While it's easier for golfers to book an 18-hole round during the winter months, they usually get stuck waiting days for the snowmen ahead of them to finally tee off. Practice your swing in any weather with today's Groupon to The Players Club of Chicago, located about 20 miles from Chicago in Justice. Choose one of the following options:
- For $20, you get a 20-minute private golf lesson with a PGA professional, plus a large bucket of balls (a $42 value)
- For $17, you get an extra-large bucket of balls and a bucket of beers (a $35 value)
The Players Club of Chicago's in-season and off-season oasis lets golfers tune up their swing inside the comfy confines of a heated canopy. During your 20-minute private lesson, one of the club's PGA professionals—which include owner Mike Mandakas, with nine years experience as a golf professional at elite private country clubs, and Mike Harrigan, who has played in eight Western Open tournaments and served as Head Golf Professional at Medinah Country Club for more than 15 years—will hone your short game or sharpen your off-the-tee drive so that it doesn't perpetually hit passing-by presidential convoys. Golfers who've already refined their follow-through can instead show off their sharpshooting skills with an extra-large bucket of 150 balls, then test their ability to drive (dimpled balls, not vehicles) after downing a bucket of five 12-ounce brewskys.
Chicago Players Club
The facility encompasses a sprawling driving range with 55 grass hitting stations, 17 covered and heated hitting bays, and seven target greens. Adjacent to the range, golfers can hone their game around the green at the short game range, which includes a bunker to build sandcastle memorials to all of the golf balls lost in battle to course hazards. The entire complex is open year-round and lighted for after-hours practice.
Though golfers can find ample opportunities to improve their skills at the facility through solo practice, the Chicago Players Club can make practice sessions even more effective with advice from a staff of veteran instructors. The staff includes decorated PGA pros Mike Mandakas—who started the Chicago Players Club after working at both the elite Olympia Fields and Medinah Country Clubs—and Mike Harrigan, who played in eight Western Open PGA Tournaments and was the Illinois PGA Pro and Teacher of the Year in 1995. The staff offers lessons for players of all ages and abilities, as well as club-fitting services to ensure golfers and their equipment are emotionally compatible.