Conway Farms

[Martin Toal]

This is not an access whoring post, because the trip has been taken and is over and done, more just curiosity about the aforementioned.

A PGA Pro and Director of Golf at a pretty decent UK club I know happened to mention to me in a Ryder Cup/Chicago related chat that prior to a recent trip to Chitown he had written to Conway Farms, which he knew about as a Luke Donald connection, to ask for a game during his trip but got a fairly brisk and brief refusal.

So is this a great course and did he miss out much?

[David Egan]

When was he in town?  They recently hosted the US Mid Am and were closed for about 10 days. I doubt it's a favorite of many here but I like it.  It can be very punishing but I bet your pro buddy would have enjoyed it.

[Martin Toal]

When was he in town?  They recently hosted the US Mid Am and were closed for about 10 days. I doubt it's a favorite of many here but I like it.  It can be very punishing but I bet your pro buddy would have enjoyed it.

Don't know exactly, David. He is still a very good player, so I think he would have liked the sound of the 'punishing' element.

[Terry Lavin]

It's a decent course but not in my top 15 in town.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I played it when it first opened and remember the course very well.  It is an excellent course and wonderful club.  It is what a golf club should be. 

[Terry Lavin]

I played it when it first opened and remember the course very well.  It is an excellent course and wonderful club.  It is what a golf club should be. 

It was nicer when it opened. They desperately need a redo.

[Mark Johnson]

I like Conway a little more than many of the rest do here.    It is a links style courses in an area that is almost universally tight parkland courses.   Some very good holes there and then some that make you shake your head.

If you are looking for a links style course in Chicago, from my perspective, the list begins and ends at Black Sheep a course about 40 miles west of Chicago surronded by corn gields.  (which incidentally is very good on reciprocity if your club pro writes a note.)

[Terry Lavin]

It isn't a links course or even a links style course. It's a Fazio mish mash combo of parkland holes with forced carries over manufactured wetlands. It's a walking only course with cart paths on every hole. Over the years they've planted 5000 trees in all the wrong places. And the 18th hole has a cheesy creek with imported boulders that would look quite normal at a Vegas casino course. It is a hard course and could be greatly improved with tree removal and bunker reconstruction, but they've made a mess of it in the past 15 years.

[Jud_T]

My issue with Conway is that the first two holes are wedged into a tight corner of the property and there are several holes that look very unnatural.  That and their obsession with being a tournament test when it was a decent members layout when it first opened.

[Tim_Cronin]

It isn't a links course or even a links style course. It's a Fazio mish mash combo of parkland holes with forced carries over manufactured wetlands. It's a walking only course with cart paths on every hole. Over the years they've planted 5000 trees in all the wrong places. And the 18th hole has a cheesy creek with imported boulders that would look quite normal at a Vegas casino course. It is a hard course and could be greatly improved with tree removal and bunker reconstruction, but they've made a mess of it in the past 15 years.

Not links-like at all, but the cart paths were put in by Fazio because he didn't believe the founders' vow that the club would be all walking. He said a year later that every new club told him that. He built them telling the founders they were needed for the construction traffic. About $3,500 in cart revenue a year, according to Jeff Mory for a story I wrote for the USGA in advance of the Mid-Amateur. That's about $150,000 less than many Chicago clubs, even those that support the Evans Scholars strongly.

[Matt_Cohn]

Oof, I keep forgetting to do a thread on this. It is a really exceptional course and club. I liked but didn't love it the first time I played it, but it really grew on me over the course of several days, particularly in how the greens influence play back to the fairway and tee. The course has a few flaws, specifically with the usual Fazio issues of mounding and trees. It isn't perfect, but it's a better golf experience than all but a highly select few courses out there - a number of which, of course, are in Chicago too. FWIW, I got to chat with the superintendent while I was there, and he "gets it".

[Ed Kenny]

OK, it is 1:30 am and tequila and good red wine has been liberally consumed, and she is happily sleeping. Conway was a blast to play, even after the USGA made it not fun. It was my thinking we were mid amateurs. Matt, well done, that up and down on 13 was awesome.  If anyone has the opportunity to play Conway Farms they should not pass it up.
  Holes 1&2 are seperate from the rest. The first hole eases one into the course and two puts one in their place.  Three is strategy and a good hole(3wood).Four is a long bitch and don't hit your tee shot right, you may have to hit an asinine hybrid from the rough through a ten foot hole in the trees, that when perfectly executed leaves a 30 yard pitch that releases to 6 feet above the hole and needs Tobe played 10 inches outside and not 6. On 5, just hit it left off the tee, LEFT. Six, 215, and played it all, good hole.  Seven, risk reward, cool hole,340, plays less. 8 is a pretty hole, par 5, the front bunker looks vey cool from the fairway. Number nine is  400 yards and is a very nice hole if it is your last hole and you need a birdie to break 80. Ten is a 455 dog right. Hit the fairway, hit 3 wood if you have to. Great green, ask Matt.
 Eleven, wow, wind? 175 playing???.
  12 good par 4, cool green. 13, in the practice round I hit driver, 3wood and made 3... Cool, tough par 4.
 14 is a good R/R par 5. Uphill, well designed, pretty.
 15 is a short par 4. Hit the fairway. Cool design. 16  is a long par 4 when into the wind. Hit an extra club on your second, long is safe. 17, wow, par 3, stand and deliver, good 17th hole. On 18 hit the fairway or a decision is required. After much deliberation I think this is a great match play 18th hole.
 I should just delete this and go to sleep but I will not. Conway is a cool canvas to perform the performance art of golf upon. The cart paths do not interfere with play or visuals for those who have that peeve.
  Knollwood had better greens but with every flag being located in a Sunday special and a wet 7150 yards with 20 mph + winds. Thanks usga this 42 yr old had a tough year.

[Thomas Dai]

Is this the course the guys we watch on TV are playing this week?
If so, what do folks think of the course?
Just curious to hear the thoughts of those who know it.
Atb

[Tim_Cronin]

This is the course. For the pros, soft as a Twinkie for scoring. It's playing all of 6,916 yards for today's second round, the shortest yardage of the 10 rounds the Western Open has been played there. Only 10 players are over par after 36 holes. Oops, BMW.

[JESII]

These guys are good...why try to force them back closer to par?


I bet a standard scratch would shoot 152 for 36 holes...

[Mark Sider]

It'a a beautiful club that holds dear the traditions of golf. Great small clubhouse, vibe, and practice facility. Excellent conditions. However, the course itself holds the club back from what it aspires to be. The course is a Fazio masterpiece    It has no identity, and needs a renovation. I envision a wispy links course that plays firm and fast with lots of ball movement. It should be one of the few Chicago links courses that respects the traditions of golf it tries so hard to instill in it's atmosphere. If they could just get a due over on the course.

[cary lichtenstein]

not something you would either remember or want to return for a 2nd playing. way down my hometown Chicago play list

[jeffwarne]

These guys are good...why try to force them back closer to par?


I bet a standard scratch would shoot 152 for 36 holes...

I'd take the over-every time
and I've never seen Conway Farms


edit-just checked the CR- 75.9 with a 149 slope


I would DEFINITELY take the over
you're suggesting that scratch could shoot his handicap on back to back days, in a TOUR event, with pressure

[Tom Bacsanyi]

From TV, looks like one of the better Fazios I've seen.  However, those faux/whatever sod wall bunkers need to get gone IMMEDIATELY.  Hideous.


(And I'm a fan of sod wall bunkers, but they belong on true links exclusively.)

[John McCarthy]

From TV, looks like one of the better Fazios I've seen.  However, those faux/whatever sod wall bunkers need to get gone IMMEDIATELY.  Hideous.


(And I'm a fan of sod wall bunkers, but they belong on true links exclusively.)

The sod wall bunker on 16 is dead.  I am unsure what is holding it up.  The sod wall bunker on 8 has been replaced twice in the last year or so at great expense. 


The greens are very firm this week.  The rough is lush but the fairways are pretty wide.  If they keep it in the fairway then scores will be low. 

[Ian Mackenzie]

Great conditions.
Every hole can be found on other Fazio courses.
Mish-mash membership that is struggling to find an identity.

Would be most at home with a resort hotel just off the first tee.


Very compeitive area for golf. Within 5 (or so) miles, you have:


Merit Club
Shoreacres
Onwentsia
Old Elm
Exmoor
Knollwood
Kemper Lakes
Bob O Link
Briarwood
ROyal Melbourne (Norman design, and I'm dead serious)


my guess is that it will be semi-private in 5 years.

[PCCraig]

Great conditions.
Every hole can be found on other Fazio courses.
Mish-mash membership that is struggling to find an identity.

Would be most at home with a resort hotel just off the first tee.


Very compeitive area for golf. Within 5 (or so) miles, you have:


Merit Club
Shoreacres
Onwentsia
Old Elm
Exmoor
Knollwood
Kemper Lakes
Bob O Link
Briarwood
ROyal Melbourne (Norman design, and I'm dead serious)


my guess is that it will be semi-private in 5 years.

How is it struggling to find an identity?


semi private is 5 years?!? It was always a very healthy membership?

[Ian Mackenzie]

Heard from some members at CF that they will be getting assessed for having the BMW there.
Ouch.

Besides, who chose to install revetted bunkers at this place?

[Martin Toal]

Heard from some members at CF that they will be getting assessed for having the BMW there.
Ouch.

Sorry, but what does that mean? Levied charges on their membership fees?

[Ian Mackenzie]

Heard from some members at CF that they will be getting assessed for having the BMW there.
Ouch.

Sorry, but what does that mean? Levied charges on their membership fees?

Costs for hosting the tournament exceed revenue generated by the tournament.


Costs - Revenue = $x


X = assessment levied on members by the club to make up the deficit. Otherwise known as a financial clusterf**k.


Caveat: I heard this from members, but do not have first-hand knowledge.