Chicago's Courses on Golf Digest's 100 Greatest

Golf Digest's 2025-26 rankings put four Chicago-area courses in America's 100 Greatest and three more in the Second 100, and the magazine's Illinois Best in State list runs 35 deep. Almost all of them are private. This guide covers the national lists, the Wisconsin courses a drive north and the full Illinois ranking, says plainly who can play each one, and ends with the short list a visiting golfer can actually book.

The four Chicago clubs on the 100 Greatest

All four are private clubs for members and their guests. None can be booked; they lead this guide because they lead the rankings.

No. 11: Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton

Chicago Golf Club is the highest-ranked course in the region and No. 1 in Illinois. The course is Seth Raynor's 1922-23 rebuild over C.B. Macdonald's routing, and no major remodel has followed, so it is still largely Raynor's work of a century ago: large, steeply contoured greens, deep bunkers and versions of Macdonald's template holes, the Biarritz and Redan among them. It held U.S. Opens in 1897, 1900 and 1911.

No. 47: Shoreacres, Lake Bluff

Shoreacres is Raynor again, about 30 miles north of the city, where he routed the holes across a system of glacial ravines just inland from Lake Michigan. By The Fried Egg's count the ravines are in play on 13 holes, about as much natural drama as Chicago golf gets. It is second in Illinois.

No. 74: Medinah No. 3, Medinah

Medinah No. 3 climbed 19 places on this edition after OCM Golf's redesign, which reopened the course in 2024 with wider fairways, fewer trees and the last six holes rerouted around Lake Kadijah. The 2026 Presidents Cup, played there in September, was the first time the world's best saw the new layout, on top of a record that already included three U.S. Opens and the 2012 Ryder Cup. It is third in Illinois; the national rank belongs to No. 3 alone.

No. 93: Butler National, Oak Brook

Butler National is George Fazio's course, built for founder Paul Butler to stand up to the best professionals, and it was the Western Open's home from 1974 to 1990. From the Butler tees it measures 7,550 yards with a 78.4 rating and 155 slope, and its small greens, angled across the line of play, do most of the defending. It is fifth in Illinois.

The Second 100: Rich Harvest Farms and Old Elm

Three more Chicago-area courses make Golf Digest's 2025-26 Second 100 Greatest, which covers ranks 101 to 200. All three are private, for members and their guests, and two have pages on this site.

Rich Harvest Farms, No. 113 and seventh in Illinois, is Jerry Rich's course on his Sugar Grove estate, grown from three holes to 18 between 1988 and its official opening in 1999. It has since staged the 2009 Solheim Cup and the 2017 NCAA Division I Championships.

Old Elm Club, No. 149 and eighth in Illinois, is a 1913 Highland Park course with Harry Colt's routing and Donald Ross's construction. Restoration work from 2010 to early 2025 cleared hundreds of trees, widened the corridors and rebuilt the bunkers with the ragged edges Colt sketched.

The third is Olympia Fields' North Course, No. 108 and sixth in Illinois, which is closed for restoration and has no page here; the club's South Course, ranked 13th in the state, is the one listed. One more Illinois course makes the 100 Greatest: Canyata Golf Club in Marshall, No. 86 and fourth in Illinois, a private estate course far from Chicago.

The Wisconsin trip courses

Six Wisconsin courses on the same two lists are open to visitors in some form, and each is a trip from Chicago: plan on an overnight, or at best a very long day. They sit in three places: Kohler, near Lake Michigan; Erin Hills, northwest of Milwaukee; and Sand Valley, in central Wisconsin's sand country. All six are filed under golf trips from Chicago.

• No. 26: Whistling Straits, The Straits, Kohler. Pete Dye's walking-only course on two miles of Lake Michigan bluff, host of three PGA Championships and the 2021 Ryder Cup. First in Wisconsin.
• No. 49: Erin Hills, Erin. Public and walking only, on glacial ground; venue of the 2017 U.S. Open and the 2025 U.S. Women's Open. Second in Wisconsin.
• No. 69: The Lido at Sand Valley, Nekoosa. Tom Doak and Brian Schneider's re-creation of C.B. Macdonald's lost Long Island course, and the highest debut of any new course on this edition. Third in Wisconsin.
• No. 128: Blackwolf Run, River Course, Kohler. Pete Dye again, following the Sheboygan River from the first tee to the last green. Fifth in Wisconsin.
• No. 134: Sand Valley, Nekoosa. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw's 2017 original, the course that started the resort. Sixth in Wisconsin.
• No. 165: Mammoth Dunes, Nekoosa. David McLay Kidd's par 73 of wide fairways and huge greens. Seventh in Wisconsin.

The one other Wisconsin course on the two lists is Milwaukee Country Club, No. 97, a private club in River Hills that this site doesn't cover. To compare the three, see Wisconsin golf trips from Chicago.

Golf Digest's Illinois Best in State, 1 to 35

The 2025-26 Illinois list, published May 29, 2025, ranks public and private courses together. It has 35 entries, and 33 of them have pages on this site. The two that don't are Canyata, a private estate course far from Chicago, and Olympia Fields' North Course, closed for restoration.

No.	Course	City	Access
1	Chicago Golf Club	Wheaton	Private
2	Shoreacres	Lake Bluff	Private
3	Medinah No. 3	Medinah	Private
4	Canyata Golf Club	Marshall	Private
5	Butler National	Oak Brook	Private
6	Olympia Fields, North Course	Olympia Fields	Private (closed)
7	Rich Harvest Farms	Sugar Grove	Private
8	Old Elm Club	Highland Park	Private
9	Conway Farms	Lake Forest	Private
10	Beverly Country Club	Chicago	Private
11	Skokie Country Club	Glencoe	Private
12	Black Sheep Golf Club	Sugar Grove	Private
13	Olympia Fields, South Course	Olympia Fields	Private
14	Cog Hill No. 4 (Dubsdread)	Lemont	Public
15	Chicago Highlands Club	Westchester	Private
16	Bob O'Link Golf Club	Highland Park	Private
17	Onwentsia Club	Lake Forest	Private
18	Medinah No. 1	Medinah	Private
19	TPC Deere Run	Silvis	Public
20	Butterfield Country Club	Oak Brook	Private
21	Kemper Lakes Golf Club	Kildeer	Private
22	Flossmoor Golf Club	Flossmoor	Private
23	North Shore Country Club	Glenview	Private
24	Knollwood Club	Lake Forest	Private
25	Ivanhoe Club	Ivanhoe	Private
26	The Club at Wynstone	North Barrington	Private
27	The Merit Club	Libertyville	Private
28	Exmoor Country Club	Highland Park	Private
29	Lake Shore Country Club	Glencoe	Private
30	Stonewall Orchard Golf Club	Grayslake	Public
31	Bull Valley Golf Club	Woodstock	Private
32	The Glen Club	Glenview	Semi-private
33	Westmoreland Country Club	Wilmette	Private
34	Medinah No. 2	Medinah	Private
35	Cantigny Golf	Wheaton	Public

The North Shore dominates: 12 of the 33 courses with pages here are on it, from Shoreacres at No. 2 to Westmoreland at No. 33. Medinah is the only club with three courses ranked. Kemper Lakes, the 1989 PGA Championship course, opened in 1979 as a public course but has been fully private since 2007. Only five of the 35 take public tee times, and the first of them is Cog Hill No. 4, at 14th.

The ranked courses you can play

Chicago-area courses generally play from about April to early November, and the Wisconsin resorts run roughly May through October.

Cog Hill No. 4 (Dubsdread), Lemont: 14th in Illinois

The best-ranked course in Illinois that anyone can book, and golfdigest.com also marks it as one of America's 100 Greatest Public courses. Joe Jemsek opened Dick Wilson and Joe Lee's Dubsdread in 1964 as a public course meant to rival the best private clubs. It hosted the Western Open from 1991 to 2006 and the BMW Championship in 2007, 2009-2011 and 2013, and Rees Jones rebuilt every hole in 2007-08. From the Black tees it is rated 78.0 with a 153 slope, close to Butler National's 78.4 and 155. Tee times open up to 60 days out, and carts are included.

TPC Deere Run, Silvis: 19th

The PGA TOUR's John Deere Classic is played here each summer, on D.A. Weibring's course through hardwoods and ravines above the Rock River in the Quad Cities. It is public and daily-fee, with five sets of tees and no housing along the fairways. Silvis is well west of Chicago, so treat it as an overnight or a long day.

Stonewall Orchard, Grayslake: 30th

Arthur Hills' first Illinois design, a daily-fee course in Lake County framed by mature pines, oaks and wetlands. It is no soft option: 7,106 yards from the Silver tees, rated 75.3 with a 152 slope. Walking is allowed.

The Glen Club, Glenview: 32nd

Semi-private: corporate members share it with daily-fee golfers, who can book up to seven days ahead. Tom Fazio built it in 2001 on the old Glenview Naval Air Station, a site of runways with about three feet of elevation change, and shaped up to 40 feet into some holes. It is not Glen View Club, a private club in Golf, Illinois.

Cantigny Golf, Wheaton: 35th

Twenty-seven public holes on Robert R. McCormick's former estate, named Golf Digest's best new public course in America when it opened in 1989. The three nines are being renovated one at a time through 2027 with 18 holes always open; the Woodside nine is expected back around June 2027. No. 1 and No. 35 on the state list share a town: Chicago Golf Club is in Wheaton too.

The Wisconsin courses

On Golf Digest's 2025-26 America's 100 Greatest Public list, the Straits is No. 4, Erin Hills No. 10, The Lido No. 12, the River No. 17, Sand Valley No. 21 and Mammoth Dunes No. 25. Their resort companions rank there too: Sedge Valley at No. 51, Whistling Straits, The Irish at No. 65 and Blackwolf Run, Meadow Valleys at No. 92.

Most are played on foot. The Straits is walking only, caddies recommended, and Kohler's FAQ warns that non-resort guests may face booking restrictions there. The River allows carts. Erin Hills is walking only, with a caddie or carrying your own bag; no pull carts. Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes are walking only, with caddies and pull carts, and Mammoth Dunes sells golf-only tee times, so a room isn't required. The Lido is the exception: Sand Valley resort guests only, with limited tee times Sunday through Thursday. The Kohler guide and the Sand Valley trip guide cover each resort in detail.

Golfweek ranks them differently

Golfweek's Best 2026 Best Courses You Can Play, published in June 2026, ranks only public-access courses, so the order shifts. In Illinois, Cog Hill No. 4 is No. 1, TPC Deere Run No. 2 and The Glen Club No. 3, with Stonewall Orchard No. 9 and Cantigny No. 10. It also ranks courses absent from Golf Digest's state list, among them Mistwood Golf Club (No. 4), Highlands of Elgin (No. 5) and Harborside's Starboard Course (No. 8). In Wisconsin the Straits is No. 1 again, but Golfweek puts The Lido (No. 2), Sand Valley (No. 3) and Mammoth Dunes (No. 4) ahead of Erin Hills (No. 5), where Golf Digest's national list has Erin Hills ahead of all three.

How to book

We don't sell tee times. Each public course page links its booking route, GolfNow or the course's own tee sheet. The Wisconsin courses book through Kohler, Sand Valley or Erin Hills itself, and The Lido only with a Sand Valley stay. Every other course in this guide is a private club for members and their guests, with no public route on. For the wider picture, see how to play golf in Chicago and the best public golf courses in Chicago.