Chicago Highlands - Illinois - USA

Chi Hi is probably the biggest capital c Country club of been to. The club has basketball, bowling, tennis, a massive pool and a great clubhouse. Because of that the course can be an absolute zoo at times. The property has great views and manmade landforms that attempt to mimic Irish dunes (but come up short of doing so). There are a lot of quirky holes that can be loved or hated. The second hole has seemingly a elephant buried under the fairway. The fourth is a long par three that plays straight through a shoot of hills to a massive green. The seventh has a wild green that has a back section that is probably a good five feet below the front, which I'm not sure you can actually keep it on. Nine is a straight uphill driveable par 4 that is a kinda cool hole if you can get there but kinda annoying for the every man. Despite this, the green has a perfect view of the skyline once its reached. 14 is a similarly driveable hole with a perfect view of the skyline.

Highlands is a unique course. Its not spectacular, there are plenty of weird shots that golf purists and bag tag Barry's will scoff at. The course always plays fast and firm with lightning greens, which is a plus.

Underrated course that deserves more recognition.

I ranked Chicago Highlands average only because it is well-maintained. The golf course is absolutely terrible. This used to be a landfill and I think I would rather visit that site. I’ve never been a fan of Arthur Hills design, and this is one of his worst efforts. There are a lot of blind shots and several idiotically designed holes such as a par three with an incredibly narrow yet lengthily green nestled between two giant mounds of what used to be garbage. I seem to recall another severely uphill par four with no features of any kind other than a tremendous drop off behind the green. To make matters worse, the membership seems to pride themselves on the excessive speed in the greens. I played the North course at Olympia Fields the day before playing here and their greens weren’t nearly this fast. Extraordinarily deep rough combined with outrageously slippery greens and terrible design made for the worst golf experience at a private club I have ever had.