BALMORAL WOODS COUNTRY CLUB

The rolling prairie terrain thirty miles south of Chicago demands precise iron play, where elevated greens protected by mature oaks punish anything short or offline. Dick Nugent's 1988 design maximizes the natural elevation changes through clever routing that never feels forced, particularly on the par-4 12th where a creek bisects the fairway at exactly driver distance. Members rave about the conditioning year-round, but it's the subtle green complexes that separate weekend warriors from single-digit handicaps.