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4.6
263 Reviews (263)
5 Stars
153
4 Stars
94
3 Stars
12
2 Stars
3
1 Stars
1
Conditions
4.6
Value
4.3
Layout
5.0
Friendliness
4.0
Pace
3.7
Amenities
4.1
99.6%
Recommend this course
254 out of 263 reviews
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Average Rating
Avg Rating
0
5 Stars
0
4 Stars
0
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Conditions
0
Value
0
Layout
0
Friendliness
0
Pace
0
Amenities
0
0%
Recommend this course
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
4.5
2 Reviews (2)
5 Stars
1
4 Stars
1
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Conditions
4.5
Value
4.0
Layout
5.0
Pace
3.5
Amenities
4.0
StaffFriendliness
4.5
100.0%
Recommend this course
2 out of 2 reviews
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About

Holes 18
Type Municipal
Par 72
Length 7000 yards
Slope 136
Rating 73.8

Course Details

Year Built 2003
Fairways Bent Grass
Greens Bluegrass
Golf Season April - October
Architect Keith Foster (2003) Art Schaupeter (2010)

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes
Clubs Yes
GPS Yes
Pull-carts Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range Yes - 30 grass tees driving range
Bunker Yes
Caddies No
Golf School Academy Yes
Golf Simulator Yes
Teaching Pro Yes
Pitching/Chipping Area Yes
Indoor Practice Yes
Putting Green Yes

Policies

Credit Cards Accepted Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover accepted
Metal Spikes Allowed No
Walking Allowed Yes
Dress code No tank tops or cutoffs

Food & Beverage

Bar, Restaurant

Available Facilities

Clubhouse, Banquet Facilities, Locker Rooms

Accolades

Reviews

4.6
263 Reviews (263)

What Golfers Are Saying

The 19th Hole is Great For:
Drinks 18
19th Hole Scenic Views 17
Patio Dining 17
Course Challenges Include:
Elevation Changes 32
Bunkers 30
Undulating Greens 29
This course/club is great for:
Advanced Golfers 29
Locals 24
A Weekend Splurge 16
This Course's Location is:
In the 'Burbs 31
Worth the Drive 27
Convenient to the City 6

Numbers based on reviews tagged with attribute.

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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

beautiful place to play

the course is always maintained well. it's a challenging course, without being overly difficult.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Response from on 05/23/2018:
Hello, Thank you for leaving The Highlands of Elgin a 5-star rating. We are happy to hear that you enjoyed our course conditions. Thank you for your business and remember to book your next round with The Highlands of Elgin.
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

A gem in elgin

Great experience all the way around.....course is fantastic.....challenging but fair....layout is great...amenities are as good as it gets....great bar with outside tables on a balcony over looking 18th green in the bright sunshine...what else you need for a perfect golf experience at a nice price.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Response from on 05/10/2018:
Hello, Thank you for leaving The Highlands of Elgin a 5-star rating. We are happy to hear that enjoyed your overall experience. Thank you for your business and remember to book your round with The Highlands of Elgin in the near future.
Played On
Reviews 2
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Windy weather
Used cart

Dave M Highlands review

Enjoyed the course layout and conditions. Very fair IF you play the right tees, I'm an 8.2 index and truly enjoyed the gold tees; the tips would have been brutal, particularly in the wind. This links style course can get really windy. Greens were not unduly unfair and rolled true. Range and practice area are nice amenities as well. A worthy choice of courses but just a tad pricey.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 05/10/2018:
Hi David, Thank you for your kinds words and feedback. That's a really nice picture you took of our golf course. We are happy to have met your overall needs. Thank you for your business and look forward to you booking your next tee time with The Highlands of Elgin.
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Great links coarse

Still early in the season 76 and windy as the coarse is wide open with no trees went at 1130 on a monday and wide open cant wait to go back when the coarse in in tip top shape .

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Response from on 05/03/2018:
Hello, Thanks for your comments and feedback. Honestly, perfect weather is hard to stay away from especially out on the golf course. Remember to book your next round and we look forward to having you back out on the course.
Played On
Reviews 38
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great value

Excellent layout, like the rotation of tees to increase or decrease yardage, pace of play was very good for a weekend and marshalls were active to manage it, will be back.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Response from on 05/01/2018:
Hello, Thank you for leaving The Highlands of Elgin a 5-star rating. This truly means a lot to us! We pride ourselves in always providing an outstanding overall experience for our customers. Thank you for choosing to play our course and we'll see out on the golf course again.
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Response from on 05/01/2018:
Hello, Thanks for leaving The Highlands of Elgin an awesome 4-star rating. We are glad to have met your 5 of 5-star rating in pace of play. Remember to come back and book your next tee time.
Played On
Reviews 11
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Beautiful links course

This is one of the gems of Elgin. I'm an average player and this course is beautiful and challenging. The lay out is great and we played combo tees. Silver and Gold. Pace was good although you could spend a lot of time looking for your
Ball If your too far off the fairway.
Greens a little hairy but what do you expect for this time of year.
Will definitely come back again and again.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Response from on 11/29/2017:
Thank you for sharing your 5-star experiences from The Highlands of Elgin! We appreciate your review and are looking forward to seeing you again!
Played On
Reviews 25
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

A beautiful, challenging links course

First, this is a links course.This means few, if any trees. So the wind becomes a significant factor. A links course also allows you to run the ball up to the green from the fairway without fear of having the ball die in the fairway short of the green (assuming of course you hit the shot correctly).

The Highlands is one of my favorite courses to play in the Chicago metro area. I've always found the fairways, bunkers and greens in excellent condition. And I love the challenge. There are plenty of bunkers strewn throughout the course to grab your attention. And the rough is thick enough to motivate you to be accurate off the tee. The greens were slower than what I'm accustomed to at the Highlands. However, I played on a November morning right after the frost melted. So the greens were quite wet.

The pace is generally average for a foursome (4/4.5 hrs.). And the staff in the pro shop and on the course were very friendly and accommodating.

I would definitely recommend the Highlands of Elgin to anyone that wants to play a top notch course in the Chicago area.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Response from on 11/13/2017:
Thank you for sharing your 5-star experience at The Highlands, fjgilbert! We're very happy to be one of your favorites in the area and appreciate all of your kind words about our staff!
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Pace

The course is great except for the pace of play.

Many to mes there were two groups waiting at the tee box. You wait on almost every shot.

This seems to be the norm this season as it has happened every time we have played.

The staff is courteous but can't seem to correct the issue.

Pace has been so bad at times groups in front of us played eightsomes and some golfers walked off the course.

I hope the staff is able to get the pace problem corrected. The location and great course will not overcome this issue.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Fair
Amenities Excellent
Response from on 10/24/2017:
Thank you for your feedback from your last round of golf. We're glad you came back to play another round at The Highlands of Elgin, as many of our golfers also have been trying to get in one last round this time of year.
Played On
Reviews 52
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

Another Nice Round

The greens have finally rebounded from the aeration from a number of weeks ago. Pace of play was not good but that is sort of normal. Also, not sure the golfers who play here but most know nothing about repairing a ball mark on the green or divot in the fairway...brutal. Also, rarely do golfers here exhibit any golf etiquette, such as letting a 2some play through...not good.
Course is always enjoyable outside these issues.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 10/16/2017:
Thank you for coming back for another round at The Highlands of Elgin, messacar. We're glad you enjoy the course and appreciate your feedback and helping us with doing your part in maintaining the course conditions when you play here!
Played On
Reviews 448
Handicap 10-14
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Illinois Advisor
Top 10 Contributor
Previously Played
Wet weather
Used cart

Course is in wonderful shape - 4 stars

Had not played Highlands for a couple of years because of their exorbitant rates. A fall rate of $39 convinced us to get out there even though it was very wet from the recent rains. A "sloppy" round but the course was very playable and very well maintained from all aspects. It's a wonderful links type course with interesting green complexes that the breaks can be easily read....and really swift so your short game is challenged. If the winds are up I'd recommend avoiding this place. Also note there's no shade during very warm weather...it's an oven. Nice driving range and practice area with an impressive clubhouse/restaurant with nice outdoor patio overlooking the 18th. Well located restroom buildings on both nines. Unfortunately most of the time this place is too crowded...yesterday because of the weather it wasn't thankfully. Clubhouse employees most welcoming. We arrived early to a very empty parking lot and upon check 1/2 hour plus early were told to just go out to the first tee and go. No mention at all that we'd be paired with a 3rd person in the pro shop. Arriving at the 1st tee there was a two-some waiting for another two-some to turn up. And then we had an incredibly bad experience with their starter. We asked if we could get ahead of the foursome (two completely wide open holes in front of them) that have not even got out of their carts and were still waiting for the other two to get there. Starter - "no you have a 3rd person playing with you" and I remarked - "so we have to wait a 1/2 hour plus....is this 3rd person paired up with us here yet?" Yes he's here the starter said (where did this person come from??). I said where is this person? He'll be here shortly and arrived about 5 minutes later so we had to wait an additional 15 minutes to tee off. Then the back of our cart was inspected...we had a bunch of towels in the back of cart for the wet weather. Absolutely ridiculous.....it's October and the halfway house is closed anyway. What does this guy care what we have in the back of our cart on a wet cold Thursday morning on an empty golf course?? It was a very very bad experience and frankly this guy has no business being a starter....grouchy, demanding and very off putting. Simply put he had a self serving (expletive deleted) demeanor and we're in our late 50's in regards age...I'm not a kid and obviously an experienced golfer given the very wet conditions - obvious many people had cancelled their times. For the caliber of the golf course and for the experience of all golfers (especially with the prices they charge) I'd expect much much better. Zero stars starting out and it will be long remembered as we likely won't bother to return to this course for a while despite the wonderful conditioning. Thus my 3 star overall rating. Yes I'm downgrading it that much because of that starter who wasn't welcoming or even attempted to be pleasant. He doesn't belong on the 1st tee - send him out to fill divots and rake traps. $50 course at most....get a hot deal or don't bother because of the "attitude."

Conditions Good
Value Fair
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Poor
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 6
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing

First, certainly not last

Great layout. Tough but fair without a single throw away hole. Sight lines and good aiming targets for most shots. Course was in excellent shape. Signs of greens being punched a few weeks earlier but rolled good. Maybe since they had been punched, they werent as beat as some of the reviews, but I did not see too many unrepaired ball marks. Overall this is one of the nicest rounds of the year and cannot wait to get at least a couple more rounds in here before end of season. Great course!

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Response from on 09/28/2017:
Thank you for your amazing 5-star review. We're glad you had one of your best rounds of the year at The Highlands of Elgin and we look forward to seeing you back before the end of the season!
Played On
Reviews 56
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Response from on 09/28/2017:
Thank you for rating us 5-stars, Kenneth!
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Beginner
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Beautiful course

Played on a hot September day in the morning. Carts have gps that give location to pin and also are touch screens so you can find distances to anywhere. Definitely need to know where to hit your ball into the fairway and the green. They have some shorter par 4s where it might be better to leave the driver in bag. Greens were difficult to putt on if you were above the hole. Sand was nice actual sand, no rocks that I saw. Definitely would like to play here again when it's not so hot.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Response from on 09/28/2017:
Shots above the hole always give us trouble too, but we're glad they didn't effect your five-star experience! Thank you for your review, Nick! We hope you will be back again before the end of the season. Warm weather in September doesn't last long!
Played On
Reviews 52
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Once again...greens only thing holding this back

Great track/layout and very friendly and accommodating staff. Greens were aerated 2 weeks prior and they were still pretty bad. Hoping for better greens coming out of this.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 09/28/2017:
Thank you for coming out to play The Highlands of Elgin and for your feedback on your round. The greens certainly needed the air and are already looking great!
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Windy weather
Used cart
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 09/22/2017:
Thank you for rating The Highlands of Elgin 5-stars!
Played On
Reviews 52
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Windy weather
Used cart

Same review as before...good track, greens could be better

I bothers me that the people that golf this very nice course do not know how to replace a divot or repair a ball mark on the green. This is the only drawback to this place. Still recommend.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 08/25/2017:
Thank you for your review and feedback, messacar. We appreciate you playing your part in responsible course etiquette! We hope to see you back again soon!
Played On
Reviews 19
Handicap 0-4
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Wet weather
Used cart

One of the best in Chicagoland

The Highlands of Elgin is one of my favorites.
Interesting layout, challenging holes. Love this course!

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 08/22/2017:
Thank you for your five-stars, Matthew! We're happy to be one of your favorites and look forward to seeing you back again before the end of the season!
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 25+
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Great course

Course was in excellent condition. Staff was very friendly. Carts had GPS which worked well. Greens are challenging, links style course. Restaurant was excellent!

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 08/21/2017:
Thank you for sharing your five-star experience!
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

My go-to track

thought it was about time to write up something regarding my "home" / go-to track. play here about 2-3 times a month and love it. great layout and good condition is something i count on here.....and it almost always delivers. if you haven't played here, you should. one of my favorite courses in the entire state of IL. keep up the great job!!

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Response from on 08/21/2017:
Thank you for your review, levitt! We're happy to be your home course and look forward to seeing you for many rounds to come!
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