This Golf Course Is The Best In IL: Golf Digest

ILLINOIS — Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton is the best golf course Illinois has to offer, according to a new ranking developed by golfers themselves. The 18-hole course in Wheaton also topped Golf Digest's roundup of best golf courses in Illinois in 2024.

Golf Digest deploys 1,700 professionally trained low-handicap golfers to continually assess the golf courses. The rankings are based on more than 80,000 evaluations over 10 years looking at criteria such as short options, challenge, design variety, conditioning, aesthetics, and character.

Established in 1892, Chicago Golf Club stands out as one of five golf clubs that founded the United States Golf Association in 1894, its website states. Its original location at Belmont Golf Club in Downers Grove made history in 1893 as the first 18-hole golf course in the United States.

In 1894, the club moved to its current home in Wheaton on Warrenville Road. Chicago Golf Club was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

There are plenty of other courses in Illinois that prioritize the aesthetics of their fairways and greens and test the golfers who play on them with a variety of challenges.

Wheaton's Cantigny Golf came in at #35 on Golf Digest's new list. The #4 course, Dubsdread at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont landed at #14. The course was also formerly ranked among America's Toughest Golf Courses by Golf Digest.

Here's a roundup of the top five golf courses in Illinois, according to Golf Digest.

1. Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton

2. Shoreacres Golf Club in Lake Bluff

3. Medina Country Club in Medinah

4. Canyata Golf Club in Marshall

5. Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook

This is the 25th edition of Golf Digest’s Best in State ranking, which has been published continually since 1977