The Prairie State of Illinois lies in the Great Lakes Region of the United States and Chicago, its largest city with almost three million inhabitants, is the third largest by population in the country. Golfers of a slightly older vintage might remember with a degree of fondness the old Untouchables TV series when Special Agent Eliot Ness battled almost single-handedly against Chicago’s crime gangs during the 1930s.

Organised golf at an amateur level in Illinois is taken care of by The Chicago District Golf Association, which was formed in 1914. It administers almost 400 clubs in the state though there are two other smaller organisations – Southern Illinois Golf Association and Northern Illinois Mens Amateur Golf Association – that look after golfers in outlying areas.

Illinois’s two world class golf courses, the CB Macdonald-designed Chicago and Seth Raynor’s Shoreacres, both lie close to the Windy City as do the nationally acclaimed layouts of Medinah (No.3) and Olympia Fields (North). All of these 18-hole layouts are private, but you can play Cog Hill (No.4), one of the nation’s best public facilities.

Our Illinois Best In State Rankings were last updated in November 2020. Click the link to read the story.