Anyone in a window seat on a flight into Chicago can see there are plenty of golf courses in the area. Particularly on the private side, there are dozens of courses that could land on any player’s bucket list.
But what about public-access courses? Where should you begin?
Thanks to Golfweek’s Best annual rankings of top public-access courses in each state, we can break out the highest-ranked layouts in the Chicago area. For the purpose of this exercise, we limited driving time to about 90 minutes. from Downtown Chicago. (We used Google Maps for its drive times, keying in downtown Chicago on a mid-afternoon – take all drive times around Chicago with a grain of salt, of course.)
Golfweek’s Best ranks 15 public-access courses in all of Illinois on our state-by-state ranking, and 12 of those fit the bill of being within 90 minutes of Chicago. Keep scrolling to see how they stack up, and check out the accompanying map to get a handle on roughly where everything is located.
A little background: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.
The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.
(Google Earth/Golfweek)
The 13th hole at Blackstone Golf Club offers a scenic drive through the Everglades on the S-curved cart path between the tee and fairway. (Photo: Rockford Register-Star)
Where: Marengo
State ranking 2023: No. 15 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Bob Lohmann
Distance: About an hour and 15 minutes northwest of Chicago
Where: West Chicago
State ranking 2023: No. 14 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Robert Trent Jones Jr.
Distance: About an hour west of Chicago
The Woodside nine at Cantigny Golf Club in Illinois (Courtesy of Cantigny Golf Club)
Where: Wheaton
State ranking 2023: No. 13 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Roger Packard
Distance: About 45 minutes west of downtown Chicago
Where: Romeoville
State ranking 2023: No. 12 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Ray Hearn
Distance: About 50 minutes southwest of downtown Chicago
Ravisloe Country Club in Illinois (Courtesy of Ravisloe Country Club)
Where: Homewood
State ranking 2023: No. 11 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Donald Ross
Distance: About an hour south of Chicago
Where: Chicago
State ranking 2023: No. 10 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Dick Nugent
Distance: About 40 minutes south of downtown Chicago
Where: Beach Park
State ranking 2023: No. 8 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Robert Trent Jones Jr.
Distance: About an hour and 15 minutes north of downtown Chicago
The Preserve at Oak Meadows (Courtesy of the Preserve at Oak Meadows/Charles Cherney)
Where: Addison
State ranking 2023: No. 7 public-access in Illinois
Designer(s): C.D. Wagstaff, Greg Martin
Distance: About 40 minutes west of downtown Chicago
The Glen Club (Courtesy of The Glen Club/Patrick Koenig)
Where: Glenview
State ranking 2023: No. 5 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Tom Fazio
Distance: About 45 minutes north of downtown Chicago
Where: Grayslake
State ranking 2023: No. 4 public-access in Illinois
Designer: Arthur Hills
Distance: About an hour and 20 minutes north of downtown Chicago
Highlands of Elgin in Illinois (Courtesy of The Highlands of Elgin)
Where: Elgin
State ranking 2023: No. 3 public-access in Illinois
Designers: Keith Foster, Art Schaupeter
Distance: About an hour west of downtown Chicago
Cog Hill’s No. 4 – Dubsdread in Illinois (Courtesy of Cog Hill/Charles Cherney)
Where: Lemont
State ranking 2023: No. 1 public-access in Illinois
Other rankings 2023: T-186 among all modern courses in the U.S.; T-66 among Top 100 Best You Can Play in the U.S.
Designers: Dick Wilson, Rees Jones
Distance: About 45 minutes southwest of Chicago
