Best golf courses: Chicago

Chicago: the table below provides brief details about the top golf courses in and around this city. Each golf club has been visited and/or researched by Where2Golf. Click on the course name below to discover more. The course ratings below range from 5 highest, to 2 lowest. They attempt to provide an indication of the golfing experience you might expect at the course (based on its design, condition and surroundings). Hover your cursor above the Rating Key below for the rating definitions.
5-star: Fabulous – courses don’t get much better than this.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Wilson, Lee & Jones.

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

The Cog Hill course designers:
No.1 Blue - David McIntosh (1927).
No.2 Ravines - David McIntosh & Bert Coghill (1929), later redesigned by Joe Lee & Rocky Roquemore.
No.3 Red - Dick Wilson (1963).
No.4 Dubsdread - Dick Wilson & Joe Lee (1964), later redesigned by Rees Jones (2008).

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Packard, Roger

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Original design by Roger Packard (1989), updated by Jacobson Design (2003).

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Fazio, Tom

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Tom Fazio

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Nugent, Dick

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Dick Nugent

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Nugent, Dick

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Dick Nugent

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Jones II, Robert Trent

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Robert Trent Jones II (lead designer Bruce Charlton).

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Dye, Pete & P.B.

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Father/son team of Pete & P.B. Dye

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Jones II, Robert Trent

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Robert Trent Jones II (lead designer Bruce Charlton).

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Packard, Roger

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Roger Packard in collaboration with Andy North.

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Weibring, D.A.

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

D.A. Weibring

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Coore & Crenshaw

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
McIntosh, Coghill, Lee & Roquemore

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

The Cog Hill course designers:
No.1 Blue - David McIntosh (1927).
No.2 Ravines - David McIntosh & Bert Coghill (1929), later redesigned by Joe Lee & Rocky Roquemore.
No.3 Red - Dick Wilson (1963).
No.4 Dubsdread - Dick Wilson & Joe Lee (1964), later redesigned by Rees Jones (2008).

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Packard, Roger

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Roger Packard

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Hills, Arthur

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Arthur Hills

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Flynn, Lee, Roquemore & Jemsek

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Original 9-hole course laid out by Cardinal Mundelein and extended to 18-holes in 1929 by William S. Flynn. Course significantly redesigned and remodelled by Joe Lee, Rocky Roquemore and Joe Jemsek (1985).

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Hills & Forrest

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Arthur Hills & Steve Forrest

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Kavanaugh, Ken

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Ken Kavanaugh

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Packard, Roger

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Roger Packard

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Chicago
Hurdzan/Fry

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Hurdzan/Fry Design (Dr Michael J. Hurdzan & Dana Fry).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Langford & Moreau

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Original design by William Langford & Theodore Moreau (1922); restored by Bobby Weed (2015).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Bendelow & Jones

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

No.1 course: designed by Tom Bendelow (1924).
No.2 course: original design by Tom Bendelow (1927); renovation by Rees Jones (2017).
No.3 course: original design by Tom Bendelow (1928); redesign by Rees Jones (2003, 2009).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Bendelow & Park Jr.

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

North course designed by Willie Park Jr (1923); modifications by Mark Mungeam (2014). South course designed by Tom Bendelow (1915) and renovated by Steve Smyers (2007).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Rich & Martin

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Jerry Rich (RHF's owner) & Greg Martin

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Macdonald, Charles B.

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Original design by "the father of American golf course architecture" Charles Blair Macdonald (1893); improved by Seth Raynor (1923).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Raynor, Seth

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Seth Raynor

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Doak, Tom

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Tom Doak

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Chicago
Fazio, George & Tom

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Chicago

Designer

Uncle/nephew team of George & Tom Fazio.

Find a course

Or

Tournaments

The Sentry: known for many years as the Tournament of Champions, the PGA Tour’s 2025 season-opener gets underway on Kapalua’s Plantation course (Jan 2-5). Chris Kirk defends.

Tournament of Champions: the LPGA Tour’s 2025 season is launched at Lake Nona with the their Tournament of Champions (Jan 30-Feb 2). The 2024 edition gave Lydia Ko her 20th LPGA Tour title.

Who's Who

Attahya Thitikul: also known as “Jeeno”, the Thai golfer won the LPGA Tour’s 2024 CME Group Tour Championship … and an eye-watering $4 million, the richest first-prize in women’s golf.

Rory McIlroy: scooped the 2024 European (DP World) Tour season-long Order of Merit title, joining Seve Ballesteros as a six-time winner of this prestigious award.

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club: With a clubhouse that might befit a Roman Emperor, and a golf course to match, you can be sure of a memorable outing at Rome's most talked about golf facility.

Jim Fazio's original layout was much changed to create a modern Ryder Cup course ... now one of the Eternal City's (and Italy's) most revered.

Prince's Golf Club, Kent (UK)

Here at Prince’s Golf Club you'll find 27 excellent holes of links golf. Just over the fence and sharing similar terrain is Royal St George’s; but Prince’s is far from overshadowed by its venerable neighbour. The three nine-hole loops at Prince's, laid out over gently undulating terrain, are sure to bring a smile of satisfaction to all lovers of links golf.

Stay&Play at Prince's: excellent onsite Lodge accommodation available

Popular videos

You can subscribe to the Where2Golf channel on YT if you like to see more video content. You'll find a "Subscribe" button on any of our YouTube videos. Or if you want a quick and direct access subscribe here. Once done, any new published videos will show up in your Subscriptions feed.

Whistling Straits (Wisconsin, US)

Hamburger GC - Falkenstein, Germany

Littlestone Golf Club (Kent, UK)