Oak Brook Golf Club

In the heart of Oak Brook lies a beautiful and historic public golf course with a story to tell. Oak Brook Golf Club sits elegantly next to the famed Butler National Golf Club, offering a refined and enjoyable round for any golf enthusiast. The course is nicely manicured, presenting a lush landscape for your game. However, don’t let its beauty fool you; plenty of water hazards are scattered throughout, with small ponds and a tributary of Salt Creek demanding your accuracy. The track is known for its many dogleg holes. Holes 3 through 6 are all severe doglegs, and the 6th hole is one of the most sharply shaped you'll ever play. The challenges continue on the back nine, with the 13th also being a dogleg and the 16th being an infamous double dogleg, a very tricky hole that requires your ordnance to be delivered precisely.

Stretching to 6,541 yards, this par-72 layout has a course rating of 71.5 and a slope of 129, putting it on par with courses like Ravisloe, Randall Oaks, and Old Oak. in terms of difficulty. The course is flat and very walkable, though be prepared for a slightly awkward hike between the 9th and 10th holes that takes you through the parking lot and across the street. One of the pleasant aspects of a round here is the tranquility; only a handful of homes are visible on the southern edge of the property, allowing you to immerse yourself in the game. The course features a standard layout of two par-5s and two par-3s on each nine, providing a balanced test of your skills.

The history of Oak Brook Golf Club is as interesting as its layout. It began as the 18-hole York Golf Club in 1926 before a 1973 rebranding to the Executive Golf Course, a nine-hole private track that donated much of its land to its prestigious neighbor, Butler National. It became semi-private in 1975, and after a $700,000 expansion designed by architects Roger Packard and Dennis Wise, it reopened in 1980 as the 18-hole public course it is today, owned by the Oak Brook Sports Core.

The 1980s were a particularly eventful decade. In July 1984, a single-engine plane, circling to view the Western Open at nextdoor Butler National, crashed on the course after its engine failed, though thankfully no one was seriously injured. The Sun-Times said it landed on the 12th fairway. In 1986, the driving range here, which doubled as a polo ground, hosted Prince Charles for the Prince of Wales Cup, where he scored two points to lead his England team to victory over the US. Then, in 1987, due to major flooding at Butler National, Oak Brook’s back nine hosted the PGA Tour's Western Open, where D.A. Weibring won over Greg Norman and Larry Nelson by 1 shot.

Beyond the course itself, Oak Brook offers excellent amenities. The modern clubhouse features a well-stocked pro shop with a solid selection of shirts, shoes, and hats. After your round, the clubhouse restaurant serves classic bar food, including a particularly good hot dog. The practice facilities are useful, with a grass-tee driving range, a large putting green near the clubhouse, and a separate, thin green next to the range for chipping and pitching, complete with a bunker. On the other side of the range is the “private” range, with supposedly nicer grass tees, and another green and bunker complex. Oak Brook still considers itself a semi-private course, and people can buy memberships to use this area.