Suburban Stadiums: Skokie Sports Park

SKOKIE SPORTS PARK

Facility and History: The Skokie Sports Park was built in 1998 and opened in August of that year.

“The Park District felt there was a need for expanding its recreational facilities into golf,” said Rich Lee, general manager at the Skokie Sports Park. “Obviously, we were operating Weber Park golf course, but there was a large demand to have a practice facility in town.”

The two-tier driving range features 40 stations with an automatic tee-up system that allows golfers to spend more time practicing. Instead of buying a bucket of balls, golfers purchase a card that provides placement of a specified number of balls. Swiping the card on the station’s computer system activates the process. It keeps track of drives so that unused hits can be stored for later visits.

In addition to its golf practice facility, the Sports Park at 3459 Oakton St. also features two adventure golf courses--Traveler’s Quest and Kid’s Quest--as well as batting cages. There are four baseball stations and three for softball.

Since it opened 13 years ago, there have been only minor changes made to the Skokie Sports Park. In 2000, management added three artificial target greens that give golf users a better perspective of the range. The Park District has made some adjustments to a couple of the miniature golf holes and, of course, updates to the driving range’s automatic tee-up system.  

Programs and Events: For 10 straight years the Skokie Sports Park has been rated as one of the Top 100 golf ranges in the U.S.

As with most facilities in the Park District, the Sports Park often hosts birthday parties and private events. The agency works with nonprofits to do fundraisers as well.

Although the 40 driving range stations play off of turf mats, there is a grass tee area reserved for lessons. The Park District has two PGA professionals on staff, and Lee estimates they conduct 1,500–2,000 lessons each year. Individual and packages of lessons are available.

Unlike a lot of driving ranges in the Midwest, Skokie Sports Park is open year-round, with its normal operating months being April through October. From November–January, it is open only on weekends, but Lee says people still show up despite the cold.

“We have a hard-core base of regular customers who love to come out and hit balls. They enjoy being able to see their ball flight as opposed to being indoors,” Lee said. “We probably average a couple hundred customers every weekend if the weather is good.”

Facility operators also work with Niles North and Niles West high schools to improve the caliber of their young golfers.

Calendar of Events:

Oct. 30 (weather permitting): Regular season hours end.