[Brian Hilko]

Last spring I had the pleasure of playing golf in the St. Charles, IL. We played Pottawatomie GC, a fun RTJ Sr. 9 hole course on the Fox River. Afterward we played at St. Charles CC. We played the Bendelow 18 and then the 6 hole Esler Quarry Course.

I have not seen much information posted on the 6 hole course so I decided to post some pics from the day. The 6 hole course is so different from a lot of courses in IL. I really loved the course. The bunkering reminded me of Langford. The course can be a bit severe in spots but is very fun. Unfortunately the membership is not a big fan of the course. They are starting to let it go a bit. Overall I have been very impressed with the work I have seen from Esler in Chicago. I love the Ravi restoration. I have not played Black Sheep but I love the pictures I have seen.

The Quarry course consists of 2 par 4's, 2 par 5's, and 2 par 3's.There are multiple tees on every hole and only one set of tees when we played. We just picked places to tee it up like the Dunes Club. You can replay 1, 2, and 9 if you want to play 9. Very unique set up. I am hoping someone on this site has more background on why they built 6 holes and the future of this course.

I don't have the exact yardage for the holes. I will just list how each played.

Hole number 1, mid to long par 4

Tee Shot


Approach on 1 if you reach the top of the hill


Better view of the green


The bunkers are very penal. I love the "Langford" steam shovel look to them


The land has a lot of movement. Here is looking back down the fairway.


Hole 2, around 200 hundred from the tips.

This is a very demanding hole. Hit the green or pay the price. This hole is one of the hardest par 3's I have played. Here is yours truly hitting into the green.



Here are some other pictures from the tee.





The bunkers are brutal on either side.

Here is the bunker short and right



Here are pics from the brutal bunkers left and the stairs you need to use to get out of them.







Here is a picture from the 3rd fairway looking up to the second green.



Hole 3, mid length par 4

Great elevated tee shot with trouble lurking. The fairway is large but really tightens up if you want to challenge the dog leg and bunkers.





Approach



Better view of green



The greens have a lot of movement. I didn't have a lot of green pics that turned out well but here is one of them.



Hole 4, Par 5 around 560

Great strategic par 5 with a tough green. We played into the wind so you were not able to bite off anything on the drive. There is also a lot more room left than it looks.







Tough second shot if you play safe.





Green Side bunkers which are a better miss then the hill left. The green slope left to right.





Hole 5, mid length par 3



Picture from the 4th green




Hole 6, Fun risk reward par 5

The tee shot is bite off as much as you can chew. The fairway stops at about 310 from the tee so the long bombers have to throttle back.





Here is pic from the end of the fairway. It is about 215 up the hill from here.







Fun finisher to a fun course. From what I have heard most of the membership dislikes the course. The feel it is to severe and they mostly stick to the 18 hole course. I could see a 20 handicapper not liking this course. The bunkers are very penal. Overall I feel these 6 holes were much more memorable than anything on the 18 hole course. If I was a member I would probably play 80% of my golf on the 6 hole course. It would be a shame to lose such a unique course.

[Matthew Sander]

It would be interesting to hear the background regarding the club's conception of the course. A six hole course seems to be perfect for a late afternoon quick loop. The problem is, I'm not sure a severe layout jives well with that type of golf.

It does look interesting though, and I'm in agreement with you regarding the look of those bunkers and how they play. The second hole in particular looks terrifying!

[Brian Hilko]

The second hole is do or die. My playing partner played tennis back and forth across that green. I would play this hole from 170 more than I would play it from 200. If the wind blows good luck.

[Alex Lagowitz]

Brian,

I would say the bunkers are more of the Raynor/Banks than Landford...
Raynor and Banks are much more famous for their geometric and deep bunkers than Langford

[J_ Crisham]

Brian, nice pics! I will be at st c cc in a few weeks so thanks for posting- it was explained to me that part of their property was obtained when the anderson property came on the market after the Enron implosion. I heard it was very interesting to play. As an aside , I heard you took it to winnick on Monday! Have to get you over to Bev soon, jack

[Matt Harrison]

Here is some brief info on the 6 hole course, I am not sure I will get it 100% accurate, but I am confident this info is pretty close.  The property came to the club through a neighboring development of an old quarry.  The developer needed an easement through club property for sewer, water, and electric. He also wanted the development to be part of the city of St. Charles, and not the neighboring community of Wayne.  The developer, an avid golfer, offered the club a portion of the old quarry property in exchange for the easement.  At the time, there was hope that 9 holes could work on the property.  The development and trade happened in the late 1980's.

St. Charles CC had been through some changes and land swaps (the Anderson deal), so it took a while to move on the new quarry property.  Don't quote me on this, but the 6 holes are about 5ish years old.  I do not know all the details, but they have not been well-received, as was mentioned.  I have not played them, but have walked them, and talked to some members.   They are pretty extreme in spots, and very different from the rest of the golf course- especially the 11 holes that still exist from the Bendelow design.

I will say there are some great sledding hills in the winter time on the new 6 holes!

[Mark Johnson]

these arguably some of the best holes on the property.

I grew up in St. Charles, worked in the bagroom there and still have many friends who are members there.

The objectives of the project were several

1) make use of a great piece of property and create some more modern holes

2) relief some pressure on the rest of the golf course and provide options during shotguns, league play


long-term not sure on the long-term future of the holes.  If you look at the course from an aerial POV, you could easily create a new routing and turn these into part of the mainline 18-- though that may create an member mutiny.   Biggest issue is that the holes are primarily used by junior golfers now and many older member struggle hitting any of the greens in regulation.

[Brian Hilko]

Alex- I agree on the raynor/banks comment especially on holes 3 and 5. I just felt like I was at Lawsonia or skokie with some of the greenside bunkers.

Jack- I made sure the greens were fast and the rough was long for Jon. We had a great time!

Matt- Thanks for the info. The course seemed like a mystery to me. The way I felt was that the course is the red headed step child to the membership. I really enjoyed it but I can understand how they feel. I would love to sled down from the second green. What a piece of property!

Mark- Grrat to hear from someone who worked there. I agree on the mutiny. The course would not blend well. Sort of how that par 3 in the valley feels like it is not part of the 18 hole course.

[Mark Johnson]

brian -- very true.    there are also a ton of member who dont like the 9th hole, a long downhill par 3 with a diagonal green protected by a stream, which is my opinion is one of the best two holes on the course.

Actually the 9th and potentially the 8th holes are probably the only holes that blend very well with the additional six.

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