Erin Hills #26 Best New: Gimme a Break

[Dan Moore]

I find this hard to fathom.  As I stated in the other post,  either there are a whole lot of terrific new courses out there or something is rotten in Denmark.  Any ideas?  

[Mark Bourgeois]

You bet I've got a few ideas, Dan: something is rotten in Denmark.

I visited Kronberg Castle in Helsingor just a few weeks ago to look into this whole "something is rotten in Denmark" stuff, and discovered to my horror Shakespeare just made up Hamlet!

There is a "Hamled" myth dating something like a millennium ago..."Hamled": he didn't even spell it right.

It's a heck of a castle, though, so maybe the Havarti isn't all rotten...



Helpfully,
Mark

[Adam Clayman]

Dan, In Dr. Klein's article he intimates to the quality of the 3 year span.

I cannot comment on EH but I know four of the top 10 are very impressive.
(edited after I counted)

[Ryan Farrow]

No hometown bias here?

Have you seen or played any of the courses ahead of EH?

[Jim Franklin]

Dan -

I have not seen the list in its entirety, but I have played a fair number of new courses the past few years and EH is one of my favorites. It is hard to believe there were 25 better courses built. I can think of a few, but not 25. I look forward to getting out there again.

[Dan Moore]

I suspect the less than stellar conditions when they opened in 2006 may have something to do with this.  Perhaps the three year cycle somehow skews the rankings; a few poor votes from a smaller sample size lowering the rating.  The fact the course can play quite hard and isn't a easy walk in the park may have an impact.  

A good friend played there earlier this week and says the conditions are now excellent.  They are even starting to treat the native areas to eliminate some of the invasives.  

[Garland Bayley]

Wasn't there a thread here when he came out with his review of EH that some thought indicated he had a grudge against Whitten? If I remember right TD indicated there was no such grudge and that they were friends.

[John_Conley]

Dan, my father was a supporter of the Packers and Badgers.  It was hard living in a house with him, especially when they won a Super Bowl in the 90s and Alvarez took teams to two Rose Bowls.  Maybe more people are just finally waking up to the obvious reality that the only good thing that comes out of Wisconsin is I-94!!

As to your post, maybe a little of both.

1) Pre-opening hype for the course was tremendous - including Whitten's own comments on the Erin Hills website.  Rotten?  Maybe not, if you understand the role expectations play in the ratings game.
2) There are a lot of great courses that have opened.

[Brad Swanson]

John,
    Don't be hatin' just because the Gophers suck at everything.    

Cheers,
Brad

[John_Conley]

John,
    Don't be hatin' just because the Gophers suck at everything.    

Cheers,
Brad

Minnesotans are quick to point to the perennial strength of the ice hockey team!  And wrestling!  And even golf!

True story:  I caddied for Barry Alvarez just after he had been hired.  I felt so sorry for this delusional man.  He was talking about winning at Wisconsin and even going to the Rose Bowl.  Dude, you CAN'T win... you coach WISCONSIN!!

Un-freakin'-believable.

Oh yeah, Northwestern has been to a Rose Bowl too.

I must admit envy of the Badgers' success in basketball and football.

[Tony Petersen]

Sh*t, as bad as Wisconsin played last week, getting their a**es thrashed by Penn, I have a feeling that the Gophers (as bad as they are) will end up carrying the ax back to MN where it has always belonged (63-0 MN back in '90... 1890

We could get into the Tommy Thompson issue (worked great... not!) but let's focus on MN putting a beat-down (like last year) on WI in hockey, baseball, golf, volleyball and of course, wrestling. With Tubby at the helm, I would give the Basketball program a couple of years before they regularly put the hurt on the Badgers

I am really looking forward to playing Lawsonia and Erin Hills. Blue Mound is fantastic, as is West Bend and Milwaukee CC. Those are the only 3 courses I have had the pleasure of playing in WI, but if they are any indication, I know that EH and Lawsonia have to be THAT GOOD

And yes, Madison is a fun town with a beautiful campus... Where else can you sit at the Student Union sharing a beer while gazing out over the lake.. while eating cheese and looking at new flannel designs for the upcoming winter

[Brad Swanson]

Tony P,
   Who has the more recent NCAA college hockey crown?  (Men and women, scary eh?).  Baseball??, do the badgers even field a baseball team?  I think Tubby might find recruiting top tier talent a little more difficult up in the Twin Cities, too (and Bo has already been getting some commitments from the better MN talent).  We shall see.  We certainly were overrated in football this year, but the axe has been residing in Madtown 10 out of the last 12 years, so I wouldn't be spouting off there either.    
   
   I'm with you on the whole Tommy Thompson thing, though.

Cheers,
Brad

[Tony Petersen]

The important thing is that you're with me on the whole Tommy Thompson thing...

[Phil McDade]

I'd like to think I'm about as non-partisan as it gets, but...

Wisconsin is now 110 days past due the July 1 deadline for its Legislature approving a budget -- a budget that has a pretty big impact on my school district, whose school board I sit on. There is no way Tommy Thompson would've let any Legislature go this long without a budget. No way no how.

OK, apologies all around, back to golf.....

P.S. Do the long walks between some holes at Erin Hills give it demerit points? Just asking.....