Spring is here and that can only mean one thing. Golf season. Although Chicago is typically known for its urban flatlands, we have a course or two that can compete with the best of ‘em. Whether it be the driving range or the country club, the 18-hole or the nine, here are your haute 5 hottest golf courses to bring out the Tiger in you. The good, athletic part at least. Leave the rest to the bedroom.
Dubsdread at Cog Hill
Voted four stars by Golf Digest, No. 1 in Illinois in Golfweek’s “Best Courses You Can Play” and nationally ranked since its 1964 opening, Course No. 4 has acquired the nickname, “Dubsdread.” A natural style championship golf course, Dubsdread places a demand on shot making by providing tight landing areas combined with heavily bunkered, large undulating greens. Tiger Woods holds the course record at 62, and numerous championship series have been held here, most recently the BMW Championship series.
Cog Hill Golf and Country Club is located at 12294 Archer Ave. in Lemont, IL.
Chicago Golf Club
Rated No. 27 out of the “Top 100 Golf Courses in the United States” by GolfLink.com, the 18-hole “Chicago” course features 6,574 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 70 . The course rating is 72.1 and it has a slope rating of 130 on Bent grass. Chicago Golf Club is a private club in Wheaton, Illinois, and the oldest 18-hole course in North America. It was one of the five original clubs that founded the United States Golf Association in 1894. Its founder, Charles B. Macdonald, the “Father of Golf” in Chicago, won the first official U.S. Amateur Championship in 1895.
Chicago Golf Club is located at 25W253 Warrenville Rd. in Wheaton, IL.
Butler National Golf Club
Butler National was the creation of Paul Butler, an affluent entrepreneur, philanthropist, and sportsman who was the founder of the village of Oak Brook, Illinois. The 18-hole course features 7,335 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72 . The course rating is 76.6 and it has a slope rating of 144 on Bent grass. The greens are fast, but the difficulty comes in reading them as they are very subtle, requiring solid shots to obtain a good score.
The Butler National Golf Club is located at 2616 York Rd. in Oak Brook, IL.
Black Sheep Golf Club
Voted one of America’s Best Modern Courses by Golfweek, Black Sheep is a 27-hole expanse laid out across a former 285-acre farmstead. Former Ohio State golfer, David Esler, designed the layout to keep classic inland links as Shinnecock Hills, Prairie Dunes, and Sand Hills. Strategic design along with the shear breadth of the property enabled Esler to design golf holes that have unusually wide fairways that give players of varying abilities several risk/reward options off the tee.
Black Sheep Golf Club is located at 2S610 Seavey Rd. in Sugar Grove, IL.
Bourne
By Bourne, they mean Boonies, but that name didn’t have a positive connotation. This place is literally in the middle of nowhere, the only landmark being an airplane which crash landed nose-first in the middle of the soybean field doubling as the course. But don’t let appearances fool you. Known as the quirkiest and hardest holes in IL, Bourne’s 130-foot elevation on the No. 9 tee box; the natural waterfall on the 11th; and the true Scottish links at the par-4 14th and the par-3 15th makes Bourne “country golf” at it’s finest. So if you’re up for a challenge, look no further. Man vs. Nature. Because no one said winning was easy.
The Bourne is located at 2359 N. 35th Rd. in Marseilles, IL
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April 6, 2010Fore!: The Haute 5 Golf Courses in NYC
