Harborside International Golf Center

Harborside International Golf Center brought true links golf to Chicago's industrial South Side. Architect Dick Nugent opened the Port Course in 1995, routing it over a treeless expanse of manmade dunes on reclaimed land that had served as a landfill. He designed it in the tradition of windswept Scottish, Irish, and English seaside courses, and paired it with a companion 18, the Starboard Course, giving the facility two full links-style tracks. Wind is the defining hazard across the open, dune-framed terrain, with the added drama of sweeping views of Chicago's downtown skyline in the distance. The Port measures roughly 7,164 yards at par 72, and both courses have earned repeated recognition among Illinois's top public layouts. Managed as a premier daily-fee destination, Harborside stands as an unlikely, celebrated example of turning a scarred urban site into acclaimed public golf.