Golf in Naperville

Slice-prone swings and inconsistent putting strokes meet their demise at Green Valley Golf Range, where guests crush golf balls at an 80-station driving range and sends putts through a tricky mini-golf course. The range boasts towering lights and 20 covered, heated hitting stalls to furnish practice at night, during inclement weather, and through the eternal ice age of the future. The practice facility—which also encompasses a putting green, chipping area, and sand trap—replaces its golf balls every year, ensuring quality equipment for players' enjoyment.

A lighthouse, a pint-sized car, and other old-fashioned obstacles await players at the mini-golf course, a circuit best conquered with laser-like focus attained with the help of Green Valley's complimentary coffee. Clubbers can replenish energy stores zapped after a long day of practice or bench-pressing their driver with a soft-serve ice-cream cone, a slice of Rosati's pizza, or a hot dog, all of which are sold in the Green Valley Ice Cream Shoppe.

Mature timbers and ponds surround the emerald corridors of Salt Creek Golf Club's executive course as the layout weaves across 3,985 yards of well-maintained terrain. Throughout the par 63 layout, nine par 3s nurture players' relationships with their mid- and short-irons, and nine par 4s—including a 381-yarder that measures as the course's longest hole—ensure that drivers and 3-woods don’t file negligence suits. The course presents memorable shots in its scaled-down layout, such as the harrowing approach into an island green that awaits at the Blue Course's eighth hole. After the round, duffers can retire to the Grill Room, where waiters serve savory sandwiches, burgers, and salads and pour sudsy libations. Guests can recap their rounds in the Grill Room's indoor diner with seven TVs, enjoy breezes on the open-air patio, or attempt to turn their golf bags into makeshift sleeping bags.

LPGA Class A member Rachel Teresi chips away at learning blocks and corrects crooked swings during private lessons and group classes at four Chicagoland golf facilities. Rachel's swing tutorials emphasizes sound fundamentals designed to enhance all areas of one’s game, including driving, pitching, chipping, and shouting at opponents during critical shots. When they aren’t honing the focus and discipline necessary to excel at the mental aspects of golf, students learn important techniques for fitting clubs and maximizing the efficiency of their training. In addition to her work with students, Rachel has contributed to the overall advancement of the game by developing the downloadable iPhone app GolfPro911, which assists with shot selection and offers advice on wooing feral golf carts into sand traps.

Breezes drift east off the Fox River and through the tree lines of Pottawatomie Golf Course, a spectacular layout recognized by Golf World as the No. 15 nine-hole course in America in 2010. The course traces its roots back to 1939, when legendary course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. capitalized on the area's natural splendor to design a course that originally charged golfers a quarter to play and was best conquered by clubs made from stale baguettes.

Recently, the par 35 course has been the subject of a vigorous renovation, including efforts to reshape greens and preserve native habitats for the deer, foxes, and egrets that populate the grounds. These conservation efforts were rewarded in 1997, when Pottawatomie Golf Course became the first nine-hole course recognized as a fully certified sanctuary by Audubon International.

The course's picturesque conditions are on full display at the par-four third hole, where a curving fairway vanishes into the river and golfers must launch approach shots onto a water-surrounded green. After a day of fore-hollering fun, golfers can peruse the pro shop for the latest gear and clubs to replace irons that ran away to chase dreams of one day growing into a cell-phone tower.

Course at a Glance:

• Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr.
• Nine-hole, par 35 course
• Length of 3,007 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 34.9 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 122 from the farthest tees
• Bent-grass greens, blue-grass fairways
• Scorecard

Play Golf and Tennis's instructors help students hone forehands and chips throughout the year. Aspirant tennis players and golfers improve their game at the Diversey Driving Range and the Hamlin Park tennis courts in the summer, and on Mars in the event of a planetary evacuation. Players learn either sport under the direction of renowned golf and tennis professional Ron Carroll, or work on executing perfect turns in a nonfunctioning golf cart with instructor-supplied engine noises.

The kinetic whoosh of powerful swings welcomes patrons to Bogies Indoor Golf Club, which fosters year-round golf training with its professional staff, constructive lessons, and Full Swing golf simulators. Guests can defy seasonal conditions with midwinter rounds at 1 of more than 60 virtual courses, which convincingly emulate the coastal gusts of St. Andrews' Old Course, the unforgiving fairways of Pinehurst No. 2, and the displaced sunbathers of Pebble Beach. Outside the immersive realm of the course simulators, plush seating and a gallery of high-definition TVs keep patrons tethered to their cozy reality in a full-service restaurant that keeps appetites at bay.