(June 20th) Day 15 - Cicero, IN   drove 160 miles

My tee time for Bear Slide Golf Club, near Cicero, IN was 1:30 and so I wasn't in a big hurry on my way to the golf course. It was fathers day and I guessed there would be plenty of dads out early and maybe not so many later on. It was the most humid day I have played so far and the first time in many years I had sweat dripping into (and stinging!!) my eyes on the golf course. When I finished I would say that I was more tired than after any other round I had played so far (and since as I am writing this on June 28th).

There were several foursomes on the golf course ahead of me so I was glad to be paired up with someone. There was a father/son/four year old grandson on the tee ahead of me and the guy that was supposed to be with me had NOT checked in yet, 5 minutes to our tee time, SO the starter sent me out with the family of three, and NO, the four year old wasn't playing. One hole in and I knew it was going to be a long day, because how do you keep a four year old entertained on the golf course? After we finished the first hole I saw a single cart behind us and realized that the late check-in had arrived. I deduced that I was not going to enjoy the four year old in my golf game and told father/son I would drop back and play with whom I was scheduled to play with.

I played golf with Pat (from Nashville). His wife Emily and 6 year old Van rode in the cart with him, but neither of them played golf. I think I traded up going from a 4 to a 6 year old. I didn't score too badly, but there are some tricky holes on the golf course and I'm glad my short irons were in order this day. Pat was a decent enough player and he played a set of tees longer than I was playing, but sometimes we had to go looking in the weeds for wayward tee shots. I enjoyed their company and everything was fine until we came upon a six-some with about 5 holes to play. For some reason the groups in front of us decided to play together and they were not inclined to let us play through. It kind of got Pat & I steaming and ruined a perfectly good golf day as we waited, a lot. It is for this reason that I wouldn't play the course again. Cicero is a very small town and I'm sure most of the play comes from Indianapolis, but when the locals decide not to follow golf etiquette, they won't get my money again.

Bear Slide ls has five sets of tees that range from 6998 yards to 4834. I played the white tees at 5966 yards, course rating 69.3 and slope of 125 (scorecard stats). It was $58 for green fee and cart on a Sunday (not bad) and the small snack/beer shop has a dynamite chicken salad sandwich if that is up your alley. There is NO drinking water on the golf course, but they do warn you about that so you can take some with you.

I spent the night at a Comfort Suites near the new Indianapolis airport. Usually when you are in an airport area, there are lots of restaurants to go with all the hotel/motels. All these things exist at the OLD Indianapolis airport which was about 5 miles to the southwest of the new one. The new one however, had only ONE restaurant, 2 hotels down at a Hilton Blue Hotel. The desk clerk at my place said she has sent a lot of people there and the reports had been very good.

It  WAS very good! I had the BEST calzone I've ever eaten. I don't know if they baked it in a pizza oven and the brushed it with olive oil and broiled the crust or what (just a guess, I didn't ask), but the outside dough was dark and CRISPY and really added an outstanding crunch to a very good calzone. Those of you who know me very well know that I am a foodie. I WILL try this at home and see if I can figure it out.

           Randy’s golf course             ratings           play again               could recommend           Price

Prairieview GC (Byron, IL)                5                   YES                             YES                          $

Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA)          5                   YES                             YES                          $$$

Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND)         5                   YES                              YES                          $$

Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO)          4.5                 YES                              YES                          $$

Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA)                  4                   YES                              YES                          $$

Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE)              4                    YES                              YES                          $$ 

Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA)       4                     no*1                            YES                         $$

Brandon GC (Brandon, SD)                4                   YES                              YES                          $

Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI)         4                   YES                              YES                          $

Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN)               4                    no                                YES                          $$

Rivers Edge (Burley, ID)                   3.5                    ??                                YES                           $

Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI)         3.5                   YES                              YES                           $

Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT)             3.5                    no                       good golfers only!              $

Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN)     3                      no                                 no                             $

Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY)       3                      no                                 no                             $$

Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT)                 3                      no                                 no                             $        Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)

*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings

I'm not sure which holes all the pictures are from, but I know the first one is #18 green. It's tough!




This picture (I think!) is #15, a short, but very narrow hole that is driveable, 
BUT you'd better hit it where the grass is and there's not a lot of it.




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