By the numbers
Our list covers Cook County and the five collar counties (DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane and McHenry), plus DeKalb, Kendall and Grundy, Northwest Indiana (Lake and Porter counties) and Kenosha County, Wisconsin. In the 1990s the Encyclopedia of Chicago put the metro total at about 275 courses, more than half of them public.
Where it started: a farm in Downers Grove
Charles Blair Macdonald learned the game as a student at St Andrews in Scotland and came home to Chicago wanting a course. In 1892 he talked about 30 friends into $10 apiece and laid out nine holes on a farm in Downers Grove. The next year it grew to 18, which Macdonald and the Encyclopedia of Chicago call the first 18-hole course in the country, and the Chicago Golf Club soon moved to a bigger property near Wheaton, where it still plays. Within a decade Chicago had hosted the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur, founded the Western Golf Association and opened a free public course in Jackson Park.
Part of that first Downers Grove layout survives as Belmont Golf Club, a nine-hole park district course anyone can play.
- 1892
Golf arrives in Downers Grove
Charles Blair Macdonald got about 30 Chicago backers to chip in $10 each and built a nine-hole course on a farm in Downers Grove. Regulation cups were not available, so tin cups were used. belmontgolfclub.org
Wikipedia lists 1892 as the founding year and says the club's state charter was granted July 18, 1893. One Encyclopedia of Chicago entry (pages/10416) dates the club's formation to 1893.
- 1893
An 18-hole course, by Macdonald's account
After one season, the Downers Grove layout was expanded to 18 holes. The Encyclopedia of Chicago calls it the nation's first 18-hole course. That course was in Downers Grove. Wheaton came later. encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
Wikipedia says the claim comes from Macdonald's own book (c. 1925) and that the Downers Grove course was back to nine holes by 1899. Some Top100GolfCourses reviewers phrase it more narrowly, as the first 18-hole course west of the Alleghenies. The course's first-tee sign today repeats the 'first eighteen-hole golf course in the United States' claim.
- 1894
A founding club of the USGA
In December 1894, Macdonald joined representatives of four eastern clubs to form the United States Golf Association, which made Chicago Golf Club one of its five founding members. encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
- 1895
Chicago Golf Club moves to Wheaton
Members bought about 200 acres of the Patrick farm near Wheaton and built a full 18-hole course of about 6,500 yards. The club still plays there today. en.wikipedia.org
Sources differ on the year. Wikipedia places the land purchase and new course in 1894. The Belmont Golf Club history and Golf Course Industry give 1895. No source we found supports an 1893 move. The 18-hole 'first' belongs to the 1893 Downers Grove course, not to Wheaton.
- 1897
First national championships in Chicagoland
The Wheaton course hosted the third U.S. Open, won by Joe Lloyd, and the U.S. Amateur in the same week. Harry Vardon won a second Open there in 1900. en.wikipedia.org
The Encyclopedia of Chicago also says both the 1897 Open and the 1897 Amateur were played at Wheaton.
- 1899
Western Golf Association formed
Chicago-area clubs started the Western Golf Association in 1899 to look after the interests of Midwestern clubs. For about 20 years it competed with the USGA over the rules before it accepted the USGA's authority. encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
The Encyclopedia of Chicago says 15 clubs founded the WGA in April 1899. The WGA's own site says it was 11 Chicago-area clubs.
- 1899
Jackson Park opens to the public
On May 11, 1899, a free course opened in Jackson Park on the South Side. It is often described as the first public golf course west of the Allegheny Mountains, and Tom Bendelow designed it. golfcourseindustry.com
- 1899
The first Western Open
That September, the new WGA held its first Western Open and Western Amateur at Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois. Willie Smith won the Open in a playoff, and his prize was $50. en.wikipedia.org
- 1906
Onwentsia hosts the U.S. Open
Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest had held the 1899 U.S. Amateur, and it hosted the U.S. Open in 1906. It added the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1915. top100golfcourses.com
- 1911
First American-born Open champion
Chicago Golf Club hosted its third U.S. Open, and John McDermott won it. He was the first U.S.-born player to take the title. encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
The championship century
Chicago-area clubs have hosted 13 U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, a Ryder Cup, a Presidents Cup, dozens of Western Opens and the BMW Championship that took its place.
- 1914
Walter Hagen wins at Midlothian
Midlothian Country Club was founded in 1898 and its course was laid out by Herbert J. Tweedie. It hosted the 1914 U.S. Open, which Walter Hagen won. top100golfcourses.com
- 1916
Chick Evans wins both national titles
Chick Evans first played golf as a caddie at Edgewater on the North Side. In 1916 he won both the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur, and no golfer had won both in the same year before him. wbez.org
Wikipedia phrases it as the first amateur to win both in one year.
- 1920
Jackson Park starts charging
Jackson Park had been free for its first two decades. The city added a small green fee in 1920, and by 1925 the course was reportedly the busiest in the world. en.wikipedia.org
- 1922
Gene Sarazen wins at Skokie
Skokie Country Club in Glencoe hosted the U.S. Open, and Gene Sarazen won it. golflink.com
Golf Compendium's venue list confirms the Skokie Country Club location in Glencoe.
- 1925
PGA Championship at Olympia Fields
Olympia Fields Country Club was founded in 1915, with Amos Alonzo Stagg as its first president. In 1925 it hosted the PGA Championship, then a match-play event, and Walter Hagen won. The PGA returned there in 1961, when Jerry Barber won. en.wikipedia.org
- 1928
Farrell beats Bobby Jones at Olympia Fields
Johnny Farrell won the U.S. Open on Olympia Fields' North Course by beating Bobby Jones in a 36-hole playoff. medium.com
- 1928
First Walker Cup in Chicagoland
Chicago Golf Club's course, newly redesigned by Seth Raynor, hosted the Walker Cup, and the United States won 11 to 1. The club hosted the event again in 2005, when the U.S. won by one point. en.wikipedia.org
- 1930
The first Evans Scholars
Two caddies, Harold Fink and Jim McGinnis, started at Northwestern University as the first Evans Scholars. The scholarship was a program Chick Evans set up with the Western Golf Association. wgaesf.org
The WGA dates the first scholarships to 1930. The Encyclopedia of Chicago says the WGA established the Evans Scholars Foundation in 1929. The WGA page also says Evans first asked the association to manage his fund in the late 1920s.
- 1932
A lakefront nine opens at Waveland
A nine-hole course opened at Waveland on land reclaimed from Lake Michigan, and all nine holes run alongside the lake. In 1991 it was renamed for Sydney R. Marovitz, a former Park District board member. sydneymarovitz.cpdgolf.com
Marovitz's Park District board service (1974 to 1986) comes from F Newsmagazine: https://fnewsmagazine.com/2022/05/public-golf-private-interests/
- 1939
Joe Jemsek's first course
Joe Jemsek, a former caddie, bought St. Andrews in the western suburbs. It was the first course in a family business that aimed to give daily-fee golfers private-club quality. linksmagazine.com
- 1943
Tam O'Shanter opens its field
George S. May's All-American tournament at Tam O'Shanter in Niles welcomed African-American golfers. May said his events were open to any American able to qualify. en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia calls the 1943 event the first open tournament to welcome African-American golfers to the pro circuit. We could not confirm that 'first' with a second source.
- 1949
Medinah's first U.S. Open
The Medinah Shriners founded Medinah Country Club in 1924. Its No. 3 course hosted its first U.S. Open in 1949, won by Cary Middlecoff by one stroke. The Open came back in 1975, when Lou Graham won in an 18-hole playoff. en.wikipedia.org
- 1951
Jemsek buys Cog Hill
Joe Jemsek bought Cog Hill near Lemont, which had two courses at the time, and set out to build a championship-level course that anyone could play. linksmagazine.com
- 1953
Golf's first national telecast
Tam O'Shanter's World Championship of Golf became the first golf tournament broadcast live on national television. On the last hole, Lew Worsham holed a 104-yard wedge for an eagle to beat Chandler Harper by one stroke. en.wikipedia.org
The 104-yard distance and the audience estimate of about 2 million come from the Tam O'Shanter Golf Course article. The World Championship of Golf article confirms the live national broadcast and the eagle finish.
- 1963
Joe Louis and Althea Gibson exhibition
In August 1963, the Riverdale course that now carries Joe Louis's name hosted an exhibition match. Louis and tennis champion Althea Gibson played against high school champions Renee Powell and Ted Beattie. It was one of several matches meant to break down racial barriers. fpdcc.com
- 1964
Dubsdread opens at Cog Hill
Cog Hill's No. 4 course, Dubsdread, was designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee and opened as a championship test for public golfers. Golf Digest later put it among the 10 most important courses of the 1960s. reesjonesinc.com
The Encyclopedia of Chicago says Dubsdread opened in 1967. Wikipedia, LINKS Magazine and Rees Jones Inc. say 1964.
- 1974
Western Open settles at Butler National
The Western Open moved to Butler National in Oak Brook and was played there every year through 1990. During the second round in 1975, lightning hit Lee Trevino and Jerry Heard on the 13th green. en.wikipedia.org
- 1988
Golf on a landfill
Settlers Hill in Batavia opened in Kane County as an 18-hole Bob Lohmann design. A 1998 state parks listing called it the first golf course in Illinois built on a landfill. lib.niu.edu
- 1989
PGA Championship at a public course
James Kemper brought the PGA Championship to Kemper Lakes, the upscale public course he owned in the northwest suburbs. encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
The Encyclopedia of Chicago places Kemper Lakes in Long Grove. Wikipedia's KemperSports article places it in Kildeer.
- 1990
Hale Irwin's record Open at Medinah
Hale Irwin won the U.S. Open at Medinah at age 45, which made him the oldest U.S. Open champion. He beat Mike Donald in the first sudden-death playoff in the Open's history. en.wikipedia.org
- 1991
Western Open moves to Cog Hill
The Western Open moved from Butler National, an all-male club, after the PGA Tour adopted a policy on clubs that excluded women and minorities. Cog Hill's public Dubsdread course hosted it through 2006. kingdom.golf
The Encyclopedia of Chicago also calls Butler National all-male and dates the move to 1991.
- 1993
Park District hires a private golf manager
The Chicago Park District gave Kemper Golf Management a five-year contract to run its six courses, two practice ranges and one mini-golf site. The facilities had lost $403,000 the year before. archive.lib.msu.edu
In a 2008 deal reported by Chicagoist, Billy Casper Golf replaced KemperSports and planned a $5.5 million overhaul. In 2024, Golf Course Industry reported that Indigo Sports, a Troon company, manages Jackson Park and seven other city-owned golf facilities.
- 1999
Tiger Woods wins the PGA at Medinah
Tiger Woods held off Sergio Garcia to win the PGA Championship on Medinah No. 3. He won it there again in 2006, by five shots. pgatour.com
- 2003
The Open returns to Olympia Fields
Olympia Fields hosted the U.S. Open for the first time since 1928. Jim Furyk won with a 272, which tied the 72-hole scoring record of the time. en.wikipedia.org
- 2007
The Western Open becomes the BMW Championship
The Western Open was renamed the BMW Championship and became a FedEx Cup playoff event. Tiger Woods won the first one, at Cog Hill, which hosted it again from 2009 to 2011. en.wikipedia.org
- 2012
The Miracle at Medinah
Europe started the final day of the Ryder Cup at Medinah trailing 10 to 6 and won 14.5 to 13.5. Martin Kaymer's putt on the 18th green against Steve Stricker kept the Cup in Europe's hands, and the press called the comeback the 'Miracle at Medinah.' en.wikipedia.org
A 2019 PGA Tour article gives the deficit entering Sunday as 10 to 4. Wikipedia says the U.S. led 10 to 4 at one point on Saturday afternoon and 10 to 6 when Sunday began.
- 2013
BMW Championship rotates through Chicagoland
Once the BMW began moving between cities, it returned to the Chicago area at Conway Farms in Lake Forest (2013, 2015, 2017), Medinah (2019) and Olympia Fields (2020, 2023). en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia lists no Illinois BMW venue after 2023. The 2026 event was at Bellerive in Missouri, and the 2027 event is set for Liberty National in New Jersey.
- 2016
Tiger Woods design plan for the South Side
In December 2016, the mayor and the Park District announced the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance, a nonprofit that would raise private money for a TGR Design plan to combine the Jackson Park and South Shore courses. The work was supposed to start in 2017 and finish in late 2020. news.tigerwoods.com
On January 11, 2017, the Park District board unanimously approved a design contract of about $1 million. At that point the full project was estimated at about $30 million, with 80 percent to come from private donors (WTTW). By 2023, Block Club Chicago put the estimate at $70 million or more.
- 2023
The Jackson Park plan stalls
A September 2023 Chicago Tribune report described the plan to merge the Jackson Park and South Shore courses as stalled, with little government involvement and almost no money raised. The Obama Foundation's CEO said the foundation was not pursuing it. preservationchicago.org
Status as of October 2026: we found no report that construction has started. Chicago Golf Report says the project is on hold and that Troon is making smaller improvements at Jackson Park, including a planned larger short-game area, instead of a full redesign. Check for newer news before publishing.
- 2026
Presidents Cup at Medinah
Medinah hosted the Presidents Cup on September 24 to 27. The U.S. was three points behind going into Sunday singles and won 17 to 13, its 11th straight win in the event. pgatour.com
Golf Magic reports the same 17 to 13 score and a 10.5 to 7.5 International lead before singles. At the time we checked, the Wikipedia event page still described the event as in progress.
The famous venues
Where the big championships were played. Most of these are private clubs; Cog Hill and the Tam O’Shanter nine in Niles are open to anyone.
Chicago Golf Club
- U.S. Open 1897, 1900, 1911
- U.S. Amateur 1897
- Walker Cup 1928, 2005
- U.S. Senior Women's Open 2018 (first edition)
Medinah Country Club (No. 3)
- Western Open 1939, 1962, 1966
- U.S. Open 1949, 1975, 1990
- U.S. Senior Open 1988
- PGA Championship 1999, 2006
- Ryder Cup 2012
- BMW Championship 2019
- Presidents Cup 2026
Olympia Fields Country Club
- Western Open 1920, 1927, 1933, 1968, 1971
- PGA Championship 1925, 1961
- U.S. Open 1928, 2003
- U.S. Senior Open 1997
- U.S. Amateur 2015
- KPMG Women's PGA Championship 2017
- BMW Championship 2020, 2023
Cog Hill Golf and Country Club (Dubsdread)
- Western Open 1991 to 2006
- U.S. Amateur 1997
- BMW Championship 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011
Conway Farms Golf Club
- BMW Championship 2013, 2015, 2017
Glen View Club
- First Western Open and Western Amateur 1899
- U.S. Open 1904
Onwentsia Club
- U.S. Amateur 1899
- U.S. Open 1906
- U.S. Women's Amateur 1915
Midlothian Country Club
- U.S. Women's Amateur 1907
- U.S. Open 1914
North Shore Country Club
- U.S. Open 1933 (won by amateur Johnny Goodman)
Beverly Country Club
- Western Open 1910, 1963, 1967, 1970
Tam O'Shanter
- All American Open (PGA Tour) 1941 to 1957
- World Championship of Golf 1946 to 1957 (first national golf telecast in 1953)
- LPGA All American Open 1943 to 1957 and women's World Championship 1948 to 1957
- Western Open 1964, 1965
Public golf, from the lakefront out
Chicago has always had golf for people without a club. Jackson Park opened as a free course in 1899, and by the 1920s it was reportedly the busiest course in the world. The Chicago Park District still runs six courses, managed by private operators since 1993. The county forest preserves own 18 more across the region, and many suburbs have a park district course of their own. Joe Jemsek, a former caddie, built Cog Hill into a public course good enough for the Western Open, and Mike Keiser, who later built Bandon Dunes, has said Jemsek proved a public course could make money offering a private-club experience.
Chicago Park District
Jackson Park is the only 18; the other five are nines. Diversey is a driving range and mini golf by the lake. Prices are the weekend public rate.
- Columbus Park9 holes · $23
- Diversey Driving Rangerange
- Jackson Park18 holes · $42
- Marquette Park9 holes · $23
- Robert A. Black9 holes · $32
- South Shore9 holes · $22
- Sydney R. Marovitz9 holes · $38
Forest Preserves of Cook County
Ten courses and the Harry Semrow driving range, most run by Forest Preserve Golf, which shows live prices when you book online.
- Billy Caldwell9 holes · $26
- Burnham Woods18 holes · $31
- Chick Evans18 holes · $35
- Edgebrook18 holes · $32
- George W. Dunne National18 holes · $80
- Harry Semrow Driving Rangerange
- Highland Woods18 holes · $47
- Indian Boundary18 holes · $63
- Joe Louis "The Champ"18 holes · $34
- Meadowlark9 holes
- River Oaks18 holes · $32
Other forest preserve courses
DuPage, Lake and Kane counties own courses too.
- Brae Loch18 holes · $40
- Countryside36 holes · $50
- Green Meadows9 holes · $22
- Hughes Creek18 holes
- Maple Meadows18 holes · closed for now
- Settler's Hill18 holes · $56
- The Preserve at Oak Meadows18 holes
- ThunderHawk18 holes · $85
More public courses in the city
Harborside is two links-style Dick Nugent courses built over a capped former landfill on the Far South Side.
- Harborside International Golf Center36 holes · $137
The caddies who went to college
Chick Evans grew up caddying at Edgewater on the North Side. In 1916 he won the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur, the first golfer to win both in the same year. With the Western Golf Association he set up a college scholarship for caddies, and in 1930 the first two Evans Scholars, Harold Fink and Jim McGinnis, started at Northwestern University. For the 2025 to 2026 school year a record 1,260 caddies are in college as Evans Scholars at 27 universities, and more than 12,500 have graduated since 1930.
Did you know
Thirty things about Chicago golf, each with where we found it.
In the 1990s, the Encyclopedia of Chicago estimated the metro area had about 275 golf courses, and more than half of them were public.
encyclopedia.chicagohistory.orgEight Chicago-area clubs have hosted the U.S. Open, 13 times in all: Chicago Golf Club, Glen View, Onwentsia, Midlothian, Skokie, Olympia Fields, North Shore and Medinah.
golfcompendium.comFor the 2025-26 school year, a record 1,260 caddies are in college as Evans Scholars at 27 universities, and 12,575 have graduated since 1930.
wgaesf.orgThe Western Golf Association once ran the Evans Scholars program out of the post office in the village of Golf, Illinois, which was incorporated in 1928.
encyclopedia.chicagohistory.orgThe 1953 Tam O'Shanter telecast ran for one hour, and an estimated 2 million people watched.
en.wikipedia.orgIn the 1950s, George S. May's World Championship at Tam O'Shanter offered the biggest purse on the PGA Tour, and from 1954 the winner got $50,000.
encyclopedia.chicagohistory.orgThe course that hosted golf's first national telecast is still open as a nine-hole course run by the Niles Park District.
golfcourseindustry.comMacdonald routed both nines at Chicago Golf Club clockwise, reportedly to suit his slice.
en.wikipedia.orgAccording to Wikipedia, the USGA's out-of-bounds rule started at Chicago Golf Club.
en.wikipedia.orgMargaret Abbott, the first American woman to win an Olympic event, was a member of Chicago Golf Club in the 1890s.
en.wikipedia.orgChicago Golf Club hosted the first U.S. Senior Women's Open in 2018, and Laura Davies won it.
en.wikipedia.orgChicago Golf Club was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2020, and Olympia Fields was added in 2001.
en.wikipedia.orgBelmont Golf Club in Downers Grove still has five greens from Macdonald's original 1892-93 design, and its seventh hole is said to be the closest to his original layout.
golfcourseindustry.comThe Waveland (Sydney R. Marovitz) course is built on land reclaimed from Lake Michigan, and all nine holes run alongside the lake.
sydneymarovitz.cpdgolf.comChicago Golf Report says one of the oldest Black women's golf clubs was founded at Jackson Park in 1921, and the Bob-O-Links junior program started there in 1954.
chicagogolfreport.comJackson Park has hosted the Chicago City Amateur for more than a century, and Chick Evans won that event five times.
golfcourseindustry.comThe South Shore Cultural Center was finished in 1916 as the clubhouse for what was then a private golf course.
troon.mydigitalpublication.comChick Evans used only seven clubs when he won the 1916 U.S. Open. His scoring record lasted 20 years, and he later played in 50 straight U.S. Amateurs.
wbez.orgTed Rhodes, a Black golf pioneer, met boxer Joe Louis in Chicago after leaving the Navy and became his golf teacher and playing partner.
en.wikipedia.orgJoe Louis 'The Champ' Golf Course in Riverdale has a 614-yard par-5 seventh hole, which its operator calls the second-longest par 5 in the Chicago area.
troon.comHighland Woods in Hoffman Estates is built on the highest point of land in Cook County.
illinoisgolf.comMedinah's No. 3 course was finished in 1928 and was originally meant for the club's women members. It later hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, a Ryder Cup and a Presidents Cup.
pgatour.comThe 2012 Ryder Cup was the first held in Illinois, and the first in the U.S. outside the Eastern time zone since 1971.
en.wikipedia.orgGeoff Ogilvy's design firm reworked Medinah No. 3 before the 2026 Presidents Cup, and Ogilvy then captained the International team there.
en.wikipedia.orgWalter Hagen won the Western Open five times, more than anyone else. Tiger Woods won it three times, all at Cog Hill.
en.wikipedia.orgAt one time Olympia Fields had four numbered courses, 72 holes in all. During World War II money problems it was cut to 36 holes.
medium.comJoe Jemsek won a long-drive contest at Chicago's 1934 World's Fair. Mike Keiser, who developed Bandon Dunes, has said Jemsek proved a public course could make money offering a private-club experience.
linksmagazine.comMany well-known architects worked in the area. Tom Bendelow designed Jackson Park, Columbus Park and Medinah's original courses. Willie Park Jr. designed the North Course at Olympia Fields, and Seth Raynor redesigned Chicago Golf Club.
ipo.lib.niu.eduRobert Trent Jones Jr. designed ThunderHawk, a Lake County Forest Preserves course that a 1998 listing said would open in spring 1999.
lib.niu.eduChicago-based KemperSports began in 1978 by managing Kemper Lakes. It went on to run Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
en.wikipedia.orgGolf and your home search
A course nearby can shape a home search: the view, the walk to a tee time, the quiet of open land next door, or a club you will use all summer. A few things worth knowing before you buy on or near a course:
Before you buy next to a course
- Which side of the fairway. Homes along the right side of a hole catch more stray shots from right-handed golfers. Look for nets, trees and old ball marks on siding and windows, and ask the sellers.
- The course’s own schedule. Mowers and maintenance start early in the morning in season, and tournament days bring traffic and parking.
- Who owns the course, and its future. A park district or forest preserve course is public land. A privately owned course can be sold and redeveloped. Ask who owns it and what the land is zoned for.
- Water. Some courses double as stormwater storage, with ponds and low areas that hold rain. Check the flood map and the property’s own history.
- Membership is separate. Living next to a private club does not come with a membership, and some neighborhood associations around courses carry their own dues and rules.
- The view in every season. A fairway view in July is a field of snow in January, and a tree line can change after a renovation.
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Where the history comes from. When sources disagree, the note under the entry says so.