Midlane Suites

We got married at Midlane Golf Resort in November. We chose it because of the reasonable cost, the rural setting, and the fireworks.
I’m not going to go into detail about their previous coordinator since it is no longer relevant, but when we got engaged in December 2013, they had just lost their long-​time wedding coordinator, who had great reviews. We instead dealt with the interim wedding coordinator, who was actually the golf pro. I had some trepidation about this, but the cost, fireworks, and on-​site hotel made us take the chance. We regretted it almost immediately. Later, we found a backup venue and we were very close to walking away. We ended up hiring a day-​of-​wedding planner instead. When we emailed Midlane to introduce our day-​of-​wedding planner, a new wedding coordinator, Corki Roth, responded that the old coordinator was «no longer with Midlane» and she had taken over.
Corki was patient with us even though she had inherited a very upset client. We met with her and reviewed our contract from scratch. Corki was much better at answering questions and providing details. She showed a real willingness to work with us and also worked with our day-​of-​wedding planner as necessary. She responded to all of our emails promptly and let us in early to set up. The day of the wedding, she was there asking if we needed anything. It was a welcome change after our previous experience.
Here’s a quick summary of the stuff that I think is still relevant:
Corki is great. She is a serious improvement over the interim coordinator and is doing good things with the venue. I think Corki normally does the day-​of-​coordination, but she worked with our day-​of planner and there were no issues.
The cost is reasonable and the food is fine. It’s as good as anything else you can get at a wedding. They only do food tastings once a year, in January, so you should figure out up front how to deal with that. They also include the cake and have a dedicated cake person that you meet with and pick out a cake. Ours was fantastic.
The place is a little old fashioned, but we didn’t mind. We requested The Chandler room, which we found out later is normally only for larger parties (200 people I think). I highly recommend it if you can get it. The big windows and the staircase add a lot, while the other rooms at the venue had low ceilings and look older. I think they may be renovating those.
The fireworks are simply remarkable. I didn’t want them at all, but my wife insisted I’d like them. We danced on a platform in front of the windows and the fireworks went off about halfway through the song, providing a background curtain of golden sparks and leaving the couple in silhouette. My wife and I lost it when they went off and couldn’t stop laughing. Everyone in the room was shocked and the pictures are just plain storybook. I’m happy to be wrong about them. It was beautiful and it’s one of the highlights of our pictures and people’s stories.
We dodged a bullet with the hotel, The Lotus Suites. When we went to book our block, we found out it’s not actually owned by the resort. It was also being renovated, so it might have improved. At the time, it seemed cramped and seedy. The lady at the front desk had no interest in being helpful and didn’t seem to understand the concept of a wedding block. She tried to make us pay for 15 rooms up-​front. They have around 80 rooms, about half of which are normally booked for out-​of-​town corporate or medical visitors. They have one honeymoon suite, which was booked. Once we figured all of this out, we found another hotel nearby. That meant we had to get our own transportation, but the hotel was much nicer and it ended up being a good choice.
The catering staff is paid an hourly wage, but they build a gratuity into the contract. It caused us some confusion since our day-​of wedding planner gave us some guidelines about tips, which matched everything we could find online. We had some trouble squaring «tips» with the built-​in «gratuity» in the contract. We initally figured that part of the included gratuity would be split among the staff as tips, but it turns out that the «gratuity» is actually used to pay the hourly wage for the staff. We just gave up trying to figure out «the right thing to do» and tipped the staff on top of that gratuity.
If you’re in the city, you should also be ready for a lot of trekking back and forth. This isn’t specific to Midlane, but we spenta lot of time going back and forth to deal with the venue, church, hotel, cake person, etc. Midlane itself is a little far out and the non-​golf staff are not usually around on nights or weekends. If they are, they are dealing with another wedding. At one point, my wife had to take a day off of work to go meet with them during a weekday for some final preparations.
I would recommend Midlane. It was a rough planning process, but things improved with the new staff and our wedding day was perfect. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Midlane resort was a little old-​ish but the course was in great condition even with the lack of rain in the area. Played on June 16, 2012, and fairways were cut nice and greens were rolling true. The back nine was beautifully laid out through marshlands and wooded areas. I would def go back again, especially at a good rate!

We reserved a room on line for my wife, 2 kids and myself and the gave us a room with only one bed! Luckily the couch pulled out into a bed. Breakfast was not very good. Most of the reviews I read just talk about the golf course. Who cares! I don’t golf! I just wanted a nice place to stay and relax after great America. Since there is a banquet hall here I think they get a lot of people staying for that. The pool was packed! Not the relaxing night I was looking for. Staff was very friendly though. Probably wont stay here again.

Pace of play was great for a holiday weekend morning round, practice facility well maintained, and a very challenging layout. Starter was very professional and kept groups away from the first tee until it was time to tee off, which I thought was nice. Good mixture of holes, hazards are all well placed, and a great bang for the buck. Greens rolled true, and have fair undulation. 10 through 14 on the back side very picturesque. High caliber of golf at Wadsworth, IL prices.

Just visited for a Saturday wedding and stayed over night. Here are my thoughts:
Positives: Clean. Cleaner than some Holiday Inn Expresses I’ve been to. We had chicken with some cheesy yellowish sauce which I believe had grapes sliced into it at the wedding, it was okay. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to scare you away either, I would say the same about the appetizers. The salad, however, had a raspberry dressing out on it that I loved. The rooms are larger than expected with quite a few «extras» including a 1000 watt microwave and separate eat in area in the suite. Pillows are good, synthetic so you don’t have to worry about down allergies. The towels were slightly thicker than the usual sand paper thin towels you are used to getting in cheap hotels. Both my husband and I found the shower head to be heavenly. And, the fact that they had frozen food vending machines very helpful when coming in from a drunken wedding night of partying. The staff was very friendly and able to assist when I needed a bandage. They also serve free breakfast, although I didn’t try it myself I heard it was decent.
Negatives: This place is screaming for a renovation. Whether you look up and realize the purple walls in the banquets are bubbled out possibly covering water damage, the picture frames are crooked, the walls are mostly at a 95 degree angle, or you look down and realize there is rust in your shower drain, rust in your sink drain, and both the couch in your room and in the banquet hall are ridden with stains. The bed was lumpy, the blanket almost threadbare, and the bartenders at the banquet slower then a worm crossing a street. Not to mention when checking in with only one person in front of us it took almost 20 minutes. (My husband thinks the older woman helping us was new. Regardless it took her a full minute to stuff our room keys into an envelope.)
One of the things that bothered me most about this place was the lack of efficiency in the overall layout, having to walk through grass and around to get to a bar or to the banquet hall. You couldn’t walk through the building as other «private» parties were going on. They literally had a staff member standing guard to stop you.
But, I found for the price and because of the staff being so friendly, overall Midlane and Lotus suites were A-​Ok.

Rooms are okay, not noticeably dirty, however the fitness room had black mold growing up and down the walls and out the air vents. The maids evidently do not know what do not disturb on the door means. They have woken me up every morning with do not disturb on the door.

Do you want to know where one of the best burgers in the Chicagoland area is? I ducked in and out with one of these bad boys before they ever knew I was there! You won’t see a sign saying great burgers here. Its a little hidden where you need to go to get this burger. Its not in any strip mall. Heck they don’t even have a picture of it. Just trust me on this an don’t waste your money at one of the fast food things they call a burger. You deserve the real thing don’t you?
Ok so here’s the deal. Midlane Resort has always been a well kept secret in Northern Illinois to those who want it for their own. Have you been to this place? Do you live in the area and not know whats in your back yard? Midlane is fun, entertaining, professional and did I mention fun? Word of mouth which is the best kind of advertising is what got the word out about Midlane Resort and when you have something good it does get out eventually!
So I could write about the incredible attention to detail at weddings and business functions that they’re known for. I could be writing about how the golf course is maintained like a course right out of California Coast, which it is. I could be writing about how the Manager «Lenny» makes you feel like family every time you walk through the door, which he does. I could go on and on, but today I want to write about another secret at Midlane.
Do yourself a favor and walk around the building, into the pro shop and order yourself a burger. That’s right a burger. As matter of fact I would order them for your whole family and bring them home for dinner. They are out of this world! Seriously! One of the best burgers I have had this year. Its what a burger should taste like! Real beef? Go figure huh. Sorry Five Guys, I love your fries but you got nothing on this burger. Another Midlane best kept secret — OUT. Call them ahead and get their hours. It is a pro shop and seasonal, but they stay open when the weather permits… 847 623 4653 or 847 360 0550 Again do yourself a favor and check this out. Then tell me if you agree.
By the way the burger is just the tip of the ice burg when it comes to some of Lake Counties best cuisine. The dining room is seasonal, but I highly recommend booking banquets at Midlane where the attention to detail and your satisfaction comes first! If the food ain’t good, nothin else matters! Great job as well to Chef Gary Celdinas. Ciao
Please let me know where you would like me to visit and review next.
Stealth Chef

This is one of the best bang-​for-​the-​buck courses you will find in the Chicagoland area. It is well maintained, greens are decent speed, and water water everywhere. You can easily shoot over 90 on a bad day but break 80 if you have your A game. We always play for the tips and pay from $ 25 weekdays to $ 40 on weekend with carts on golf internet sites.

You won’t find a fancy schmancy club house or high-​tech golf carts with GPS at Midlane. What you will find (assuming you can find Wadsworth, IL on a map) is a well maintained and challenging course for golfers at any level. I played here both in the early Summer and early Fall and the course was consistently in very good shape. It’s quite a hike if you live in the city, but the green fees are pretty reasonable compared to some of the shorter, lower quality courses in Chicago’s immediate suburbs. Be forewarned, there’s a ton of water on this course so bring lots of golf balls and prepare for a long day if you’re struggling to hit it straight. Even with all the challenges this course presents, it still makes for an enjoyable round that’s worth the occasional trek outside Chicago.

this is still a great bargain, and a wonderful conditioned course, and a very hard course!!! Tons of water and lots of trouble. very fun course and its a great value. Far from the city but great value.

As I read through some of these reviews, I cant help but assume that the positive reviews were based on visits in the years past. I’ve been frequenting midlane for 4 years now with the first 3 being very enjoyable experiences (cheap golf/​friendly staff/​challenging layout). However, as some of you may or may not know, Midlane has recently gone through some managerial changes that have really shook up my whole view of the «country club». First, the course is in noticably worse shape (brown patches of grass/​rocky greens/​untrimmed fairways/​VERY poor drainage). The first month or so I chalked it up to being «early in the season», but as we approach mid summer nothing seems to be changing. Secondly, the mood of the staff has turned 180 degrees. No longer are you greeted with friendly hellos, instead they’ve been replaced by snude remarks and frowns on the faces of people who clearly do not want to be there. While normally I would never take that into consideration when choosing a golf destination, it truely made for an akward enterance into the clubhouse. Although the prices have not gone up, at $ 68 dollars a round the subpar product is, in my opinion no longer worth the price of admission. Sadly, I wouldn’t be suprised if the course was out of buisness in the near future.
Thats just my two sense. Who knows maybe things will improve. But I sure wouldn’t advise anyone to stick around to find out.

First of all this is not a «country club» it is a resort so it is open to the public. Second you cant go by Mapquest for the location as it is off of Delany Rd not Wadsworth Rd like the «marker» shows. If fact if you scroll down and right a few screens you will see a big green blob marked «Midlane Golf».
Ok this place is a resort so it has a golf course, a hotel, and banquet facilities.
The golf course is top notch, very challenging, with lots of hills and water. It is also surrounded by a large sub-​division so be careful of errant shots as they may take out a window. Average cost for a round would be $ 40 – 50, more on the weekend.
The hotel is nice looking from the outside but I have never stayed.
There used to be a restaurant here but I dont think it is there anymore. They do have a club for drinking and dancing.

Only if this place wasn’t in… wait. where is it? Wadsworth? But then if it wasn’t way out there, it wouldn’t be so cheap.
Just to correct John K., I don’t think it’s a country club… it’s just a regular public golf course that they like to call a resort.
Anyway, this course is in great condition every time I play there and it’s no more than $ 40 no matter what time of the season. I highly recommend it if you’re willing to drive out there… and for you Chicagoans… it’s really really out there.