I have played golf since I was a little kid, for nearly 20 years now and over 1000 rounds. I hit my first ever ace while celebrating my master's degree graduation with my dad who flew into town for graduation!

My dad traveled up from Texas for my graduation from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and I wanted to treat him to a round of golf in Chicago. The day after my graduation, we went to Harborside International Port Course to celebrate.

The 15th hole features an Anchor-shaped bunker complex defending the front of the green. The pin position was in the front left about 20 feet onto the front of the green, nearly 195 yards from the tee on June 8th, 2025.

The hole was playing downwind (as is usual in the Windy City), so I played a full 7-iron. I hit a high draw that landed one pace in front of the green, bounced, and rolled about 15 feet into in hole.

Harborside International’s two exceptional courses, Port & Starboard, were designed by renowned architect Dick Nugent to bring this great tradition of links golf to Chicago. Two time Masters Champion Ben Crenshaw, during the Champions Tour stop here in 2002, compared Harborside to Muirfield in Scotland, the site of 15 Open Championships won by the likes of Els, Faldo, Watson, Nicklaus, Player, Hagen and Vardon. Harborside’s two courses are regularly rated in Golfweek’s Top 50 Best Municipal Courses You Can Play in the nation and in the Top 15 in the State of Illinois.