Bob O'Link Golf Club

Few North Shore clubs carry the quiet prestige of Bob O'Link. Founded in 1916, this private Highland Park club was designed by Donald Ross — one of the most consequential architects in American golf history — and his fingerprints remain visible across the property in the form of crowned, contoured greens that punish anything but a precise approach. The club has undergone careful stewardship over the decades, preserving Ross's original intentions while keeping the course in championship condition.

Highland Park sits along Lake Michigan's western shore, roughly 25 miles north of Chicago, and the North Shore corridor has long been home to some of the Midwest's most storied private clubs. Bob O'Link belongs firmly in that conversation. The surrounding terrain is gently rolling, with mature hardwoods framing fairways that reward placement over power.

As a par-71 layout, the course trades one par 5 for an extra par 3 or a tighter par-4 routing — a design choice that tends to sharpen the demand for iron play and short-game precision over raw distance.