Harborside Port

The verdict

Harborside is the rare big city public golf that traveling golfers go out of their way for. Dick Nugent moved an enormous volume of earth to lift a rolling, mounded links from a flat, reclaimed site beside Lake Calumet, and the two courses he routed there, the Port and its sister the Starboard, give Chicago a genuine taste of seaside golf within sight of the skyline.

The Port is the tougher and more celebrated of the pair. At about 7,164 yards to a par 72 it is treeless, exposed and almost always windy, with deep fescue, sculpted pot bunkers and water that comes into play on both nines. It is a regular host of Illinois PGA events and championship qualifying, and it walks beautifully, which is the way the design wants to be played. For value relative to the test, little else this close to a major American city compares.

The holes worth the trip

The Port reveals its character early. The opening holes set off across open, mounded ground where the only definition comes from the fescue lines and the shaping of the bunkers, and club selection becomes a wind problem rather than a yardage one. The smart play is to favor the wide side and let firm fairways feed the ball, because the rough here is genuinely penal and the recovery from it rarely advances the ball as far as you hope.

Water is the second defense. Several holes run alongside or over the reclaimed wetland channels that thread the property, and the strong par 4s and reachable par 5s ask whether you take the carry or lay back to a number. The greens are large, firm and boldly contoured, so position off the tee and a controlled approach matter more than raw length, and three putts come quickly when the surfaces are running fast.

It is the exposure that lingers. With no trees to break the wind and a low, open horizon, the Port plays like a links transplanted to the prairie, and the finishing stretch back toward the clubhouse can swing several shots depending on the breeze. Playing the Port and the Starboard in a single day is the way to understand what Nugent built here: two serious, windswept courses on ground that was never meant to hold golf at all.

Where to stay nearby

Harborside sits inside the city, so the natural base is Chicago itself, with downtown hotels twenty minutes north putting the Port, the Loop and the lakefront all within easy reach. For a golf focused trip, the southern suburbs and the nearby Indiana shore offer comfortable, well priced lodging close to the first tee.

The Port pairs naturally with the other strong public golf around Chicago and northwest Indiana, so many visitors fold it into a wider Midwest swing. It makes an ideal first or last round on a trip built around bigger destination courses to the north.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Harborside International Port Course.