Par-3 at Winnetka Golf Club

Winnetka Golf Club's Par-3 course is a nine-hole short course designed by William Langford, the prominent Chicago-area architect whose work during the 1920s and 1930s helped define Midwestern golf design. Langford, often working with partner Theodore Moreau, created numerous courses throughout Illinois and the upper Midwest, bringing strategic design principles and thoughtful use of terrain to both full-length layouts and shorter courses. This par-3 facility reflects the era's growing interest in accessible, walkable golf that could be played quickly while still demanding shot-making skill.

The course occupies property in Winnetka, a North Shore suburb of Chicago known for its established residential character and proximity to Lake Michigan. The layout features holes that vary in length and require different clubs, testing accuracy and touch rather than distance. Par-3 courses from this period were often designed to serve as practice grounds for members or as family-friendly alternatives to the regulation course, and Langford's design work typically emphasized green contours and strategic bunkering even on shorter holes.

The club's setting in the North Shore community places it among a concentration of historic golf facilities that developed as Chicago's affluent suburbs expanded in the early twentieth century. The par-3 course remains a walkable, straightforward test that preserves the character of Depression-era golf architecture, when designers worked within modest budgets to create engaging layouts on compact parcels of land.