Harry Semrow's Miniature Golf (Des Plaines, IL)

June 5, 2011, late afternoon

I was in kind of a grouchy mood arriving at the course, and this didn't necessarily abate as I began to play.  Though I parred the first three holes, I bogeyed #4 after my par putt was too soft to roll into the cone of the volcano cup.   I followed this with a double bogey at the fifth and the expected bogey at the spiral sixth, but at least got back to within two shots of par at the turn thanks to the expected birdie at #7 and a nice birdie at #9 when I managed to finesse in the second shot by curving it over a berm.  I proceeded to bogey the tenth when what seemed like a good-looking par putt veered strangely away from the hole, forcing me to make an even longer putt just to save bogey.  I bogeyed #11 as well and then narrowly missed long birdie putts at #12 and #14, though I did birdie the thirteenth.  At this point I was still +3 and had just four holes left, of which three were par twos - since I'd never recorded a single hole-in-one at the Semrow course, par looked out of reach, and even my previous best of +2 would take some doing.  After a par 2 at #15, I stepped to the 16th tee and somewhat ambitiously decided to aim for the far green - #16 is shaped sort of like a jug, with bulges to the left and right that each contain a cup and a third cup on a small green at the far end that's only accessible through a fairly narrow opening and over a little hill.  For whatever reason - I had aimed for the left bulge's cup both previous times - I shot for the far green.  Not only did I make it on, but the ball ricocheted off the walls and rolled right into the cup for my first-ever ace.  At #17, I followed the usual tactic of rolling the first putt through the more narrow approach between a rock in the fairway and the lefthand wall; the ball glanced briefly off the rock and then rolled directly into the hole for a second straight ace!  Now I was within a shot of par and stepping up to an 18th where I had birdied both previous attempts, and I did so again here, knocking the first shot to within a foot or so and canning the birdie to achieve par in my third shot at the course.  Needless to say, I was in a much better mood leaving than I had been arriving.

May 29, 2010, late morning

Since I was already nearby, I opted to give the Semrow course another shot, this time with the knowledge that it wouldn't be wet and thus likely to play more fairly.  It did, as it happens, although this didn't stop me from making several mistakes on the way to blowing a chance at par.  I pounded the drive at #1, leaving myself a long par putt that I missed in part because I didn't notice the berm just to the left front of the cup; after parring #2 and #3, I came back to par with a nice birdie 2 at the par-3 fourth, hitting a long birdie putt that made its way to the rim of the volcano-style hole and fell in.  However, I went back over par with a bogey 4 at the fifth and took an expected bogey 3 at the spiral hole, #6, which I still think is rated wrongly.  At least I got that shot right with the easy birdie at #7, just like last time.  Two more pars and I made the turn with a one-over 25, three shots better than last time.  Aside from a bogey 4 at the eleventh - a two-level hole that plays quite hard - I was mostly sailing along at this point, just missing a birdie at #13 (the putt was on line but almost magically rolled away just shy of the hole) and then making one at #14 thanks to a perfect drive that left me inside a foot.  Par was still in reach - I was one-over through fifteen holes and had gone par-par-birdie on the final three in my first attempt.  Here, however, the wheels came off.  Left with about a two-foot par putt on #16, I hit it too hard and pushed it past the hole, leaving some work for a bogey 3 (though I did make it).  #17 was even more aggravating, as I grounded the putter on my drive, leaving no hope for the par putt.  I did make birdie at the last, putting me at 25 out, 25 in, 50 total, a four-shot improvement over my first go-round but one that coud have been even better.

May 22, 2010, late morning

I first noticed the mini golf course at Harry Semrow Driving Range some years ago while driving back from another course along Golf Road, but I had never played it.  Saturday might not have been the best day to start, as it had rained the previous night and with the sun not yet out in the morning the course was somewhat wet.  This made judging putts tricky at times; the carpet didn't always behave the way it might have been expected to.  The par was actually a relatively high 48; twelve of the eighteen holes were par 3.  Unfortunately this was often because even getting on the green in two was something of a challenge.  I struggled early, leaving a makeable par putt short at the first and then dropping three shots to par at the third and fourth combined.  Things settled down for the rest of the front nine as I was even par the rest of the way (dropping a shot at #6, a spiral design which I'm convinced cannot be parred so long as its par is set at two, but getting it back with an easy birdie at #7; part of me thinks the scorecard just reversed the pars of those two holes).  However, the back nine started rough as well.  I bogeyed the first two holes and then started #13 with a badly topped shot that bounced directly back to me, squeaking out bogey 4 in the end.  I did finish with four straight 2s on the card, but could only pick up one shot relative to par as holes #15-17 were all par 2.  In the end I settled for 28 out and 26 back for a +6 total of 54; not the worst considering the conditions, but I'd wait for a nice dry day before trying again.