Course Credit

Make sure a round of golf is on the itinerary during your next visit to Bloomington/Normal.

GOLF DIGEST rated Bloomington/ Normal the fifth-best public golf city in the US in a poll based on access, weather, quality and affordability. The area’s six public courses extract a surprising degree of personality and variety from a canvas of flat farms and meadows. Here’s what to know before you take a swing at them:

- Illinois native Roger Packard incorporated meadow and prairie themes at the Ironwood Golf Course, which 0pened in 1990 on the northern edge of Normal. The holes are open and seem, well, normal — until you reach the round-ruining par-3 16th and its large island green (although there’s a buffer of grass around the green to catch milder miss-hits). $19 to $24; 1901 N Towanda Ave, Normal; 309-4549620; www.golfironwood.org

- Packard also designed the Prairie Vista Golf Course, which opened just a year later than Ironwood. This course looks completely different, with a smorgasbord of green sizes and contours, sharp doglegs and water features, yet still showcases wide vistas and prairie motifs. $31 to $33; 502 W Hamilton Rd, Bloomington; 309-434-2217

- The Arnold Palmerdesigned Den at Fox Creek, opened in 1997, takes Packard’s vision a step further with hummocks and long prairie grasses separating the holes. The course is a modern bag of tricks with blind shots, greens pushed tight against water hazards, enormous rolling putting surfaces and more than 100 bunkers encroaching on nearly every hole. Don’t get caught in the “Fox Trap,” the three-hole stretch from 5th through 7th, which includes a risk/reward par-5 that trots dangerously out to a peninsula green in the middle of a lake. $31 to $41; 3002 Fox Creek Rd, Bloomington; 309-434-2300

- One of the best deals anywhere is the Highland Park Golf Course. It was built in the 1930s, but don’t let its age — or diminutive size (5,539 yards) — give you false confidence. The small greens and tilted tree-lined fairways are sublime defenses, and the 446-yard 6th with water and a sloping, narrow, 50-foot-deep green may just be the toughest in town. $16 to $18; 1613 S Main St, Bloomington; 309-434-2200

- Sharpen your iron game at The Links at Ireland Grove, a sporty, par-30 nine-hole executive course that opened in 2006. Water threatens seven holes, including the 1st and 9th, which sit beneath the clubhouse and offer gut-wrenching opportunities to choke in front of onlookers. $10; 3807 Ballybunion Rd #3, Bloomington; 309-6618040; www.thelinksatirelandgrove.com

- The market’s newest course is the Weibring Golf Club at Illinois State University. Champions Tour player and alum D.A. Weibring orchestrated a multi-phase $1.7 million renovation of the 40-year-old campus course in 2000. You’ll need to strike it like a pro to overcome a series of Tour-worthy par-4s late in the round that play into the perennial south wind. $26 to $32; 800 W Gregory St, Normal; 309-438-8065; www.isugolf.com