The Chicago area has incredible country clubs. Its private club golf scene is as good as any metropolitan area’s, in fact, with the Chicago Golf Club, Shoreacres (played but not reviewed), Butler National, Canyata, Medinah, Olympia Fields, Rich Harvest Farms, Old Elm, Skokie, Conway Farms, Beverly, Black Sheep, Butterfield, Bob O Link (played but not reviewed), Knollwood and Chicago Highlands all incredible [and mostly historic golden age] tracks that most Midwest players pine to someday find their way on.

Public access golf in the Chicago area has always lagged behind its private counterpart. Some of that is likely attributed to high property values and general population density; developing a public access course that’s remotely near downtown would require incredible revenues (and therefore rates) to pay the mortgage and stay afloat.

In 1995, though, the Illinois International Port District developed a massive golf project just 15 miles south of downtown Chicago: Harborside International Golf Center.

With 36 holes of windswept links-style golf designed by Dick Nugent, the courses teem with high berms and overgrown patches of fescue and wild native grasses, evoking Open Championship vibes and demanding well-placed setup and approach shots.

At a 2002 Champions Tour event held at Harborside International, Ben Crenshaw himself likened the Port course to Muirfield in Scotland – high praise for a 1990’s Midwest muni!

While its green surrounds are quite challenging, the tee shots are mostly not. The Port course provides ample space for spraying off the tee, which was a scenario I took full advantage of while hitting approach shots from other fairways (fairways to the right – my early-season swing is so far slicing – a situation I can’t explain).

The layout on the Port course is a lot of fun and reminds me a lot of one of my favorite Milwaukee-area properties: Washington County. Both municipal tracks, the two found themselves on lists together for years when GolfWeek still ranked the top 50 municipal courses in the country. While that list has not been published for several years, both are still well-respected and beloved, and Harborside’s Starboard course is even ranked as the 10th best public course in the state of Illinois (even though I always remembered Port being rated higher than Starboard).

All this to say Harborside International, operated by KemperSports, brings an incredibly fun and unique brand of golf to an area of Chicago that is otherwise fairly devoid of high-quality public access golf – and nothing else like Harborside.

This is a terrific golf property and one I hope to visit more frequently going forward.

The Port course

Both the Port and Starboard courses start from atop the hill beside the Harborside clubhouse with the first hole on the Port to the left and Starboard to the right.

Port one is a fairly straightforward par four handshake with a large sand trap lining the left side and fairly generous fairway to the right and beyond it.

The hole bends slightly to the left to an elevated green – there are lots of those on this course – with built-up surrounds that frame the target area.

The first really impressive hole on the course comes early at two, a long par five with out of bounds left and towering berms to the right.

The number one handicapped hole on the course, the second has a challenging, small green complex that’s fronted by deep bunkers and heavily canted from back to front.

The fourth is a great little par three, teeing off from a high point to a beautiful depressed green with bunkers short and right, and mounding surrounding the target area.

A long par four, the fifth extends all the way back to 466 yards from the tournament tees and 428 from the blues.

I love the way Nugent raised the fairway and main playing surface above the left side here, which puts a little extra thought into player’s minds away from the internal fairway bunker on the right.

A short par three, the sixth tees up from 145 yards from the blue tees but stretches all the way back to 180.

Grab enough club here – short is not a good option!

The seventh is a solid par four that has one of the most uncommon backdrops I’ve seen: A salvage yard. Thousands of junked cars are arranged along the left-side perimeter of the hole – beyond losing a stroke, you likely don’t have to worry too much about losing a tee shot well left, it shouldn’t do much damage.

The narrow landing zone on seven is lined on the right with a hillside overgrown with tall grass, making it an inopportune spot to miss. Short of the green, then are two traps fronting a small, challenging greens complex with runoffs on all sides.

How do you feel about a junkyard as a backdrop? I don’t mind it and for some reason think it really works here.

Coming back toward the clubhouse, the eighth is a tough uphill par four with a challenging greens complex.

A series of cross bunkers occupies the middle of the target area off the tee, but it’s the sand trap slightly to the right that’s more in play as it will catch longer drives hit slightly right.

The hole continues uphill from there, ending with a highly contoured green situated between mounding.

The ninth on the Port course is a solid finishing hole. A long par five, the fairway traps are deeper than they look from the tee and can make second and third shots significantly more challenging.

The green is highly risen with three bunkers in front. The lower-right pin we had was especially tough to get near.

The most recognizable hole on the entire Harborside International property, the par three 15th is a living homage to the facility’s ownership group and sponsor: the Illinois International Port District.

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With elevated tee boxes and a risen, boomerang-shaped green complex, Nugent’s true artistry on this hole can be found in the no man’s land in between: a massive sand and fairway complex shaped perfectly as an anchor.

While it can be challenging to make out from the tee, the beauty of this hole is more than evident from the air.

This is not just a pretty looking golf hole but a one-shot layout with a whole lot of bite.

Especially when played into the wind [like it has the two times I’ve played the course], the 15th forces a long carry to a boomerang-shaped putting surface with little room to miss.

The pin was in its shorter location to the right during our recent round, but the hole would play considerably longer to the back-left, adding another 30 or more yards and taking on more of the sandy expanse.

I focused on the 15th in a recent feature for Midwest Golfing Magazine’s “Best of the Midwest” section, which you can find below on pages 58-59:

A memorable finish to the Port course continues on 16. In stark opposition to the salvage yard seventh, this portion of the course gives the feeling of being anywhere other than downtown Chicago.

16’s wide fairway is deceiving in that long tee shots down the left side are likely to roll out to the pond. There’s plenty of room to miss right, and the smart club pull is a long iron or hybrid to keep short of the hazard.

The finish of this hole reminds me of Hazeltine, or even of the Great Waters course at Reynolds Lake Oconee with its greens complex built into the peninsula and surrounded by long native grasses.

This hole is an absolute gem.

The 17th is a great risk/reward par four that shortens the further left tee shots are hit. Long hitters can be rewarded with short approach shots if challenging the left side of the driving zone while shorter tee balls should be played straight away or slightly right, leaving a significantly longer uphill approach.

A par five along the lake, the 18th is an excellent finishing hole whose difficulty is exacerbated as players approach the green area.

The second shot, especially, requires absolute precision to stay in the short grass and set up a manageable wedge to the putting surface.

Situated alongside the 18th on the Starboard course and just below the Harborside clubhouse, this is a great finisher that leaves a strong lasting impression at the end of a solid round of golf.

It had been a lot of years since I’d last visited Harborside International in Chicago, and this time I’ll make sure I don’t wait as long to return.

With two highly renowned, well-designed links-style courses in a beautiful urban setting, this is a terrific golf property that punches well above its weight class.

Have you played both courses at Harborside? How do you rank them? For me, having only played the Port, the Starboard’s got a lot to live up to and I’m looking forward to finding out if it does.