Deerfield Golf Club & Learning Center

Deerfield Golf Club & Learning Center Overview
Marking its 60th anniversary in 2023, Deerfield Golf Club has been a core part of this community for over a half century. Originally the privately owned Riverwoods Country Club and then Deerfield Country Club, the Deerfield Park District finished purchasing the property in 1972. It opened to the public in the same year. Weekday green fees were $4 at the time, according to the Chicago Tribune that year.

The course occupies a long, vertical strip of land directly to the west of the Tri-State Tollway and east of the private Ravinia Green Country Club. Deerfield is a solid test of golf throughout. The west fork of the north branch of the Chicago River makes a cameo on the northern tip of the property, greeting golfers on the 3rd hole. However, it also supplies various ponds on the course, complicating matters throughout the round. Deerfield GC’s design has the standard two par-5’s and two par-3’s per nine, resulting in a course that measures 6,831 from the back tees. The course rating is 72.8, and this place will challenge you, particularly the par-5 2nd hole, the toughest hole on the track. A narrow fairway with two separate ponds on the left demands accuracy. If you bail out right, you’ll end up in a strip of homes. Speaking of homes, they’re scattered throughout the entire property. The stray ordnance reaching these houses must be nuts.

Learning Center is in the name of the club, so you can assume the practice area is solid -- and it is. The driving range has both mats & grass tees. There’s three practice greens here. One is a huge green for putting, which you drive by when entering the club. Another is next to the clubhouse, and the largest is for chips & pitches in the dedicated short-game practice area, which also has a bunker. Deerfield Golf Club takes golf instruction seriously and currently has 7 teaching professionals available for lessons.