How to Play Golf in Chicago: Tee Times & Access

Chicago golf has two faces. The famous one is private: the clubs that fill the national rankings, open to members and their guests and nobody else. The one a visitor actually plays is public, and a good share of it is owned by park districts, villages, cities and forest preserves. This guide sorts out who can play where, how far ahead to book, where walking and caddies fit in, when the season runs and how the Wisconsin resorts treat outside players.

Public, semi-private, resort and private

Public, or daily-fee, means anyone can book. Cog Hill No. 4, the course called Dubsdread, sets the standard: a public course in Lemont that hosted the Western Open from 1991 to 2006 and five BMW Championships through 2013, and No. 1 on Golfweek's 2026 Best Courses You Can Play list for Illinois. The label can change. Ravisloe in Homewood was private for more than a century and has been open to the public since a 2009 sale.

Semi-private clubs carry members but keep the tee sheet open to outside play. At The Glen Club in Glenview, corporate members share Tom Fazio's course with daily-fee golfers, who can book up to seven days ahead. White Hawk in Crown Point, Indiana, sells memberships yet takes public play in season.

Resort golf, for a Chicago golfer, mostly means Wisconsin, and a trip rather than a day out. Most of it takes outside players; the exceptions are below.

Private clubs are for members and their guests only. None of them takes a public tee time.

Park-district and forest-preserve golf

Local government owns a large share of Chicago's public golf, and it is no second tier: several of these courses sit on Golfweek's 2026 Best Courses You Can Play list for Illinois.

• The Preserve at Oak Meadows in Addison belongs to the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Greg Martin rebuilt a flood-prone 27-hole site as one 18 along a restored Salt Creek. Golfweek has it at No. 6.
• Highlands of Elgin is City of Elgin golf, with nine holes built in an old stone quarry. Online bookings include a cart; walkers book through the pro shop. Golfweek: No. 5.
• ThunderHawk in Beach Park is the Lake County Forest Preserves' flagship, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design. Golfweek: No. 12.
• Shepherd's Crook belongs to the Zion Park District: a Keith Foster links-style course where walking is encouraged and a short-game area stands in for a driving range. Golfweek: No. 15.
• Village Links of Glen Ellyn is village-owned, an 18-hole course plus a separate nine, built partly as a stormwater system, with water in play on 15 holes of the 18.
• Arrowhead in Wheaton is a Wheaton Park District facility of three nines, ringed by forest preserve with no houses in play.
• Schaumburg Golf Club is run by the Schaumburg Park District: 27 holes on a 1928 William Langford layout, renovated from 2017 to 2019, with resident rates for district residents.

Getting a tee time

Booking windows vary enough to matter. Cog Hill opens its tee sheet up to 60 days ahead, ThunderHawk 30 days, Shepherd's Crook 14 and The Glen Club, for non-members, seven. Some courses sell tee times online only, and some include a cart with every online booking, so read the course's own policy before you pay. Public courses sell through GolfNow or their own tee sheet, and each course listing on this site links to the right one. We don't sell tee times.

Walking, carts and caddies

The strictest walking rules are in Wisconsin. The Straits at Whistling Straits is walking only, with caddies recommended rather than required. At Erin Hills you walk with a caddie or carry your own bag, and pull carts are not allowed. All four 18-hole courses at Sand Valley are walking only, each with push carts available.

Closer to the city, policy varies by course. Cog Hill No. 4 includes carts. The Glen Club allows walking and charges extra to ride. Cantigny in Wheaton builds a riding cart into its green fee, discounts walkers and supplies caddies or forecaddies on request.

Caddies matter most at the private clubs, many of which run caddie programs. Beverly on the South Side requires them whenever available, and the club says more of its caddies have received Evans Scholarships than at any other club in the country. That is a members-and-guests round, not one you can book.

When the season runs

Chicago-area golf runs roughly from April to early November. From about November to March most Chicagoland courses close or switch to limited winter play, and each sets its own dates: ThunderHawk closes for the winter, and White Hawk ends public play in early December. The Wisconsin resorts keep a shorter season, roughly May through October, and Sand Valley's FAQ says all of its courses close for the winter. When to Golf in Chicago covers the seasons in detail.

Resort access: Kohler, Sand Valley and The Lido

Kohler. All four of Kohler's Pete Dye courses are listed as public. The caveat is the Straits: Kohler's FAQ notes it may carry booking restrictions for players who are not resort guests, so if it is the reason for the trip, secure that tee time before booking the rest. Kohler puts Whistling Straits 142 miles from O'Hare, which makes this an overnight. The Kohler guide covers all four courses.

Sand Valley. The resort in Nekoosa sells golf to day guests as well as to people staying over. Mammoth Dunes offers golf-only tee times, so you can play without a room, and the resort's FAQ says it announces when day-guest reservations open rather than promising a date. The Sand Valley trip guide covers all four 18-hole courses.

The Lido. The Lido is the exception: Sand Valley resort guests only, with limited tee times Sunday through Thursday. It is No. 69 on Golf Digest's 2025-26 America's 100 Greatest, and if it is on your list, that access rule shapes the whole trip.

The private clubs

The top three on Golf Digest's 2025-26 Best in State ranking for Illinois are all private, for members and their guests only: Chicago Golf Club at No. 1, Shoreacres at No. 2 and Medinah No. 3, which hosted the 2026 Presidents Cup, at No. 3. The same holds for Beverly and the rest of the area's private clubs. None of them can be booked. Chicago's Courses on Golf Digest's 100 Greatest covers how they rank nationally.

How to book

Public and semi-private courses: through GolfNow or the course's own tee sheet, linked from each course listing. Resort courses: through the resort, with The Lido limited to Sand Valley resort guests. Private clubs: members and their guests only. For the best of what anyone can play, start with Best Public Golf Courses in Chicago.