John:
Well, you can't buy a beer in the clubhouse, so it's got that going against it.
Lawsonia isn't perfect, but it's better than most in Wisconsin, and when I say better, I'd suggest that's true for both scratch/near-scratch golfers to hacks like me. Some courses in Wisconsin may be harder than Lawsonia, but it combines interesting and unique architecture, the need for precise shot-making on approaches, some fascinating greens, and a multi-dimensional approach to how it can be played.
I've always liked the blandness of the opening tee shot -- a level tee to a level fairway, with no sight of the green. When you turn the corner, however, and see that dramatically pushed-up green on No. 1, it provides a strong sense of what the golfer will encounter throughout his round. I've always like courses that subtley announce themselves, rather than come at you with horns blaring, and Lawsonia's opening tee shot does that.
The blind tee shot over the gull-wing bunkers on 2 is a thrill, and the downhill approach to a relatively level green allows one to be fairly bold with the second shot.
The 3rd is my favorite of the opening trio of dogleg par 4s -- the setting is archetypical of the area, with the big dairy barn off to the right, and the second shot framed by the backside of a simple white clapboard Wisconsin farmhouse. It's good strategy, too -- drive left to avoid the fairway bunker on the right, and you leave yourself with a longer approach, but one with a more open green. Stay to the right, and you shorten the approach, but the yawning greenside right bunker must be carried. Or you can try to carry the right bunker, but the prospect of rough on the right and bunkers front-right and back-left means the approach must be certain.
No. 4 is the first of the course's very good set of par 3s, and in my view it's the best of the bunch (most others consider it to be the 10th). A near-Redan, lacking only the sharp bank on the right side of the green, it requires an uphill, 203-yard draw (usually into the prevailing wind) to a heavily trapped green. That's a pretty tough shot for anyone, I'd think. What I like about it is that it's a tough, brawny par 3 that allows an 18-handicapper like me a way to par -- I always play short into the "throat" of the opening between the two bunkers, and hope to chip and putt my way to par.
Eric has discussed 5; 6 is a very solid downhill par 4 with a slick green that looks like a dogleg but is actually a straight hole -- a good use of visual deception often employed by L/M.
7 is the boxcar hole, and a good Short hole. Another good use of visual deception; because of the severity of the pushed-up green, and the penalty for missing, the green looks smaller than it actually is (I know because I once bladed a 7-iron there, and thought my ball would be lost in the woods behind. It hit the front of the green and came to rest on the backside.)
8 is perhaps my favorite par 4 on the course, as I'm a sucker for fun, strategic short par 4s. It's 339 yds from the tips, and plays not really as a dogleg right, but a fairly straight hole with an offset green right. The visual play on the tee is straightaway toward a green off in the distance, but mounding and traps hide the rough on the line of charm. The typical play is probably a fade/cut over the bunker about 150 yards out, but this leaves a short pitch to a heavily trapped, pushed-up, and smallish green -- an exacting shot for most. The correct line is left -- to a wide spot of the fairway blind off the tee, and leaving the golfer with an easier pitch because it opens up the green. A neat, fun, strategic hole.
A note on the back nine -- it opens in terrific fashion, with a 239-yard par 3 that requires a wood for most. But the green is broad and accommodating, although two-putting from far away is tough. Some of the back-and-forthing on the back nine gets a bit repetitve, although the wide-open nature of the back nine is visually attractive. I like the way holes 15 and 16, both par 4s, slowly unveil themselves as the golfer moves from tee to fairway to green. And the Dick Daley/Phil McDade Fan Club of Lawsonia's 17th raises a small objection to Eric's characterization of 17 -- on a flat, dull piece of land, L/M fashioned a neat-looking hole, with gull-wing flanking fairway bunkers and a mini-volcano of a green flanked by bunkers left and right. In truth, not a hard hole, but a fun one to look at and play.
What I like best about Lawsonia is the manner in which the course plays for a range of golfing ability. The better player can aggressively go after it, knowing that L/M offers a direct line off the tee that's perhaps more challenging, while offering up alternative paths for those who like to tack their way around a course, like me. (And everyone eventually has to hit a good shot into those greens, because the penalty for missing is severe in many cases). Perhaps that's a weakness in some people's book; to me, it's always been one of the course's true strengths.