Reviews for Harborside International Golf Center in Chicago, IL

Personally I would have rated this course 5-stars about 2 years ago, and even to an extent last year. But I have lowered it to a... 3, and honestly should be 3.5 if I could for a couple key reasons. But do the issues as others have written about, it deserves alower score in case management wakes up one day. The big one is the price has skyrocketed a bit to unreasonable levels for thiscourse. In 2020 you could get a Twilight rate on the weekend for about $62. Now it's about 76-86 for a Twilight rate, and thatis during October when I think the prices dropped a little from the summer. In fact, I think on average most Twilight ratesuntil 2 hours before sunset were in the 80 range. On average the prices have jumped about 25-35% on average in 2-years whenlooking at prices all season long. Even with inflation and so forth, their prices are easily outpacing inflation and it's peersin the area. A part of me doesn't mind paying more if they are investing into the course and facilities, and they simplyaren't. The cart paths are basically an off road adventure. I wouldn't be shocked if the cart paths haven't been worked on sinceit open up in the mid-90s. The cart GPS is worthless on days when it's cart path only. It has locked me up on the actual path.If I am going to pay over $80, fix your GPS and locking mechanism nonsense. That said, the course itself is still mostly ingood shape when I played there last. Some bad spots here and there, but minus the top private courses, that is going to happen.I like the layouts for both courses, and having a links style design where it's open with rolling hills and bunkers is fun. It'sa fun course to play and travel on. Sadly the prices are approaching Golf Digest top 200 public courses range, and it's notthat at all. A couple examples, Lawsonia in Wisconsin is ranked in the top 100. They have about the same prices. I played at UNCFinley where the main college golf team plays at with white sand and amazing conditions for lik Read more

First time in four in a half years of driving ever going to a golf-course for the sake of advertising, having people just look... at the parked semi truck. Can?t really complain though. Nice scenery. Read more

Don't book outings here. I reached out to the employee who manages all outings 1 month in advance of the outing date. He asked... that I simply book online when the tee sheet opened to the public, 21 days in advance of the outing date. I did so, but thecourse was closed due to another outing that had been scheduled. There was zero follow-up from him about this. Incrediblyunprofessional. Fix your cart paths too. Read more

I have played this course 100+ time before mostly as a change of pace location. Price is high for overall quality unless you do... twilight. Issues we have had tend to be pro shop miss-pricing. Example, last time we played we were quoted one rate and thencharged an additional $14/per person upon arrival. They said it was a premium because we called for a tee time within the samehour? (this came from the manager and was not explained on the phone...). Then after paying, the same manager told us we had toskip the first hole because of a high school event was set to start in 15min. Further, we tried to stop quickly to grabdrinks/food before starting and were denied because they said we needed to hurry to the tee (...on the second hole). We thensat behind a block of 2-somes for 20min before being able to tee off ourselves, at which point the high school teams werewaiting on us anyway (so much for tee-time management). We then made the turn at which point there was no food service and drinkstation was closed. With our most recent experience we are likely to look elsewhere for courses who cater to their customers alittle better. If you are going to charge a premium for the experience you should deliver such experience. This was not it. Read more

Awesome course! Links style so be prepared to lose a lot of balls that miss the fairway. If I could name one thing to improve... on, the clubhouse bathrooms could use a renovation. Other than that it?s a great facility with friendly staff. Read more

Played the course on the hottest day of the year so far, and appreciate the bathrooms that also have chilled water fountains.... The bar tender who served us early in the morning was nice and the staff were helpful. The course was in really good condition.Greens were great and fairways were well groomed. The worst part of the course was near the water, I would say that it didn'tadd anything to the experience as it was a bit pond and really not scenic... Lots of highway noise on a lot of the course whichdetracts from the experience. Lastly, the locker room was in decent shape and they had shower curtains and cleantowels. Overall it was good. Read more

Harborside?s reputation did not live up to my experience. It is a nice golf course with creative challenges for the moderate to... good golfer (not high handicappers). I booked the $65 green fee online for a 2 PM tee off, thinking this was a good deal belowthe $95 they charge normally. When I arrived I let them know I was 65 years old and I prefer to walk when I play, thinking I?dget a discount off the $65 for being both a senior and a walker. Not so. I was charged $70 and change. When I politely askedwhy, a manager standing next to the young man checking me in sternly explained that everyone has to pay the Chicago tax andeveryone pays for the cart whether you use it or not. I said I wasn?t arguing or complaining and thanked him for his explanationand walked out. I walked the course anyway (because I prefer to) and wondered what stress the manager must be under to reactthat way. Maybe they DO hear a lot of complaints about their policies and I was just a victim of PTSD. The course was in roughshape. The tee boxes were overrun with broadleaf weeds, the fairways had recently been airrated which slowed the roll off thetee and the greens were slower than a tortoise in a tar pit. I know most courses don?t reduce prices after airration, but Ithink they should at least tell golfers so we have a choice to play or go somewhere else. There is beauty and fun challenges onthis course, but the cart paths are broken up, the weeds are overgrown, the fairways are gouged and the people who checked me inwere angry. I won?t return. even though I played to my handicap - a good indicator of a fair course). You may have a differentexperience though, especially at another time of year (I played on Sept. 29) when the course might be in better shape. This justisn?t a good value considering I can play several other nicer courses nearby for a lot less money (especially walking). Goodluck and hit ?em straight! Read more

Great course, fun to play. In great shape. The cart paths could use some refinement but I wasn't there for the cart paths. The... golf is great and with multiple tee boxes it could play for all ages and skill level as long as you stay out of the long fescuegrass it is thick and unforgiving. Overall great experience and will definitely be back. Read more