain about a blind tee shot to an unknown flag location on a tricky green; I like the old-fashioned nature of the hole, and would argue random outcomes are part of the game.
The course concludes, appropriately, on a quirky note with a sharply uphill, mostly blind, dogleg 260-yard par 4. The fairway swings left past a large mound on the left side.
Two large mounds can come into play for balls hit left; I think this hole might play better if all the trees that come into play in front of, and between, the two mounds were cleared out, giving the golfer the option of a straight-line shot at the green from the tee, with the mounds to contend with (the red flag on the green can be seen just to the right of the second mound in the last photo). Combined with the blind 17th, Macktown’s last two holes strike me as good ones for match play.
Having played Macktown, I can see why Brad Anderson enjoyed learning the game on this course. Its demands off the tee are slight – no forced carries or onerous demands on length that can frustrate the young or inexperienced golfer just getting into the game. But its small green targets and steep green falloffs force the golfer to think about those approach shots, and certainly encourage creativity with recovery shots. It’s an ideal course in that respect, and fun to play to boot. At a post-Labor Day weekday rate of $15 for 18 holes, it’s also hard to beat the value.