Indian Boundary Golf Course — Local services in Jefferson Township

We visited this course last year and had a great experience. This year not so much. We went as a trio with my friend and his cousin who was in town from Florida for a week and had never been golfing before. Everything was going great until the 8th hole. When a man ran up to the Florida cousin and started yelling at him that he had been watching us from the 2nd hole and threatened to kick us out. Florida cousin told us that it had something to do with driving the golf cart past the markers. We went our way to the 9th hole and then were stopped by a man in a golf cart wearing a white tshirt and sandals who claimed to be the director of the facility. He said that we were being kicked out for non compliance and we had to finish the 9th hole and leave but we could come back next time to finish the other 9. I didn't quite understand why we were being kicked out but we didn't want any more trouble so we left. We were shocked by the appearance of the director because for a course that requires collared shirts khakis golf shoes and proper golf attire this man looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

This was in stark contrast to our experience last year. No one said anything to us last year about driving the carts past the boundaries. It's not like we drove the cart on the green. The one thing I did notice was this year the course was pretty much deserted. Last year it was packed with people and no one said anything to us.

I spoke with a colleague of mine who worked for a golf course downtown for quite a few years and she told me that most likely we were kicked off because the business at the course was slow and they probably didn't want to work. I can see this as the real reason behind our ejection because there was rain/thunder in the forecast. We were aware of this of course because we planned our outing months ahead of time and had no problems playing in a slight drizzle. We did have fun on the other 7 holes but we did have to let the other golfers pass us since we are just beginners. Perhaps they thought we taking too long on the course but we didn't want to hold up the others.

We felt the worst for our Florida cousin because he was only in town for this week and now his first golf experience will be memorable for the wrong reasons, not to mention that he won't be able to use the rain check the director offered since he wont be coming back for the foreseeable future.

I did give a 2nd star because the man in the white sox hat at our arrival was very courteous to us and even let us tee off before our scheduled tee time. One other thing I liked was that the course appears to be dog friendly. There was a dog loose by the entrance and it was very friendly. It was nice to see that.

All in all I believe we will choose a different...

I will preface that I've probably played this course 30 times in the last couple years with varying experiences. I'll try to focus on the positive but there have been some experiences that make it less than stellar.

To start, the course for what it is, is beautiful. It's got great natural features that make some holes unique and fun to play. Tee boxes are well maintained and the greens (besides aeration times) are good. Deer can be seen everywhere which always adds to the beauty. The course has come a long way in recent years. I've played rounds with members of the staff and they are always nice folk. No complaints about them

What is unfortunate about the place is the tight tee times, lack of rangers and the kind of people it attracts. During busy hours you are waiting at every whole. There is no rhyme or reason to when they send out people nor are they keeping people accountable for their pace of play. I've been in a chain of foresomes with a single trying to play through. Not sure how these situations occur but IB doesn't seem to care.

Additionally I've had many times were "locals" get frustrated with being behind you, even though you are unable to play faster. I've had many balls hit into my groups by frustrated golfers and a couple times where my group has been yelled at by the group behind me for "slow play". I had some group yesterday encouraging us to hit drives into the group ahead of us to "encourage them". For some reason this just seemed to have been a problem in the last year.

I would recommend playing this course but only in off hours and never on the weekend. It turns into mad house and can really ruin the round. Until this issue is resolved I would not recommend going during...

I used to play Indian Boundary Golf Course Every Saturday morning 30 years ago.. Back when all the Cook County forest preserve golf courses were first come first play. I used to have to arrive around 9 p.m. the night before in order to be in One of the first groups to tee off Saturday morning and finish the round In less than 4 hours. Back, then the course was inexpensive to play, @ $16, if I remember correctly. The fairways were regular grass That was just cut a little shorter Than the rough. The greens weren't well-maintained, being very slow and bumpy. But considering the price, it was okay. 30 years later, all I can say is WOW, What a difference. I was very impressed. I booked my tee time online And teed off exactly on time. The fairways were beautiful. Short and tight. The greens were excellent. Relatively fast and very smooth. They expanded the number of tee boxes on each hole. And, although the green fees have increased, ( What doesn't cost more 30 years later. ) Indian Boundary is a great deal, Especially after all the upgrades. So congratulations to Cook County and it's Forest Preserve Department. It's good to see the government doing something right for a change. Congratulations also go out to the person(s) responsible for all the upgrades and design changes at Indian Boundary Golf Course and to the on course staff, who were exceptionally friendly and helpful. Thanks to everyone involved. I Will definitely return And look forward to play at Indian Boundary Golf Course...