Few modern courses have generated as much debate and controversy as Wisconsin’s Erin Hills. The course, northwest of Milwaukee, was awarded a USGA national tournament (the women’s public links championship) even before it opened in 2006. It has subsequently been awarded the U.S. Amateur for next year and, in 2017, the U.S. Open.
Heady stuff for a course that’s rarely had a whole season of play since it opened just a few years ago. It’s twice been closed for significant renovations, and only opened for the 2010 season in August. On Sept. 1, Erin Hills hosted local qualifying for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, providing the first test of the most recent changes at the course.
A number of threads on the GCA Discussion Board have focused on Erin Hills since it first opened. As the purpose of this thread is to show the latest changes to the course, these previous threads are worth reviewing to show some of the significant changes in the evolution of Erin Hills:
One of the first significant threads on Erin Hills from 2007, where Dan Moore gave it the moniker of “glacial links”:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,29760.0/A thread initiated by Paul Richards, with some good comments on the course from 2007:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,29130.0/Dan Moore’s thread from last year, with some very good comparison photos, highlighting the most recent changes to the course as of 2009:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40451.0/In addition, the Erin Hills website has a very good slideshow that reveals the evolution of the course:
http://www.erinhills.com/documents/erin_hills_slide_show.pdfFinally, the terrific Golf Architecture Pictures website has a tour of Erin Hills, with pictures taken not long after the course first opened, and before the significant changes made to many of the holes. This provides a very good and thorough look at what the course looked like initially, compared to the course as it currently stands.
http://www.golfarchitecturepictures.com/Web%20Galleries/USA/Wisconsin/Erin%20Hills/index.htmlCritical to understanding the development of Erin Hills is the topography of this particular region of Wisconsin. Dan said it best in his “glacial links” thread: “Unlike the sand blown dunes of the seaside links, the terrain in the Kettle Moraine region of Wisconsin was formed by the convergence of the Green Bay and Lake Michigan glacial lobes which crunched and scrunched their way over the land leaving in their wake small to large deposits of glacial till and rock strewn ice. The drumlins, kames, eskers, and kettles formed by these glacial movements are in abundant display throughout the course…The glacial character of the land forming this Glacial Links is one of the clearly distinctive aspects of Erin Hills and makes it unique among golf courses in my experience.”
(
http://www.nps.gov/archive/iatr/expanded/history.htm)
The course (according to the scorecard) plays from the tips (black tees) at 7,820 yards (rating 77.9/slope 145); blue tees -- 7,227 yards (75.2/139); green tees -- 6,712 yards (72.8/135); white tees -- 6,423 yards (71.5/131); and red tees -- 5,123 yards (69.3/118). It should be noted that the course has tees on many holes longer than the black tees, with the possibility of stretching the course beyond 8,000 yards.
The understated entrance to the course.
On the long winding drive into Erin Hills, the land gives a hint of what the golfer will encounter on the course.
Erin Hills is set far away from any urban area, and the rural Wisconsin theme is carried throughout the course. Here’s the caddie shop/bag drop-off, similar to the dairy barns one encounters throughout the state.
The clubhouse and practice putting green. I thought many of the amenities of Erin Hills were done in an understated way – the pro shop is tasteful but quite small, and the “pub” is a small room , fireplace included, that’s filled with mismatched antique tables and chairs. I personally thought it quite appealing. The patio, to the right of the clubouse, is a new addition.
Hole No. 1 (par 5, 615/563/539/539)A long, curving par 5 that plays around a wetlands that lines the entire left side of the hole. A large oak tree on the left side of the fairway has been cut down, ostensibly to give more players the option of going at the green in two shots.
The hole can be played from the tips at 637 yards; here’s the tee shot from the very back tees. The green sits just above the farthest-right blue umbrella, middle-left of picture.
Everything on #1 flows from the ridge on the right down to the wetlands left. Part of the ridge has been cut away from its original incarnation to make the hole less blind. In addition, this portion of the fairway appears to have been flattened since the course first opened, eliminating a hogsback feature.
The rugged bunkering that the golfer encounters at Erin Hills.
Those who stray right with their second shot here, in an attempt to avoid the wetlands, could end up in this bunker carved into a hillside overlooking the green.
The modest-sized green of the 1st; a left greenside bunker noted in an earlier thread by Dan Moore has been removed.
A run-off area on the backside of the green; the wetlands lie quite close to the left side and back of this green.
Hole No. 2 (par 4, 363/341/322/322)The tee shot of the wonderfully odd 2nd hole; from tee to green, it’s nearly a straight line. But the design of the hole makes it anything but straightforward. The play here is filled with options: the simplest play is a fairway wood/iron to the fairway on a line to the left of the small tree near the path. A more aggressive line is a controlled fade aimed at the highest point of the mound left, with the potential of catching a speed slot on the other side. A super-aggressive play is a draw over the mound right, with the aiming point the left bunker; a successful play here could end up near the green.
Here’s where the safe play ends up; it’s a blind shot to the green.
The backside of the mound right, mown at fairway height.
A look at the backside of the mound left; those playing this shot from the tee need to avoid a narrow bunker that juts out into the fairway.
The tiny green of the 2nd, enlarged from its original postage-stamp size (about 50 percent bigger) at the request of the USGA. Everything falls away from this green, which is crowned. A natural esker sits to the left of the 2nd green, making for a perfect runway tee used for the 3rd hole.
Three more looks at the 2nd green – from the left side…
…from high atop the 3rd tee…
…and from the back. A really neat hole – not difficult, but one that reveals to the golfer (much better than the 1st) the kind of terrain Erin Hills was built on, and how the course was routed in and around the glacial features.
Hole No. 3 (par 4, 498/451/422/422)Here’s where Erin Hills can get U.S. Open-tough. An elevated tee reveals the demand of the opening shot – golfers must place their shots between wetlands and woods left and glacial mounding right filled with fierce bunkering.
A look back at the esker that serves as the 3rd tee, up above the 2nd green.
The fairway climbs gradually uphill; this is the first of what will be a repeating theme at Erin Hills – tee shots from elevated tees to a fairway below, with an uphill approach shot.
Fairway bunkers pinch the landing area, added to toughen up the hole.
A look back at the 3rd, with its two-tiered green (one of the larger ones on the course). This green was also expanded at the request of the USGA to be closer to the fronting bunkers. Note how the natural folds of the glacial mounds coming in from the left are incorporated into the fairway, increasing the chances of a golfer finding an uneven lie.
Hole No. 4 (par 4, 439/398/385/385)A hole significantly redone since the course’s opening. This is the back tee of the 4th, set at a slight angle to the fairway. The 3rd and 4th holes both run due west, which can often be the prevailing wind in Wisconsin during the summer.
Near the fairway landing area, with a large centerline bunker dominating the fairway. For my tastes, I’d like to see the rough here cut back closer to the fescue – it would give the golfer a wider target off the tee, but increase the risk of a ball bounding off the fairway and into the hay. Such an outcome is less likely with 15 yards of rough to stop a ball.
The rugged centerline bunker; the 4th fairway has had drainage problems, evident here.
An irregular-shaped bunker fronting the 4th green.
A look at the 4th green, moved to atop this ridge line from its original location 30 yards closer to the fairway. This green was originally something of a punchbowl; now the approach is an aerial one to a green with a fall-away on the backside blind to the golfer on the fairway. During the recent U.S, Mid-Am qualifying tournament, holes 3 and 4 played as the two of the four hardest holes on the course.
Hole No. 5 (493/439/362/362)The fairway on this hole has been shifted left; from the way-back (U.S. Open) elevated tee, the shot is over a large area of native grass to a fairway that runs off to the left. The fairway of the 7th hole, which runs in the opposite direction of the 5th, can be seen to the left.
This, from the blue tees, gives a better sense of the changes here. The bunker on the right side of the fairway used to be a centerline bunker, with the player having the option to traverse the fairway left or right of the bunker. A well-hidden trap, just below the lone tree of the left of the fairway, threatens the golfer trying to chew off too much of the carry on this mini-Cape drive.
Another deep, trench-like bunker fronts the green here. This to me is perhaps the least-compelling hole on the front nine.
Hole No. 6 (par 3, 236/208/188/172)The first par 3 on the course is a solid hole that plays uphill to a green with a false front. This hole has remained intact since the course first opened.
Two looks at the fearsome bunker for those who end up short right on their tee shot.
Hole No. 7 (par 5, 607/574/549/549)One of the more dramatically changed parts of the course – this long par 5 covers some of the same terrain as the old Dell hole, a par 3 that was one of the favorites of original architect Ron Whitten. Few holes on the original course were as polarizing as the Dell; beloved by some, it was viewed as weak and gimmicky by several GCAers who played it when the course first opened. The tee shot is to a somewhat narrow ribbon of fairway that angles off to the left and toward a green benched near the top of a glacial mound.
The old Dell hole bell, used by golfers leaving the blind green to tell players on the tee they were moving off the green.
The uphill approach at the 7th; golfers going for the green in two risk landing their balls in the bunkers littering the last 50 yards of fairway left, right and center.
The approach to the green is steeper than it appears from 200 yards away in the fairway.
The green at the 7th was sited right at the edge of this natural fallaway to the right.
The 7th green, which has some significant contouring, and tilts (from the player’s perspective in the fairway) sharply from left to right. This played as the toughest of the course’s par 5s during Mid-Am qualifying play, with only three birdies recorded and playing more than half-a-stroke over par.
Hole No. 8 (par 4, 487/439/411/359)A nifty dogleg par 4; the tee shot is toward the ridge line coming off the glacial mound left and a large oak tree right.
One can see why those who envisioned a golf course here were excited about the land available; the large folds in the land reminded me a bit of what I found when first playing Machrihanish in Scotland.
The approach shot is to a wide but somewhat shallow green sited behind three bunkers.
The bomber could catch the backside the ridge line and see his ball end up here, which would lead to a short but dicey (and blind) pitch to the green. This is another hole largely intact in its current form since the course opened.
Hole No. 9 (par 3, 165/150/143/138)Originally a bye hole, the front nine now ends with this attractive par 3. Short from the tips at 165 yards, this hole plays downhill, at least a club less. The pros and top amateurs will likely take this on with wedges and 9-irons. The deep but narrow green features a big dip in between the second and third bunkers on the right side. This hole is also little changed since the course opened, but has now replaced the Dell hole as the second par 3 on the front nine.
The bunkering at the 9th is some of the meanest on the course.
Back nine to follow…