Bryn Mawr Country Club

Founded in 1920 on a 139-acre tract on the northwest edge of greater Chicago, Bryn Mawr Country Club occupies a special place in the rich tapestry of Illinois golf. The club traces its origins to a group of North Side families who persuaded developer Harry Goldstine to abandon his residential plans for the land and instead create a private golf club — a decision that gave the Chicago area one of its finest and most enduring private layouts. An 18-hole championship course was designed from the outset by William Langford, one of the great architects of the Golden Age, and the club formally opened in 1921.

Langford's work at Bryn Mawr is characteristic of his best designs: a tree-lined, parkland layout that rewards accuracy and strategic thinking over raw power. Set on essentially flat Midwestern terrain, the course uses mature trees, water features, and cunningly positioned hazards to manufacture challenge from a landscape that might otherwise yield too easily to modern players. The result is a course described by those who know it as firmly membership-friendly yet genuinely demanding — a test that exposes poor course management as readily as any more dramatic design. Par is 72, and the course stretches to 6,638 yards from the back tees, with a notably robust slope rating of 130 suggesting it plays considerably more difficult than its modest yardage might imply.

The course has evolved considerably over its century-plus of life. Theodore Moreau oversaw construction alongside Langford; subsequent redesign work was contributed by Larry Packard, Bob Cupp, Jacobson Golf Course Design, and Jim Nagle at various points across the decades. A 2009 refurbishment added a new irrigation system, refreshed bunkers, and forward tees. More recently, the club completed a comprehensive facilities upgrade in summer 2023, adding a new year-round building housing a renovated pro shop, three Trackman simulator bays, an indoor putting green, bar and grill, and a 12-court racquet complex — cementing Bryn Mawr's position as a modern, all-season private club while its historic course and 1988-rebuilt English Tudor-style clubhouse preserve its heritage.

On the competitive stage, Bryn Mawr has been a reliable host for Illinois and regional amateur golf. The club hosted the 2021 and 2022 IPGA Senior Championship, the IPGA Junior Stroke Play Championship from 2021 to 2024, and the 2025 USGA Mid-Amateur Qualifier — a continued stream of top-level competition that reflects well on the course's conditioning and layout quality. Situated in the inner suburb of Lincolnwood, barely ten miles north of Chicago's downtown, the club draws its membership from across the North Shore and the city itself, maintaining the close-knit, family-oriented culture that has always defined it.

For golfers who appreciate the understated virtues of Golden Age Midwestern design — precision, patience, and the quiet satisfaction of a well-managed round — Bryn Mawr Country Club delivers an experience that outlasts its modest reputation beyond the Chicago area.