Golf in the Bloomington-Normal area is one of the most engaging activities that a resident can partake in. Numerous high-quality courses, practice facilities, as well as pro-shops are available to suit the needs of players of any skill and financial level. The golfing scene in Bloomington-Normal also offers a gradual learning curve - players can start out small and work their way up to playing one of the most challenging courses in Illinois.
Courses
Ironwood Golf Course
WebsiteLocation Ironwood Golf Course, located in and winding around Ironwood subdivision was designed by the great Roger Packard. Ironwood is one of the best courses in the Bloomington Normal area. The course features a championship layout playing anywhere from 5400-6900 yards depending on which of the four sets of tees players choose to play from. Opened in 1990, Ironwood has hosted many high school golf tournaments, college invitational tournaments, state tournaments, and is the Illinois Qualification Site of the Maxfli/PGA Junior National Championships.
Ironwood Golf Course features a grass tees driving range, a practice green, and a practice bunker. There is also a small proshop on site in the clubhouse. Ironwood also has a large banquet facility that is available for rent. The Golf Academy at Ironwood also features lessons and direction from Professional Golf instructor Craig Onsrud. Players of all skill levels can attend group clinics or schedule private lessons to help improve their game. The average fee is $25 for a round of 18 holes of golf, and $13 for a gas operated golf cart.
Highland Golf Course
WebsiteLocation One of the oldest golf courses in the Bloomington-Normal area, Highland Golf Course offers a relaxing and challenging round of golf to local residents. Built in the 1930’s, Highland Golf Course has mature, filled out trees lining each and every fairway and small greens – making accuracy a high-priced commodity when playing. Highland Golf Course also offers hilly terrain and features a creek that is in play throughout several of the holes. From the regular tees the course measures 5,539 yards. The USGA Course and Slope Ratings are 66.9 and 111, respectively. Other amenities include a small chipping green as well as a fairly large putting green.
Highland Golf Course hosts the Illinois High School Association’s Girls State Championship every year. Come fall time, tee times are at a premium as so much local high school golf is played here each season. Golf Digest’s Places to Play has rated Highland Golf Course a 3-star rating. Highland Golf Course also has some of the best rates of playing golf in the Bloomington-Normal area. For just $18 a round of golf can be walked and for an extra $13 players can decide to drive a golf cart instead. Highland Golf Course is also known for it’s “Twilight Special” – After 2pm for just $13 players can golf as many holes as they can get in before the sun sets.
Prairie Vista Golf Course
WebsiteLocation Opened May 17th, 1991, Prairie Vista Golf Course is another of the finest golf courses in the Bloomington-Normal area. This golf course was designed by the great Roger Packard and is an American Contemporary Style golf course. It measures 6,745 yards from the Championship Tees and 5,244 yards from the Forward Tees. The USGA Course and Slope Ratings are 72.2 and 129, respectively. Bentgrass tees (the best type of grass for playing golf), greens, and fairways make Prairie Vista one of the most beautiful golf courses in town. Also included on the Prairie Vista grounds are a large practice putting green, a practice chipping green, and a grass driving range. A full-line pro shop also offers golfers a huge selection of equipment to use while on the course.
Prairie Vista hosted the 1997 NCAA Division I Women’s East Regional and has also hosted the Illinois High School Association’s Class A Boys State Championship since 1993. The latter tournament has made Prairie Vista one of the premier local golf courses in the Bloomington-Normal and has also given the course a reputation as being one of the most challenging courses in the central Illinois area. Prairie Vista was also rated by Golf Digest as a 4-star course and a “place to play”. The average fee is around $35 for a round of walking 18 holes and another $17 for an electric golf cart.
The Den at Fox Creek
WebsiteLocation The Den at Fox Creek is one of the premier golf courses in the Bloomington-Normal area. Opened August 1st, 1997, The Den is an Arnold Palmer Signature Golf Course. It measures 6,926 yards from the Palmer Tees. The USGA Course Ratings and Slope Ratings are 72.9 and 128. Bentgrass tees, greens, and fairways make this one of the nicest golf courses in Bloomington-Normal. The facilities at the Den at Fox Creek include a grass tee driving range with several targets to aim for, a large practice putting green, and large practice chipping green that also includes a sand bunker, as well as a golf shop that offers premium golf equipment.
The Den has one of the most challenging layouts in the Bloomington Normal area. Few holes offer a flat lie in the fairway, and most holes play long. Sand is featured on many holes, totaling 131 bunkers and traps. Water also comes into play on 9 of the 18 holes. The Den is also known for the luxury golf carts that are offered. All carts come equipped with a GPS tracking system that allows the player to pull up next to their ball and receive an exact measurement to the hole or green. A cart fee is about $45 for 18 holes of walking golf and an additional $22 for the amazing golf carts.
The Links at Ireland Grove
WebsiteLocation The Links at Ireland Grove is an easier, smaller golf course, which offers nine holes and plenty of practice facilities. The course has six par-3's and three par-4's. This is a great course to play for beginners learning the game, kids, seniors, and skilled golfers trying to work on their short game. The best part about the course is how affordable it is. Nine holes of golf costs just $10, $5 for college student with a student ID and $5 for kids 6 and under. If you don't want to walk the course, you can rent a cart for $6. They also have a very nice driving range with weather protected hitting bays and a large four acre short game area.
The Links at Ireland Grove also offers leagues for seniors, ladies, parent-child and has an open Wednesday night league for anyone. If you are looking for lessons, The Links Golf Academy offers four instructors and state of the art equipment. It is one of the six courses that makes up the Country Youth Classic each year and hosts events for Parent-Child and the Jr City Championship for kids 12 and under. Several times throughout the summer, The Links at Ireland Grove will also offer Nite-Lite Golf, where you can get balls that glow. Check out the website, the course offers several discounts for season passes and has a special for almost every weekday.
Weibring Golf Club
WebsiteLocation Weibring Golf Club is one of Bloomington-Normal's oldest courses. Opened in 1964 and designed by Robert Bruce Harris, Weibring offers a challenging, picturesque look at a championship golf course. The course has an interesting layout - when it was originally built it had a regulation length 9 hole course around the outside edge of the property with a shorter 9 hole executive course in the middle. Now, the course is a par 71 that measures 6,915 yards. Weibring is closely associated with Illinois State University and therefore hosts numerous tournaments throughout the season. Men's and Women's Intercollegiate Athletics, State Champion Boys and Girls University High School home tournaments, the COUNTRY Youth Classic, and the Illinois High School Association Boy's State Final are some of the bigger tournaments that Weibring hosts.
During the 2000 golfing season, Weibring Golf Club was closed down for a major renovation. The project was designed and coordinated by PGA Champions Tour Player and ISU Alumnus D.A. Weibring and his company Golf Resources, Inc. The project included a new state-of-the-art irrigation system, rebuilding all 18 greens and 2 practice greens, converting the tees and fairways to bentgrass, reconstructing all bunkers to include drainage, BunkerGuard erosion control, and tour-quality Best Sand. The course was reopened in July of 2001. In 2007, the course was renamed to Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State to honor D.A. Weibring and his contributions. Players can play at the newly redesigned course for around $27 per 18 holes of walking and another $14 for an electric cart.
Lessons
Learning to play golf is one the easiest things a Bloomington-Normal resident can choose to do. Players of all skill levels have a wealth of lesson opportunities available to them. Almost any golf course in town has some sort of lesson service available to golfers, whether it be instructional group clinics or private one-on-one lessons. Some courses even feature a PGA-Certified instructor that offers lessons. Bloomington-Normal also offers countless private lessons from individual persons throughout the community. Golfers also have a wealth of facilities that can be utilized as well as excellent pro-shops to purchase necessary golfing supplies. The area has a good climb of skill from course to course as well. Players can start golfing somewhere small, such as the par 3 course The Links at Ireland Grove and work their way up to The Den at Fox Creek, clearly the most challenging course in the Bloomington-Normal area.
Practice Facilities
All Seasons Golf Learning Center
1304 Cross Creek Drive, Normal, IL (309) 829-4653 · http://www.allseasonsglc.com
All seasons is one of the nicer driving ranges in town. Features both grass tees as well as a multi-level deck to hit golf balls off of any golfer can find a stall that suits them. Some driving range stalls come equipped with an automatic tee that places a ball on top of a tee to hit off of, so there is less strain and bending over on the golfer. Otherwise, the player can choose to hit off of a normal astroturf golf mat with rubber tee. The facilities also feature a small practice green that players can putt around on as well as practice chipping onto. Inside there is a tiny practice green that is more to try out different putters from the pro-shop than for actually practicing putting. The facilities feature two automatic golf ball dispensers, so players can purchase balls even when the building is closed. There is a special camera that golfers can rent to record swing speed as well as footage of your swing so that the player can go back and analyze and potentially tweak their golf swing.
The Links at Ireland Grove
Ste 3, 3807 Ballybunion Rd, Bloomington, IL (309) 661-8040 · http://www.thelinksatirelandgrove.com
The Links at Ireland Grove has a fairly large driving range that features both real grass and astroturf mats to hit off of. The driving range has numerous targets and flags at many different yardages for players to aim at. There is also a small practice putting green on the facilities that usually has about five or six cups at any given time. The main attraction for The Links at Ireland Grove is a mammoth short game area that players can purchase access to for around $100 per calendar year. The short game area is roughly four acres big and features two greens and three bunkers. Players can setup any shot they choose from about 85 yards and in. The short game area allows players to practice putting, chipping, pitching, as well as lobbing or flopping shots.
Pro Shops
The Bloomington-Normal area has several pro shops that offer all of the golfing supplies that a player would need. Most pro shops have the standard equipment (clubs, golf balls, tees, etc.) as well as clothing and shoes. Several shops also offer custom club grips or clubhead covers, club re-shafting and re-gripping, as well as literature from famous golfers offering lessons and tips. Certain pro shops also have an indoor hitting stall, so that players may try out any club that they may be interested in purchasing before they do so. A small putting green is also present in most pro shops so that players may also test out new putters.
Dick's Sporting Goods
200 Greenbriar Drive, Normal, IL (309) 454-1602 · http://www.dickssportinggoods.com
Golf Discount Superstore
1 Auto Row, Bloomington, IL (309) 662-8688 · http://golfdiscountsuperstore.com
All Seasons Golf Learning Center
1304 Cross Creek Drive, Normal, IL (309) 829-4653 · http://www.allseasonsglc.com
