I'm going to be in the area with family for a few days later this month. We'll likely be staying in the O'Hare area. I'm looking for the top 3 courses to play. As always, the following criteria apply:

- Must be within 20 minutes of hotel
- Must be reasonably easy to find
- Must be reasonably easy to follow the course (signage, etc...)
- Must be reasonably free of angry huffers

Lombard is your best bet with the criteria from above.

If you want a pay to play Fly 18 experience, Edgebrook in Chicago will also meet those criteria.

wow, your really losing out on alot of great courses with those criteria. unfortantley our geat courses aren't within close proximity of each other like des moines and ames. and your in chicago 20 minutes travel time during the day is pretty hard to make it very far.
i have heard nothing but great things about lombard and edgebrook, haven't had enough free time to make it out there yet though

I wish I had more time to travel to courses, but this is a family trip and I've been mandated to keep my play time to a minimum. I will generally hit the course early, early morning and try to keep travel time short to maximize my golf time.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've got the Fly18 and Lombard on my to-do list.

i had the exact same question last week. i traveled to chicago and stayed at the hyatt regency o'hare in rosemont about 3 miles from O'hare and wanted to know what course(s) to play....

i managed to visit lombard. it took me about 40 minutes at rush hour to get there, which included a few stops to read maps and a few wrong turns in residential areas. the return ride to the hotel using a major highway took about 20 minutes.

the directions on the pdga course directory were very accurate as long as used in conjunction with a fairly detailed local map.

i had 3 discs with me instead of the normal 15 discs in my bag. i hooked up with 4 local amateur players at the first tee and they were quite accepting of a strange stranger from NY joining them. i attempted to locate each basket and the next tee before they were pointed out to me and i found it fairly easy to locate pins and tees. i played from the marked tees (sometimes short and sometimes long) and it didn't appear that the alternate tees were as well marked and were maybe only known to locals.

i enjoyed the course quite a bit. it had good variety; was challenging, quite fun, and a bit mushy from recent rainstorms. i'd suggest you not wear any footgear you are hesitant to get wet or muddy. it didn't appear that the fairways had the greatest drainage. the course is in a manicured suburban park with beautiful grass fairways.

my current rating is in the 920's and i shot a 52 for 18 holes, using just 3 discs.

our fivesome played the 18 holes in about 2 hours, with a few waits at some tees for a group ahead of us.

as an out-of-towner that didn't play any other chicago courses, i'd highly recommend Lombard.

enjoy.....

dan doyle
pdga #310
warwick, ny

That is a fair description of Chicago traffic. From the hotel you might go two miles or 20 miles in 20 minutes depending on the time of day and what road you took. And forget tuning in a traffic and weather station. All the traffic is in a code many of the locals don't understand, and it goes by like the fine print at the end of a radio ad. It is like listening to a good auctioneer. I just listen for, "Rine inboundza parking lot," and that's all I need to know.

Lombard is mushy only after heavy rains. This has been a rainy spring. Lombard is very suburban parklike. It is very hard to lose a disc if you play safe near the pond. It is easy to follow if you look around a little and observe the wear patterns. Alt tees are marked with mower safe pavers and are hard to find, but fun to play.

Edgebrook is pay-to-play on a golf course. More fun in a foursome than alone. Kind of an outing thing.

I figured I'd play Edgebrook just so next time I rip Reese I can at least say I've played one of his courses.

Edgebrook is the only course in chicago city limits.I hoped that Dan would have played it.Special K do you rip people that put in courses all the time? 11 miles from down town.Par 66 with a cart and easy to find all the holes why waller around in the mud.... :)

Special K do you rip people that put in courses all the time?



Only when they say things like that.

You need a park experience........

You need a park experience........



I can't decide whether I've been told off or wished well. I'll assume it's the latter.

Anyway. To get back on topic, we've ended up getting a hotel in Glenview, so I might have to stick with courses on the north side. I might get to Lombard if the morning rush is lighter on the weekend around 6:00am to 8:00am. And yes, I'll probably play Edgebrook if it's open that early.

You might want to check out my evaluations of some of the Chicagoland courses that I've played. They're not all done, but I'm working on more right now, so more will be added in the near future.

Of the ones I've played Willow Stream Park in Buffalo Grove is the best, and it's 18 holes. They have lots of 9 holers. I guess land is a precious commodity up there.

Go to my new Google Group "DG Course Reviews" at http://groups.google.com/group/DG-Course-Reviews

P.S.- I tried to play Edgebrook in March but it was still closed for the winter.

I happened to play Willow Stream in Buffalo Grove. It's actually 9 holes. I wasn't properly warmed up for the first throw and promptly tweaked a muscle in my upper back/neck, so that ruined me for any other courses.

I played in fairly early hours, about 7:00am, and found the course to be quite fair and pretty well-balanced. I also found it to be popular with walkers and other park users. My only knocks were proximity to the well-traveled bike paths and having the trouble (thick woods) on one side only. As land is a precious commodity, as Lowe said, they did the best with what they had to work with. It's a really nice park, though.

Related to the PDGA directory I noticed, as a visitor, that the directions to the courses in the Chicago metro could be a little better as far as including the distances between turns and relating the location to a landmark or major highway. When I'm unfamiliar with an area, more detail is always better.

Sorry, my mistake about Willow Stream. I meant to say Shady Oaks Park in Streamwood. I guess the "stream" part mixed me up.

I just finished my evaluation of Willow Stream; you can read it on the Google group. I agree with Special K's assessment. It's a nice grassy park, but it's a little too open for my taste.