Arlington Lakes Golf Club

A short-par layout in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Arlington Lakes has long served as a workhorse of the Cook County forest preserve system — the kind of public course that keeps everyday golfers on the grass without demanding half a day or a tournament entry fee. Par 68 means the card is loaded with par 3s and short par 4s, rewarding precision and course management over raw power, and making it genuinely accessible to a wide range of abilities.

Arlington Heights sits in the thick of Chicagoland's dense suburban golf corridor, a region with more courses per capita than almost anywhere in the Midwest. The terrain here is classic Illinois flatland, shaped by glacial deposits, with mature trees and water features doing most of the work to create separation and interest between holes.

For a quick round after work, an early-morning warmup, or an outing with newer players, a course like this fills a real need in a market where tee times at longer, more prestigious tracks can be hard to come by and harder to finish.