Hickory Ridge Public Golf Center - Carbondale, Ill.

One of the two absolute "must plays" on the Southern Illinois Golf Trail is Hickory Ridge Public Golf Center in Carbondale. This excellent 6,863-yard municipal golf course not only offers a solid challenge to power-hitters and shot-makers alike, it is home to an admirable kids' golf program as well as the Southern Illinois University Women's Golf Team.

Hickory Ridge is a solid golf course in anyone's book, and an unquestionably great muni. Jim West, who works in the pro shop, tells of a golfer from Chicago earlier this year who came in to play while visiting his daughter at SUI. "When he heard the green fees were $42 with cart on the weekend, he said we were crazy," West recalls. "He said, 'This is a $100 course in Chicago!'"