Cinder Ridge Golf Course

Great course conditions, well maintained course, lots of cool strategic par 4 holes, good hole by hole recommendations on rocks at tee boxes. 16th hole is short fun mini-island par 3. Good sand wedge or pitching wedge and you are dancing. Two of par 5’s reached almost 600 yds! Wide open fairways made for fun driving off those par 5’s. Clubhouse gentleman very nice and easy going - he had the fun golf spirit and wished all of us a great round of golf! We will be back for sure! 3 hour round on a Friday afternoon! Cannot beat that!!

Country course fun to play but they made us wait to give our carts til 10min before tee time bc we booked with golfnow. Had to wait around to get cart and get ready after that it was fine, need to drop that cart rule for golfnow to get ready.

Very nice course with a lot of fun holes, my wife and daughter played and this course is very friendly for the ladies.

Early round. Staff had dew sweepers ready to go.
Threesome in front of us were slow. Turns out they were waiting on a 4th. Got slower with him. No ranger to get them moving. Passed them at 10, hour 20 min back nine, 2+ hour front. Course was in good condition despite 4 days of mist and drizzle. Greens were fast and true. Will be back

Always fun to play here. Whatever green aeration had been reported previously has completely healed. Course in great shape. Note that many of the greens are crowned, and a few putts in 2-3 foot range had enough break to play outside the hole.

We went off early as a 3-some and didn't see another golfer until the turn. Front desk let us go off a few minutes early. 3:35 pace and early bird rate.

We we're not expecting aerated greens. It wasn't every hole and only seemed to affect a couple putts in the foursome. One putt did hit a hole and jump sideways from two feet out from the hole. Otherwise course is in excellent condition. The layout is very challenging since there isn't much room for error if you miss fairways or fly the greens. Lost a lot of balls. Drinks and food are a great deal. Staff is always super nice. Highly recommend playing this course. My group likes to play it regularly.

Great course. Love the layout. Challenging but fair Fairways in good shape. Rough is short, thick but very hittable. Greens recently air rated so a little bumpy on some holes but not bad overall. Would definitely play again!

Great course in great shape even after all the rain greens were nice maybe a little soft but that's just the way it was going to be... can't wait to play it when things are a little dryer

Very tough course, great condition. Rough is thick with quick greens. Highly recommend!

I've been wanting to play Cinder Ridge for years and I was not disappointed when I finally booked a round and made the Friday Afternoon drive. Took about an hour with fast moving traffic but it was worth the drive.
I was concerned before due to the reviews that I now find completely out of line and unlike my experience. While Cinder Ridge does not deliver a glamorous experience, it absolutely delivers a great and unique golf experience for anyone that appreciates the game for what it is.

Fairways, fringes, greens, bunkers, and rough were all in excellent condition. Many fun and interesting elevation changes. The rough on this day was thick enough to cause difficulty but not so thick that you can't find your ball. That's a plus for speeding up play. Our threesome played behind an incredibly slow senior pair and we still finished 18 in 3hours 48minutes. The only discomfort I found: a number of annoying bugs on the front nine that just wouldn't quit until I reached for the spray.

The par 5s are very long, bending, and contrast with the the par 3s which are dead straight and on the shorter side but with small greens which demand precision. Loved how the edges fall off on some parts of some of these greens. Greens were tight and fast on this day. Some players ahead were careless in fixing their ball marks but I covered for them as I always will.

The bunkers are plentiful, large, and well placed and well cared for. Mostly they are a flat, shallow, pan-style that provides a flat lie with clean, smooth, and consistent sand. Perfectly playable.
Pleasantly surprised to find so many doglegs here. By my count 10 of the holes had bends ranging from gentle to extreme. The course begins with three doglegs that are significant enough that you cannot see the green from the tee. Of the many memorable holes, I found a 577 yard dog left # 8 that is a monster which should be a Par 6. #9 is a short hole that takes a hard 90 degree left turn. #12 requires a laser straight drive through a narrow chute that I haven't seen outside of PGA events. #16 Par3 over water provides an interesting look and you really don't want to miss this green like I did.

I took a big number here on this first round playing here. I had a ridiculous number of penalty strokes which were all entirely my fault. I'll be happily returning for another try!

Booked on the internet. Course requires that internet bookers tee off at the exact booking time. We played the course twice in the same week and with no starter the staff sent other golfers off at our tee time both times. There is no discipline. Play was slow.

Played here after a 15 year hiatus. I didn't think much of the course back then having played it a handful of times and nothing has really changed over that time period; with the exception of a lot of trees lost during the tornado back in 2015 it is a little more open than what I remember

Course feels similar to many you see in central IL, where they are simply cut out of the woods. There's not many memorable holes here and the greens were poor with many patches of semi-dead spots where your ball would jump and bounce while putting. Rough was long, but likely that way due to recent rain. Serviceable clubhouse with pro-shop & restaurant with typical food at the turn.

Pace of play was slow as well. In my opinion, overall there are many better choices in this area: Heritage Bluffs & Kankakee Elks being two that come to mind.

I felt people's who worked there that day wasn't friendly to Asian golfers!!! They didn't go e me the cart key till 5 minutes before my tee time. All the other hot deal buyers all gone let me alone to play and no rangers around course so slow pace!!! They told I can't get the cart because I have hot deal from golfnow!!!!!