Things to Do in Orland Park

Kindled on October 8, 1997—the 126th anniversary of Chicago's infamous blaze—the Chicago Fire played their first Major League Soccer season in 1998 as one of the league's first expansion teams—and nabbed its first and only MLS Cup in that inaugural season. Under the supervision of U.S. Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley, the club has been a hazard ever since, taking home four Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup trophies and reaching the playoffs in nearly every year of its existence. Located in Bridgeview, Toyota Park hosts each home game, its grounds spacious enough to seat 20,000 and fertile enough for planting new soccer-net saplings each spring.

Originally constructed to host large-scale tournaments, Badlandz Paintball Field now accommodates recreational play across more than 400 acres of outdoor forts, creeks, and open fields. Open play draws beginning, intermediate, and advanced paintballers into challenging and fun scenarios. Multiple games kick off simultaneously, sending combatants headlong into battle on isolated fields, with players divvied up based on ability, equipment type, and Duck Hunt high scores to ensure a level playing field. Warriors navigate natural and manmade obstacles as they pummel competitors with polychromatic ammo throughout the woodsball, hyperball, airball, and x-ball courts. Methods of gameplay include elimination, capture the flag, and protect the president and encourage individual or team strategies such as designating snipers or concealing teammates in piles of chameleons. Badlandz staffers patrol the sprawling arena to enforce the game's rules and to ensure that all participants follow the field's stringent safety regulations. Players can bring their own paintballs or purchase them onsite. The facility also runs airsoft games during weekend open play.

Comprised of two championship-length 18-hole courses and a 9-hole executive layout, Silver Lake Country Club unfurls across rolling terrain dotted with ponds and streams. The longest of the three courses, the North Course offers relatively open fairways for those who prefer to belt the ball with their driver or tow a small aircraft behind their golf cart. At the South Course, water hazards loom on 12 holes, including the treacherous par-3 ninth hole, where tee shots must travel 236 yards and clear a pond in order to reach the green in one.

The Rolling Hills Course presents seven par-3s and two par-4s in a 1,587-yard layout that incorporates a stream that intervenes through most of the course. Before taking on the golf course of their choice, golfers can warm up swings and teach breathing exercises to nervous irons at the driving range, which offers both natural-grass and turf hitting stalls and a short-game practice area.

Designed in 1960 by John Ellis, the Tuckaway Golf Club course is located 40 miles from downtown and features 6,225 yards of greens, fairways, and sand traps. Though only one par 5 exists on the front nine, the back nine challenges players to make up for lost scoring opportunities with three par 5s and cups not covered with cellophane. Gently sloping fairways bob and weave through beautifully forested acreage, bending around majestic pines and stately oak trees and opening up onto small greens. Prior to tee times, players can practice their hacks on the driving range's 20 grass tees or work on greenside feel at the chipping and pitching green.

Course at a Glance: Par: 72 Length: 6,225 yards Rating: 69.7 Slope: 117

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The golfer addresses the ball at the tee box before taking aim at a target: a green on the other side of a water hazard, a classic forced-carry par three. Though it would not be out of place on any golf course, this particular hole is actually a part of the Chicago Players Club's 26-acre practice complex. In addition to the practice par-three hole, 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.