Chicago Highlands - Illinois - USA

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.