Chasing Par

Harborside – Starboard (Chicago, IL) – Chicago’s Scottish Highlands

Located 15 miles from the iconic Bean sculpture in the Chicago Loop, Harborside International Golf Center is a premier golf facility that is just a 30-minute drive from downtown Chicago. The facility boasts two courses – Port and Starboard. Both courses offer exceptional, sweeping views of the nation’s third largest city, and the links-style course was compared to Muirfield in Scotland by two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw during a visit in 2002. Another feather in the Starboard’s cap? The 1996 Dick Nugent-designed course landed on Golfweek’s Top 15 Public Courses in Illinois in June 2021.

The championship tees play at 6,620 yards, which is right in line with the average length for a golf course. The regular tees play a tick shorter at 5,914 yards, but the length is not the draw of the course. The $1.7M bunker renovation in 2017 provides exceptional gameplay for a course designed to make you hit your spots and play smart, pinpoint golf. There are opportunities to take chances and play aggressively, but the placement of bunkers can punish players that aren’t taking confident strokes with their short irons.

The Starboard course starts off with a par 5 heading straight towards downtown Chicago, lulling the player to sleep with a seemingly open fairway with room to miss both left and right. This is a common theme with the Starboard course; the fairways progressively become more narrow with more bunkers and hazards coming into play as your round continues. The Starboard’s true character is fully shown on the 17th hole, a par 3 affectionately called “Buccaneer’s Cove” that requires the touch of a 150 yard short iron to carry the water guarding the front of the green, while being mindful of the three bunkers defending against players being too cautious with a longer club.

The course is challenging and on the pricier side for your average weekend golfer, but for those passionate about the game that are looking for a challenge will get their money’s worth. 

St. Andrew’s Golf & Country Club (West Chicago, IL)– Joe Jemsek Course

St. Andrew’s Country Club boasts two championship 18-hole golf courses about an hour’s drive outside of Chicago city limits in West Chicago, IL. Named after the World’s Longest Drive at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, the Joe Jemsek Course was designed in 1926 by E.B. Dearie Jr. and provides a much different landscape than the longer St. Andrew’s Course #1. Though shorter than Course #1, Jemsek still measures 6,770 yards from the Championship Tees, and the narrow, tree-lined fairways provide a challenge for all golfers. The length is evenly spread out across the course, where the par-5s are on the shorter side, but the length is gained back on difficult, long par 3s, particularly the 207-yard 14^th hole.

The hilly course provides its own set of challenges when it comes to finding a solid position for your feet. This is imperative for staying on the right track for a course with both doglegs and blind shots. After 16 holes filled with hitting straight shots to avoid the numerous bunkers and trees, the round comes to a close with approaches over water on both 17 and 18. 18 measures 404 yards from the championship tees, tempting the big hitter to carry the water and steal a birdie before hitting JJ’s Bar & Grill to close out your day. Though the course is a bit of a drive outside of the city, the exceptional grounds make the trek worth it.

If you’re looking for a course, or two, to play in Chicago, these are our top recommendations. Follow-us for more Chasing Par, or submit your golf story here.