The first 18-hole golf course in the United States of America, Downers Grove Golf Club was designed in 1892 as the original Chicago Golf Club by Charles Blair MacDonald. It is now a 9-hole course that is open to the public.
A Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, Downers Grove Golf Club features mature trees, natural areas and wildflowers and offers a driving range with 24 permanent and turf hitting stations, a large practice putting green, sand trap and chipping area. The driving range features a covered shelter over 10 of the stations, which provide infrared heaters and ceiling fans for a comfortable golf experience.
Ranked one of Chicago’s Top-10 Nine Hole Golf Courses, Downers Grove Golf Course was readied for play in the late spring of 1892, when it became America’s first golf course west of the Allegheny mountain range.
When the inaugural season had ended, the Chicago Golf Club members decided to add nine more holes to the course. Therefore, in 1893, the first eighteen-hole golf course in the United States was established on this site. This golf club was also one of the five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association in 1895.