Cantigny Golf course is in the Chicago suburbs and defines living the GOOD LIFE!! Corvettes, BMW’s and Lexus’ filled Cantigny’s parking lot and we quickly understood why the elite frequent this course. As we arrived at the bag drop, we were greeted by one of the many friendly staff dressed in a green polo, navy knickers and knee-high argyle socks. To fully immerse ourselves into Cantigny’s culture, we decided to use a fore-caddy for the round. It was a first for both of us so we didn’t even know exactly what a fore-caddy does. Christian was waiting for us as we arrived and introduced himself as our caddy.
Before we teed off, Christian ran out about 250 yards, turned back to face us and folded his arms across his chest to let us know he was ready for us. Luc hit first and to everyone’s (except my) shock hit a 3-wood over Christian’s head. As I lined up to hit, he started to back up, thinking that I may do the same, instead I topped my shot that barely reached the fairway, and thus our round began. As an aside, since I did reach the fairway – I clicked “hit fairway” on the iphone stats application even though it was a terrible shot. My second shot was better and by the time I reached the ball, Christian had already located it and walked off (measured) that I had 85 yards remaining to the green. Halfway through the first hole I already knew I would really like this fore-caddy idea.
As we arrived on the green, Christian pulled the flag for us and asked if we wanted him to clean the balls. I think my response was something very dignified along the lines of, “Cool”! After putting, our fearless leader walked us to the next hole, explained target lines and traps and then jogged off down the fairway. I put my second shot into a bunker and as I hit out, Christian was there with rake in hand to rake the sand for me. With a complete lack of an ‘act like you’ve been here before’ attitude, I exclaimed, “wow, this is great” and walked to the green.The course itself was in amazing condition with multiple interesting holes throughout. It didn’t feature the wow factor of panoramic views like our first three days, but the course itself was my favorite. Luc’s favorite track is probably Troy Burne but it’s close.
I lost Luc’s camera somewhere on the 7th hole and didn’t realize it until we made the turn. As I started to panic at the snack shack and contemplate running back to search for it, the woman behind the counter calmly told me not to worry and radioed the ranger who asked a couple of follow-up questions and then searched for the camera. Before we even finished our next hole, an employee drove up proudly displaying the camera in his left hand.
After the hole he wanted to take a picture of us by a 40-foot butterfly-shaped floral arrangement (yes, this course really does have multiple large meticulously groomed, shaped floral arrangements). We insisted on having Christian in the picture. Again, the level of service at Cantigny is better then anything I had ever experienced on the golf course!I finally won a match today so our next meal is on Luc. We both played much better today and I think Christian deserves the credit. Oh, lastly, it’s probably worth mentioning that our fearless leader came straight from school where he finished his first day of 8th grade!! Christian is golfer himself and I just hope he remembers this blog when he’s on the PGA tour.
From the course we drove to Leigh’s apartment in Edgewater on the Northeast side of Chicago. Great place in a chill neighborhood! We hung-out at the apartment, walked to dinner and then got home around 10:30. We crashed immediately after setting the alarm for 5:30am to continue onto Cleveland for a 2:00pm tee time.
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