I spent the last couple of days in Green Lake and got in 4 rounds on the Links Course. It was my first visit since the Mashie ~2.5 years ago and quite a few things surprised me:
1) The golf course is extremely firm & fast. The fairways were running as quick as I had ever seen them. I know it's generally been a dry summer in the Midwest, but it seemed like they've been aggressive topdressing the fairways? There was stray sand everywhere and I noticed that even the "seed mix" in the carts consisted of mostly sand. Yesterday afternoon they were topdressing the greens. I don't know if this is part of a larger effort to keep the course playing fast via "Sand-capping" the course or just general fall maintenance.
2) Those that have complain that the greens are too slow at Lawsonia should of played the course this weekend. They were easily the fastest/smoothest I had ever seen them and they were borderline too fast. We saw some putts roll off greens and approach shots/pitches/chips roll back down false fronts. I would guess that the greens were running at 10 or so. With that some of the larger slopes made for very difficult putts and quite a few three putts when a lag putt had to navigate a significant internal contour.
3) The new tee box(es) on #18 are very well done and make the hole far, far better. Thankfully they tore down that eyesore of a building next to the back tee (that looked like it had sustained fire/water damage the last time I was there). From the new back tee the hole plays ~580 yards and brings both the cross bunkers on the right into play off the tee and a cross bunker on the right in play on the second shot. This is a significant improvement and makes the hole more interesting/tougher for better players.
4) I thought the tree removal behind the 14th green looked good. The hole looks pretty similar from the tee due to the trees in the background along the perimeter, but a lot better when you're standing closer to the green. I thought the green slopes were more notable.
5) I was surprised how many trees they had taken down around the perimeter of the course. You can now see Green Lake from the 14th green/15th tee and you can now see a lot more of the Woodlands Course from the Links Course.
6) They could stand to take out a few more of the trees, in particular the 4 awful trees behind #4 green (very out of place), a few near the landing area on #5, all of the ugly pines near #13 green, and the tree near the fairway bunker on #15.
7) The complex was busier than I had ever seen it. Sunday afternoon there were three groups on every hole on the Links Course. For the first time it seemed that the Links is getting more play than the Woodlands? Changing tastes? Recognition of rankings? The new bar is nice and generally it seems like it's becoming a little more commercialized and geared toward vacation groups of golfers.
The golf course is fantastic (as always), and in as good of condition as I've seen it in ~6 visits and over 20-25 plays. If we get another couple nice days I would recommend driving over for a play.