Being a latecomer to golf has been a convenient excuse for stinking at it, though many rounds over many subsequent years should have produced an occasional decent score.
Some of those rounds took place at nice courses too — both a fortunate perk of my line of work and a shock to my blue-collar sensibilities. A media outing found me on the grounds of San Francisco’s fabled Olympic Club one year, and I’d sooner have spilled grape juice on my grandmother’s spotless carpet than taken a divot on one of those immaculate fairways.
So when I have an opportunity to tee it up these days, I often head for The Meadows Golf Club (2802 W. 123rd St. Blue Island). Pebble Beach it ain’t — a nearby warehouse building and the towering Robbins Incinerator chimney are looming reminders — but it’s a course without pretension, a comfortable, welcoming spot for the everyman (and woman) golfer (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
Practice
You can warm up on a range that’s well-marked and lighted, and a bucket of balls hit off a grass surface goes for $5, $6.50 or $8. Nearby is a neatly kept putting green with an adjacent bunker for sand shots and chips.
For lessons, head professional Jerry Vidovic is your guy. His approach is to take what a pupil does moderately well and work off that, to the point where almost any duffer becomes capable of hitting the four or five “good” shots that bring him (or her) back out.
Play
The daily rate is $22; $30 on weekends, plus $13 for a cart. Seniors pay $14 daily, $26 on weekends and an additional $10 for a cart.
The course plays to 6,581 yards and par 71 from “the tips” — the blue tees, for more accomplished players. The white tees play to 6,287 yards and the reds to 5,040, both par 71.
The Meadows is a muni course that gets a lot of play, but the maintenance crew works hard to keep it in shape. It’s built on landfill, however, and divots taken in certain places can produce an interesting archeological find. A lot of beer can pop-tops made their way to Blue Island over the years.
Eat and drink
The snack bar features moderately priced snack-bar staples — hot dogs, chili — for less than $4, and specialty sandwiches are slightly higher. There’s a variety of soft drinks and energy drinks, and the $2.75 domestic beer is a steal for anyone accustomed to downtown prices.
The Meadows seems the type of place the Scottish shepherds had in mind when they started banging stones around with sticks and came up with the game of golf. They were, after all, blue-collar-type guys.