Hangul Open

Dates: 2016/10/08

Bloomington Country Club

Time: 9:47am & 10:35am

M Tee: Yellow 6,561 72.0/132 Par: 71

W Tee: Red 5,614 73.2/128 Par: 73

Crestwicke Country Club

Time: 4:30pm

M Tee: Yellow 7,061 74.2/136 Par: 72

W Tee: Gold 5,570 67.4/119 Par: 72

Choi dominated at BCC but Yim fought back at Crestwicke!

Choi was consistent again at BCC and could beat everyone. Although his putting wasn't good enough for tricky BCC green, his driver and iron was long and accurate enough to reach most greens in two. .Choi struggle in front 9 (+13) but regained control in back 9 (+6). On the other hand, Yim hit solid in front 9 (+11) but struggled in back 9 (+13).

BCC was located at the heart of city and it was surrounded by roads. Fast running cars on the road could easily distract golfers even if mature tree lines protected balls. For example, H. Lee hit the Twanda road for his second shot on long par-5 6th hole. The dog leg left 6th hole was the most difficult hole. Although the course was beautiful with many flowers and unlimited food / drinks in coolers, it was mostly flat like the courses in Champaign. The $92 guest fee seemed overpriced until I notice a couple of white swans on the lake. It was so dazzling!

Ladies struggled a lot because they played at red tee without realizing that green tee was available. They played two extra holes while waiting for guys to arrive. For ladies, it was long par 73 course so it must be quite difficult. All fairways were guarded by beautiful tree lines and some of them were already turning red.

Lim bought lunch for everyone at Blaze Pizza. The new franchise restaurant served pizza in Subway-style. The customer can choose toppings and the server flamed the pizza on the spot.

On our way back home after lunch, car pool members wanted to play more golf so we stopped by Ironwood golf course. However, the twilight rate of $28 wasn't so attractive. Thus, we stopped by Crestwicke and the club pro allowed us to play 9 holes at $35. We ended up playing 11 holes and Yim fought back with his mighty driver beating Choi. Watching the long drive battle between Yim and Choi was a great fun because Crestwicke's fairway looked so narrow and challenging from black tee. We all agreed that Crestwicke is more fun to play than BCC and felt sorry for those who left early after BCC round.

One memorable thing was meeting Casey Pines who won Illinois PGA Players Championship on Oct. 4. He worked at Crestwicke and he put his trophy at the pro shop and J. Choi took a picture with it. I hope that one of CIKOGA members wins that trophy in near future!