Chicago Park District – Marquette Park

I used to live across the street from this park. I loved watching all of the activity from my window– kids sledding, people fishing, lots of walkers, and yes a few bad apples. I loved the South Side!
Growing up, Mom would take us to play in the sprinklers– some of my best childhood memories. As an adult, I walked this park almost every day. I have this park, and Jenny Craig, to thank for dropping 60 pounds. (Yeah, and Unilocal to thank for helping to put a good bit of it back– sheesh.)
Cool thing to note about this park: Blues Brothers «Chicago Nazis». This is the lake (on the west side) that they drove the Nazis into. Go Jake and Elwood!

I wish I could golf every weekend, but I can’t. So, I did my one golf outing of the summer this past Saturday, and Marquette Park was the spot.
I grew up in this area, and I haven’t been back in awhile. Nothing has really changed: There are still some disgusting people dwelling in the area, gangs signs tagged on the sides of buildings, children running into oncoming traffic, people BBQing on the side of the road. Aaaah, I miss the Southside.
Finding the parking lot to the golf course lot is an adventure and a half. I took Kedzie south from I-​55, and wound up driving past the parking lot. After a few sons-​of-​bitches and mother-f’ers, I circled my way back around and parked my car. Some parking signs would help out a lot, but maybe I’m asking for too much.
As I waited for my fellas to show up, I took a walk around the field house. There is a nice little patio area behind the field house where you can fish, or just chill out. That was pretty neat. I remember this park being super shitty… garbage sprawled out, hookers doing their thing, and bums everywhere. Looks like Mayor Daley really cleaned up Marquette Park, nice work.
When my friends arrived, we all made our way to the «golf shack.» Totally discreet, totally confusing. The golf office is adjacent to the first hole, and it is painted yellow and has bars all over it. Even the outer walls have cages, not sure if someone has attempted to steal the actual bricks of the buildings, but maybe they have.
A round of 9 holes is fairly cheap, and there wasn’t much of a wait… even for a Saturday. The course is pretty nice, with a few challenging holes involving the lagoon and some willow trees. Make sure you pay close attention on the 9^th hole. That is possibly the WORST hole on any gold course Ive ever played. You basically tee up facing 6 trees that are 10 feet in front of you, and the green is on a 30 degree angle form the tee… but you can’t just turn your body and shoot directly at the green, because there are huge bushes and things growing out of the lagoon. I don’t even consider that «challenging.» It’s an impossible shot… you are better off using a pitching wedge off of the tee and hitting it over the lagoon, onto the fairway.
All in all, not bad. The course is OK, and I had an OK time.

I have many. many fond memories of this park. I grew up on the south side and I was about one mile north of the park on St. Louis. Every now and then i take a ride over here from the burbs and bring a chair and sit out and read under a shade tree somewhere.
Kedzie avenue splits the park in two and each side of the park has two distinct personalities. The east side is the more active side here you will find your soccer and softball games and it is definitely the more crowded of the two sides. The west side of the park is the more laid back side where you will find most people just casually walking and having picnics, or siting out by the lagoon relaxing. IF you are up for some golf, they even have a nine hole golf course on this side.