The best golf courses in Illinois for 2024-25

As part of GOLF’s rigorous assessment process for our newcomers Top 100 courses in the USA AND The best 100 courses you can play ranking, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in each state.

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Illinois. And if you’re looking to create your future ride, you’d be wise to let the new GOLF Course finder the tool helps you. Here, you can edit all of our lists—top 100 publics, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s, and more—or filter by price to create your own itinerary. perfect for your next trip.

Ranking of other GOLF courses: Top 100 courses in the world | Top 100 courses in the USA | The best 100 courses you can play | The 100 most valuable courses in the USA | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 best short courses in the world

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Best Golf Courses in Illinois (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 courses in the USA
Y = Top 100 you can play in USA
V = The 100 most valuable courses in the USA
P = Public/Resort

Ed. Note: Some subjects were removed from our ranking because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Chicago GC (Wheaton) (#)

One of the five founding members of the United States Golf Association in 1894, Chicago Golf was the site of the nation’s first 18-hole course; it was also the first course outside the Northeast to play host to the US Open. Seth Raynor remodeled his mentor CB Macdonald’s course in 1923 and it hasn’t changed much since then, as his pattern of exemplary holes makes it as relevant today as it was in the hickory era. Holes 1 to 4, which include a Road and Biarritz layout, represent one of the most testing starts to the game.

2. Shoreacres GC (Lake Bluff) (#)

Steep creeks affect play throughout Shoreacres’ famous stretch of holes from 10-15. The rest of the property has more modest topography, but you’re unlikely to notice this fact as the wide greens offer such interesting targets. Ironic for an architect who built template holes, the best hole on this Seth Raynor design may be the completely original hazard-reward 520-yard par-5 15th, which the dogs left, over and around a valley.

3. Medina CC – No. 3 (Medina) (#)

4. Old Elm Club (Highland Park) (#)

5. The Beverly CC (Chicago)

6. Olympia Fields CC – North (Olympia Fields)

7. Skokie CC (Glencoe)

8. Olympia Fields CC – South (Olympic Fields)

9. Medina – No. 1 (Medina)

10. Butler National GC (Oak Brook)

11. Flossmoor GC (Flossmoor)

12. Knollwood Club (Lake Forest)

13. Cog Hill Golf & Country Club – No. 4 (Lemon)

14. Exmoor CC (Highland Park)

15. Black Sheep GC (Sugar Grove)

How we rank our courses

For our newly released US Top 100 and Top 100 Playable lists—a process that helped us create the top 50 rankings in the country—each panelist was given a ballot consisting of 609 courses. . Alongside the list of courses were 11 “buckets” or groupings. If our panelists deemed a course to be among the top three in the US, they marked the first column. If they believed the rate was between numbers 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50 and so on up to 250+ and even a column for “remove”. Panelists were also free to write in courses they felt should have been included on the ballot.

Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its overall score by the number of votes. From these point totals, courses are then ranked accordingly. It’s an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it has historically produced results that are widely praised. Like the game itself, there’s no need to overcomplicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.

The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the golfing meccas around the world, each of our 127 hand-picked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1000 courses in over 20 countries, some over 2000. Their handicaps range from +5 to +15.

Because the nature of course evaluation is so intensely subjective, no opinion counts. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into a ranking.

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