Sisolak's Golfarama (Beach Park, IL) - West Course

September 2, 2011, early afternoon

I had some time to kill with Alma at work, and since it was probably the last hot spell of the year, I figured I might as well get in some mini-golf, possibly my last of the season.  Lighthouse was closed, so I headed over to Sisolak's, which (at 12:30 on a Friday with school having restarted in most places) was completely deserted.  My attempt at it was better than my first try.  Though I started with a bogey, I pulled the shot back with a birdie at #5 and parred the other seven holes on the front nine to go out in even-par 22.  Despite having to play with a house putter because I forgot to grab mine leaving the house in the morning, I got the hang of the carpet pretty well and made two birdies in the first three holes to start the higher-par back nine.  I lipped a birdie at the 14th but made another at the 15th, and though I gave a shot back when I couldn't sink a longer par putt at #16, I birdied #17 as well.  Unfortunately, I stepped to the 18th needing just to hit it relatively straight to get par or better, and instead yanked the shot way to the right and fell into the bogey hole.  In all, I went 22 out, 22 in for a total of 44, two under par and three shots better than my first attempt.

July 8, 2011, afternoon

I first heard of, and tried to go to, Sisolak's a few years ago, 2006 or so.  At the time, however, it was closed and abandoned.  It reopened three years ago, but I didn't actually know that until this week, so since I was up in the area I decided to add it to the list of area courses I've played.  Sisolak's is more of an old-timey course - though it has more design and obstacle flourish than Putt-Putt, the overall course layout is more similar to a Putt-Putt course than to something like, say, Lighthouse or Congo River with their elevation and water features.  It's actually pretty similar to Sportsman's, right down to a nearly identical design on several holes suggesting that you could buy hole designs from some third party; the biggest difference, really, is the wooden rails instead of metal.  My putting at Sisolak's was actually pretty good after the first couple holes when I got the hang of the carpet, but it was my driving that killed me.  At #6, which featured a house almost identical to the 17th at Sportsman's, my first shot bounced out of the house and back to the tee, and my second dropped down onto the fairway.  I had to settle for a bogey four, putting me two-over at the time.  I managed to birdie #7, my first of the round, and made the turn at one-over.  I started the back nine with two pars and a birdie to get back to even par, but no sooner was I starting to feel good about myself than I double-bogeyed #13 after having my first shot bounce back off a rotating obstacle and my second shot get stuck under it.  That I scraped out double-bogey was thanks to a nice longer putt, even.  At #15 I saved par with a long putt after having no option on my second shot but to tap my ball out from behind an obstacle so I would even have a shot at the hole.  I crept back to one-over with a birdie at #17, but another slightly errant tee shot at #18 meant I dropped into the 2 hole instead of the 1 hole and I couldn't manage to finish at par.