South Shore Golf Club

South Shore Golf Club occupies a historic site along Lake Michigan on Chicago's South Side, designed by Tom Bendelow and opened in 1906. Bendelow, a prolific early American golf architect who laid out hundreds of courses in the early twentieth century, created a parkland layout that takes advantage of the lakefront terrain. The course sits within the South Shore Cultural Center complex, which began as a private country club before the Chicago Park District acquired the property in the 1970s and opened it to public use. The routing works across relatively flat terrain with mature tree-lined fairways characteristic of early Chicago-area parkland designs. Lake Michigan forms a scenic eastern boundary, though the course itself plays primarily through inland corridors of the park grounds. The layout reflects Bendelow's straightforward design approach from that era, with holes that emphasize strategic bunkering and green complexes rather than dramatic elevation changes or water hazards. South Shore holds significance in American golf history as one of the few courses where African American golfers could play and compete during much of the twentieth century, particularly after the club became semi-private and later fully public. The facility has served the surrounding community for over a century and remains an accessible municipal course within Chicago's extensive park system. The clubhouse, a Mediterranean Revival structure, contributes to the site's architectural and cultural heritage.