The Directory · Golf Trips from Chicago
Golf trips from Chicago —
Kohler, Sand Valley and Erin Hills.
Not day trips: an overnight or a long weekend from Chicago. Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run at Kohler, Erin Hills, the four Sand Valley courses, TPC Deere Run in the Quad Cities, and Lake Geneva's resort golf, the nearest of them.
15 courses · sorted by access & tier
The Region
golf trips from Chicago, end to end.
These are overnight trips, not day trips. Kohler, north of Milwaukee, has four Pete Dye courses: Whistling Straits' Straits course on the Lake Michigan shore, host of three PGA Championships and the 2021 Ryder Cup and No. 1 in Golf Digest's 2025-26 Wisconsin list, its Irish course, and Blackwolf Run's River and Meadow Valleys. Erin Hills, in the Kettle Moraine, held the 2017 U.S. Open and the 2025 U.S. Women's Open. Sand Valley in Nekoosa has four courses: Coore and Crenshaw's Sand Valley, David McLay Kidd's Mammoth Dunes, Tom Doak's Sedge Valley and The Lido, Doak and Brian Schneider's re-creation of C.B. Macdonald's lost Long Island course, with limited tee times for resort guests. Lake Geneva is the nearest of them, with Grand Geneva's Brute and Highlands and Geneva National's Palmer, Player and Trevino courses. TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, home of the John Deere Classic, is the Quad Cities option.
The Directory
The best golf courses in Wisconsin and the Quad Cities.
Pete Dye · Kohler
Whistling Straits — The Straits
Pete Dye's walking-only links on two miles of Lake Michigan shoreline near Kohler, Wisconsin.
D.A. Weibring · Silvis
TPC Deere Run
Home of the PGA TOUR's John Deere Classic, laid out on bluffs above the Rock River.
Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten · Erin
Erin Hills
Walking-only U.S. Open course in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine, about two hours' drive from O'Hare.
Tom Doak and Brian Schneider (re-creating C.B. Macdonald's Lido) · Nekoosa
The Lido at Sand Valley
Tom Doak and Brian Schneider's re-creation of C.B. Macdonald's lost Long Island Lido, at Sand Valley.
Pete Dye · Kohler
Blackwolf Run — River Course
Pete Dye's River course at Blackwolf Run, following the Sheboygan River valley in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw · Nekoosa
Sand Valley
The original Coore and Crenshaw course at Sand Valley, laid over central Wisconsin's sand dunes.
David McLay Kidd · Nekoosa
Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley
David McLay Kidd's par-73, walking-only public course at Sand Valley in central Wisconsin.
Tom Doak · Nekoosa
Sedge Valley at Sand Valley
Tom Doak's par-68 heathland-style course at Sand Valley, a walking-only resort in central Wisconsin.
Pete Dye · Kohler
Whistling Straits — The Irish
Pete Dye's second course at Whistling Straits, crossing Seven Mile Creek and skirting the coastal dunes.
Pete Dye · Kohler
Blackwolf Run — Meadow Valleys
Pete Dye's public Meadow Valleys course at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, finishing across the Sheboygan River.
Arnold Palmer · Lake Geneva
Geneva National — Palmer Course
Arnold Palmer's 1991 course at Geneva National, finishing beside Lake Como near Lake Geneva.
Gary Player · Lake Geneva
Geneva National — Player Course
Gary Player's only Wisconsin course, a woodland and wetland layout at Geneva National near Lake Geneva.
Lee Trevino · Lake Geneva
Geneva National — Trevino Course
Lee Trevino's fade-friendly signature course at Geneva National, a resort trip from Chicago to Lake Geneva.
Robert Bruce Harris · Lake Geneva
Grand Geneva Resort — The Brute
Robert Bruce Harris's big-bunkered resort course at Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus; reworked by Bob Cupp · Lake Geneva
Grand Geneva Resort — The Highlands
The Highlands at Grand Geneva: a Dye-Nicklaus original, reworked by Bob Cupp, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.