Illinois Golf Clubs

Illinois has the best municipal golf in America relative to price, and our reviews keep proving it. Season passes at the clubs below run from $50 to about $2,700 depending on residency and tier, and several of the strongest courses in the Chicago suburbs are town-owned.

Ten Illinois golf clubs are reviewed here, nine of them in the northern and western suburbs. Winnetka (4.5) is the standout — a genuinely good North Shore muni with season passes from $550 to $2,500 before resident discounts. Wilmette (4.4) undercuts it with a $50–$2,700 range and a 6,363-yard course that punches above its length. Schaumburg (4.4) is the cheapest entry on this entire list: a $20 resident Golf ID, $10 to renew.

North of the city, Glencoe sells permanent tee-time memberships from $1,430, and Deerfield in Riverwoods runs seasonal passes of $525–$2,132 by tier. West and south, Oak Brook and Bolingbrook both require an inquiry for annual rates, and Water’s Edge in Worth publishes a clean ladder: $400 Range Goat, $550 Players, $1,250 Course.

The private exception is White Eagle (4.4) in Naperville, a non-equity club that confirms an initiation fee exists but not what it is. Downstate, Kokopelli in Marion is the only southern Illinois club we’ve reviewed so far.

Every review scores out of 5 and states resident versus non-resident pricing separately, because in Illinois that gap is often larger than the difference between two courses.