WCPGG MONTH BY MONTH 2025 GOLF YEAR

Golf is part passion and part pain.  I always think I'll play well on the 1st tee, but most times there is that one hole were things go sideways and my 20-handicap skill level can't recover.  But the anticipation of that special round is what encourages me to play as much as time and budget allows, and of the 96 I played in 2025, there were a few that reinforced "I can do this!" counter-balanced by just as many that reminded "I have no idea what I'm doing!".  And that's what I love about golf, keep the expectations real and it's a magical experience.

I played 55 different 9 & 18 hole public courses in Chicagoland last year, and though that is down from the over 70 I visited in 2024, still plenty of variety to support my self-proclaimed status as one of the foremost experts on the Windy City public golf scene.  From Pine Meadow to Meadowlark to Mistwood to Minne Monesse, I do my best to hit all the courses from each corner of the area.  Besides Illinois, I played in 8 other states, and my experiences suggest the quality and depth we have here in Chicago can match any public golf in the USA.

My handicap index bounced between 15.4 and 20, which is not bad for someone who is the poster child of a bogey golfer.  I broke 90 19 times, or 22% of the 18-hole rounds played, an improvement from the 17% in 2024, so the arrow is pointing up.   My best score was an 84 at Cog Hill #3 during a Tuesday night golf league (truth be told, 7 of my under 90's were at Cog 1 & 3), but I had some memorable rounds away from my home courses.  Here is a timeline of my favorite golf experiences in 2025:

JANUARY - ALOHA FROM HAWAII

Is there a better way to start the golf season than in Hawaii?  I spent a week each on Oahu & Maui, with 7 courses visited in total.  Maui is known for the big 3 resorts, Kaanapali, Wailea and the Big Kahuna, Kapalua, but I found some hidden gems that offered a big payout at a reasonable price.  Oahu has more choices but not the upscale quality of Maui, but an engaging oceanfront 9-hole muni and a jaw dropping jungle paradise were highlights.

Kahuka is tucked away on the northeast coast of Oahu, one of the 6 courses operated by the City and County of Honolulu and about as far away from the hub of the island as you can be.  This is the place the locals play, a total no frills experience that happens to sit on prime real estate along the coastline.  The 2,700 yd par 35 walking only layout is as quirky as it gets, with 4 par three's, 3 par five's and only 2 par four's, but million dollar views of the ocean from almost every hole made for one of my most memorable golf moments in 2025.

Hidden east of Honolulu is Royal Hawaiian. 
Designed by Pete and Perry Dye, this is more like a golf safari as the fairways are cut through thick jungle foilage with stunning green mountains up close in every direction.  Someone told me to bring a dozen balls and this was not said in jest, a shot off the fairway and you're likely reaching in the bag for another.  Not overly long at 6,600 yards, the 140 slope indicates plenty of challenge, but it is the scenery that takes center stage here, and I'm not being hyperbolic when I say Royal Hawaiian may have the most spectacular views of any course I've played.

The 7 courses at the major resorts in Maui dominate the golf scene, and I did play Kaanapali Kai, the par 70 sister course to Royal Kaanapali, but they are all over $200, with Kapalua Plantation currently sporting a bucket list $475 price tag.  I opted for 2 lower level courses and I was quite happy with my choices.  

Waiehu is a County of Maui muni that straddles the ocean about 7 miles northwest of the Kahului airport.  You'll have to work to get a tee time as you can only book 2 days in advance, but it's worth the effort.  The front nine covers the lower end of the property, and the signature 6th hole borders the water with the green just yards off the edge.  The back nine rolls up into the foothills with more amazing views.  At under $80, this is a great value at a beautiful layout.

At 1,100 feet elevation, Pukalani lies on the side of Mount Haleakala, the ancient volcano

that sprawls across east Maui.  Just a few yards short of 6,900, the course offers a parkland style layout with plenty of elevation change and great views of the Pacific and the West Maui mountains in the distance.  The par three 3rd has two different holes to choose from, one downhill to a green tightly surrounded by traps and woods and the other over a ravine, a pretty cool feature.  An extra bonus was teaming up with a former PGA teaching pro the last 12 holes, he passed along a few tips that definitely helped.  I found an early afternoon deal online at Hawaii Tee Times for $78 (I also used this website for tee times at Royal Hawaiian and Pearl at Kalauao in Oahu).  The next time I'm in Maui I may break my piggy bank and play the Plantation course and one of the 3 at Wailea, we'll see.

APRIL - TOURNAMENT GOLF SUCCESS!

I joined one of the several golf organizations that run events locally in 2024, with varying levels of success.  Tournament golf is different, and playing strictly by the rules for a higher handicap like myself can be daunting, but I enjoy it, I like the competition and I've met some good people.  The first tourney of 2025 was at Cog #3, a course I've played many times living in the south and southwest suburbs my entire life.  It was sloppy wet conditions on an early spring morning, a cart path only mess (I ended up just walking) and it was a slog the whole way.  But I played the last 6 holes in a really good for me 3 over par and ended up winning my flight of 30 golfers.  I'm pretty sure my local knowledge helped me, but it felt great to finish on top.

A few weeks later I teed it up at Pine Meadow in Mundelein, a course I really like but rarely play, and a par on the 18th hole got me to a tie for 2nd at a net +1 (89 gross).  I'm hooked.  I didn't have nearly as much success the rest of the year and a couple of rounds I totally busted out and finished near the bottom, but the anticipation (and a little nervousness) the morning of an event is something I look forward to.  Maybe I'll never win another but that's OK, I plan on trying again in 2026.

MAY - NORTH OF THE BORDER

I headed up to Wisconsin a few days before Memorial Day for a quick trip to Geneva National.  The 54-hole resort features courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Gary Player, all premier layouts in their own right.  This year we played the Palmer and Player tracks, which I think most would rank the top 2 here (although I tend to like the Trevino 18 over the Palmer).  The Palmer course features Lake Como prominently on the 17th hole, a par five that the water borders the entire 568 yards on the left (and one of my 4 pars for the day) but the rest of the round was mostly forgettable.

The next day at the Player course, however, was one of my highlights for the year.  I started out with a shaky double bogey on the 1st hole, but a birdie on the short par 3 4th boosted my confidence and with the exception of another double on the par 3 15th, it was all pars and bogeys and I finished with an 85 and a 14.3 differential, my 3rd best round of the year.  There are numerous risk/reward options on the Player course and I made good decisions to avoid those score killing blowups which are around every corner here.

Though Geneva National doesn't carry the national recognition of Whistling Straits, Blackwolf Run or Sand Valley, it's a really good, more affordable option in Lake Geneva that I highly recommend.

JUNE - ROAD TRIPPIN'

Winnetka Golf Club is one of the older public courses in the area, with origins dating back to 1917.  The course underwent an extensive renovation that was completed in 2024 and architect Rick Jacobson's team and their work here is similar to what they accomplished 5 years earlier at nearby Sunset Valley: 2 north shore courses prone to flooding that were reimagined for the 21st century.  Although I didn't play well, my visit to Winnetka was an A experience.

My wife and I loaded up the station wagon and headed south to North Carolina to visit good friends and as we always try to do, we worked in a few rounds of golf on the way.  The first stop was at The Trophy Club north of Indy, a linksy beast of a course designed by Tim Liddy (a Pete Dye protege) and Patriot Hills, about 40 miles east of Knoxville in the Smoky Mountain foothills.  We got to Patriot Hills just before 4 pm and were instructed that the carts had to be back by 8 (not sure what would happen if we were late).  Luckily it wasn't very crowded and we made it in by a good 10 minutes.  The layout was an unusual 6-6-6 par 3/4/5 configuration that I liked and it was a blast to play and the best $33 round I had in 2025. 

My first time playing in North Carolina where at Verdict Ridge and Rock Barn, both within an hour drive north of Charlotte.  The semi-private courses featured rolling hills and excellent conditions and facilities.  We also spent a rainy day with a drive to the hallowed ground of Pinehurst, a little over 2 hours away.  Although the weather kept us from seeing much of the massive property, we were able to stop in the pro shop to buy some swag and snap a picture of the famous Payne Stewart statue.  Hope to get back there some day and play one or two of the 10 courses.

JULY - HOT FUN IN THE VALLEY OF THE SUN

My Windy City highlight in July was a round at Thunderhawk, which I consider one of the top 5 courses in Chicagoland.  The Robert Trent Jones Jr design flows beautifully through wetlands and woods with wide fairways and challenging approaches and an unusual par 3-5-3-5 finish that I find very cool. The 74.2/141 Rating/Slope from the 7,000 yard tips make it one of the hardest courses around. Just a few miles from the Wisconsin border and Lake Michigan, I highly recommend the drive to Beach Park to check out this amazing layout.

I've flown out to Phoenix the last 3 years to play the courses that I refuse to pay for in the winter.  The range between seasons can often be $200+, which I find crazy except when I think others may think I'm the crazy one for golfing in 110 degree temps.  But the lure of the deal (I paid between $87 to $117 per round) called and this year my itinerary was Dove Valley Ranch, Wildfire Palmer, Whirlwind Cattail and Grayhawk Raptor, and a quick check of January rates shows $195 $219, $199, plus a budget busting $413 at the Raptor course, almost $300 over the summer rate!  Wildfire, Whirlwind and Grayhawk have sister courses so next summer I can cross those off my list.  

AUGUST - FOREST PRESERVE'S FINEST 

I was one of those guys back in the 1980's waiting in line in my car at 2 am for the sun to rise and the gates to open to book my tee time for later that day at Forest Preserve National, the hottest new course in the Windy City.  40 years later and the now renamed George Dunne is still one of the best pure parkland layouts around.  I had my 2nd best score by index, a 13.9 on a score of 87, with a blistering 6 par front 9.  I faded a bit on the back with triples on 11 & 18 (one of the toughest finishers in all of Chicagoland), but I was still thrilled with the way I played. The bad news is that the bunkers were about as poor as I've ever seen (and there's a lot of them here).  The good news is the starter shared there are plans to fix them within the next year.  I've heard this before, but George Dunne deserves the best conditions possible, it's that good a layout.     

SEPTEMBER - SAMPLING WINDY CITY'S BEST

I squeezed in a quick 3 day trip to southwest Michigan, a region loaded with good golf.  Ravines is a tough Arnold Palmer design loaded with forced carries and native areas.  Diamond Springs is one of the most unique courses I've played, with the two grass cut lengths (tees/fairways and greens).  It was an overcast, rainy day and we had enough just before the fun started at the par 3 14th, where the featured ravine snakes thru and causes havoc the last 5 holes. The 3rd course on our rotation, Beeches, was a surprise.  The front nine has gigantic sandy waste areas and 6 ponds across the layout adds to the difficulty.  Add in some of the wildest greens I came across in 2025 and this was a memorable round.  I didn't play well on the trip but it was a great time with good friends.

Some of my favorite plays locally were featured in September, including Blackstone, Village Links of Glen Ellyn and Mistwood.  Blackstone is a Bob Lohmann beauty in Marengo, closer to Rockford than downtown Chicago, but definitely worth the drive.  A shorter course by today's standards at 6,700 yards from the back tees, the course winds thru 26 acres of protected wetlands and thick woods for an exceptional play.  A semi-private club, Blackstone was in excellent condition the day I played.  A birdie on the short par 4 16th and a scrambling par on the tough finishing hole got me in with an 88 and a 15 differential, my 4th best of the year.

Village Links of Glen Ellyn is a 27-hole facility in the western suburbs, with the championship 18 and the full length 9, one of the better combinations in Chicagoland.  Opened in 1967, the 7,200 yard course has been home to dozens of PGA and USGA events over the years, including Western Open and US Open qualifying.  This course has good holes from start to finish and is still somewhat affordable, and although I may be in the minority, I consider the Village Links in the top ten public courses in the Windy City area. Plus the restaurant patio is a great place for an after round drink and a bite to eat.

A good friend was in town from upstate New York in late September and we went upscale to Mistwood, one of my favorites and a top 5 public play in Chicagoland.  Our 3some was joined by an engaging member of the semi-private club who gave us plenty of tips, and maybe that's why I had my best round of the year.  I had one of my rare birdies (19 total, 1.14% in 2025) on the par 3 9th for a blistering front side 41.  I cooled off a bit on the back with doubles on 11 & 14, and 3 putt bogeys on 16 & 17 had me a little wobbly on the 18th tee.  Two mediocre shots had me 200 yards out, but I pulled out one of my best swings of the year, a 3 wood over the creek that found the green and a 2 putt par for an 86 and a 13.4 diff on a 135 slope layout.  I did have my moments!

OCTOBER - ABOVE MY SKILL SET

The last tourney of the year was at Broken Arrow, another course I've played many times.  I qualified for the 2 day event with my win at CH3 in April, but this wasn't a flighted field and I was paired with a 1 handicap golfer, and the difference between my skill level and his was wa as wide a the Grand Canyon.  Early on I was more worried about doing something stupid to screw up his game then I was about mine, but I scrambled to a 45 on the North 9, and with my handicap in a position to move on to the next day.  A par on the 10th (#1 South) had my confidence sky high...and then it all went sideways.  A terrible triple on one of the easiest holes on the course and a drive in the pond on 12 and I was done.  I finished the back with a 57 and just felt like crap, but that's what a bit of pressure can do to a not so good golfer.  The 1 handicap shot 3 over and I don't think he was very happy with that score, I hope I didn't drag him down.

I went across the state line to Indiana to play two of my Hoosier favorites, Palmira and White Hawk.  Palmira has a heavily wooded landscape over rolling hills, a very good layout with fun and memorable holes.  This is one of my best value plays, $46 weekday and $62 weekends (cart included), a rare find for a course with this level of character.  The only downside is the clubhouse, which is a small shack that is seemingly held together with duct tape and chicken wire.  

White Hawk features four distinct 9 hole tracks of varying difficulty, although most would agree that the Silver is by far the most challenging.  This 600 acre golf & housing development in Crown Point is an upscale Dick & Tim Nugent collaboration with a wide variety of holes and scenic views throughout as the course winds thru wetlands and forests.  As with most Nugent designs, there is plenty of challenge, with the Black/Silver 18 sporting a monstrous 76.3/149 Rating/Slope.

NOVEMBER - GOING LOW (ALTITUDE WISE)

My last round outside of Illinois was on a trip to Las Vegas to help celebrate a neighbors milestone birthday, but I didn't play in Nevada.  Mrs Z & I took the 2 hour drive west to Death Valley National Park and snuck in a quick 9 holes at Furnace Creek.  Hard to believe a golf course exists in one of the hottest places in the world, but spring fed lakes make this particular area of Death Valley hospitable to growing grass in a region that averages 2-3 inches of rain annually.  Earlier in the week over an inch fell and conditions were still wet in spots and 2 holes on the front nine were closed so I teed off on #10.  A pretty good layout with views of the surrounding mountains, Furnace Creek is significant for being the lowest course in the world, lying 214 feet below sea level.  That alone was worth driving to California, but the views in the park were amazing.

Weather in Chicago in November is always a hit or miss proposition, and this year was much more miss than hit, but I squeezed in a round near the end of the month at an old favorite, Lincoln Oaks in Crete.  This is a true neighborhood course, winding through the far south suburban landscape of mid 20th century homes with a unique par 71 layout.  The front 9 starts with 2 short par 4's before an alternating par 5's & 3's seven hole stretch that is as unique as it sounds.  It was wide open and we played the front side again, a 27 hole finish to a great year of golf.  2026 is right around the corner, look for more stories and photos in the coming year.  See you at the first tee!