Local Tracks
City Game
Chicago Park District Munis Host a “Rainbow of Golfers”
By Tom Mackin
Kristy Edwards knows the Chicago Park District’s municipal golf courses better than most. After a career in teaching and publishing, she became assistant manager at South Shore Golf Course in 2015, and then went on to manage courses at Marquette Park and Columbus Park. Today she oversees both South Shore and Jackson Park Golf Course, which turns 125 this year and hosts the 119th Chicago City Amateur championship in July.
“I’ve managed four of the six Chicago Park District courses [which also include the Sydney R. Marovitz Golf Course and Robert A. Black Golf Course layouts on the city’s north side], and each one has its own personality, just like children do,” said Edwards. “Out of those four, and I have great things to say about all of them, South Shore is unique. With the Cultural Center (a massive structure completed in 1916 as a clubhouse for what was then a private course) and the history behind that, the plans for President Obama’s library to be built nearby, a location right on Lake Michigan, and being near Hyde Park and the University of Chicago, there is really no place like it. You come here, you could see anything.”
She’s not kidding. Stables house horses of the city’s mounted patrol police unit on the South Shore property, so seeing them get some exercise is a regular occurrence. Inside the Cultural Center, massive rooms host weddings and political events, while both movies and TV shows have filmed there. The course itself, which celebrates its 40th anniversary as a public layout next year, features numerous long-range views of the downtown city skyline, especially on the second hole. The sixth green is right up against the lake, so close that Edwards warns “if you overshoot that green, you will have to go swimming if you want your ball back!”
There are plenty of golf leagues at South Shore. “We have one for adaptive golfers and also for veterans,” said Edwards. “I’m proud that we make golf available for those people, and we also have weekday leagues for women and men. High school teams play here too, as does a local First Tee chapter.”
Beginners love the nine-hole layout at Columbus Park Golf Course thanks to its mostly flat terrain and wide open fairways. A popular choice for golfers on the city’s West Side, the course is right off Interstate 290, just 10 minutes from The Loop and 25 minutes from Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Opened in 1921, Columbus Park hosts the 108th Cook County Amateur championship in July. The fifth hole is the lone par 5, while water is in play twice: behind the seventh green and on the tee shot at the eighth hole.
Marquette Park, one of Chicago’s largest parks, is tucked away in a neighborhood on the southwest side of the city, 20 minutes from downtown and not far from Chicago Midway International Airport. It’s a hive of activity, with basketball courts, soccer fields, a fieldhouse, playgrounds, and a nine-hole course. “What makes it special is that there’s a lagoon that encompasses the entire park and also overlaps into the Columbus Park Golf Course,” said Nick Pulido, general manager at Marquette and Columbus Park. “So we have water in play on more than half of the holes. The signature hole is the eighth, where your tee shot has to carry a pond. Overall it’s a good test for intermediate and advanced golfers, but also a great place for beginners.”
You’ll find a similar mix of golfers at all of the Chicago Park District courses, according to Pulido. “We serve everyone. Junior golf is very important to us, which is why we offer a Kids Play Free program. Everyday golfers come here looking for affordability and accessibility, and golfers who play at higher-end courses stop by to tune up their game. The people who play here really represent the entire population of Chicago.”
Edwards sees the same atmosphere at South Shore. “One of the things about Chicago Park District courses, and especially South Shore, is that they are part of the neighborhoods,” she said. “You will find a very diverse group of golfers from different ethnic backgrounds, different demographics, junior golfers, women, and men. It’s like a rainbow of golfers.”
