https://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/west-bend-country-club/What a treat to finally visit West Bend CC a few weeks ago. Many of you know the story but Mike McGuire, GCA poster and member at West Bend, forged a friendship with architect Kye Goalby via GolfClubAtlas earlier this century. When it came time to do work on the Langford & Moreau front nine at West Bend, Mike thought Kye would be well suited. Kye’s time on site combined with his having grown up a few blocks from Langford & Moreau’s own St. Clair design outside of St. Louis made him a logical choice.
Back in 2008, Langford & Moreau didn’t stir anywhere near the same sort of passion as they do today but Kye, Mike, Green Keeper Brian Bonlender and a few other well-informed members knew better: they had something special on their hands. Starting in 2009 on holes 8 and 9, Kye’s successful early bunker work ultimately has led to a long-term relationship with the club. Depending on your perspective of what constitutes a 'finished product', Kye and the club are somewhere between 60 – 80 % of the way done. My Brother John lives within an hour drive of there and had been feeding me updates over the past decade.
Better than anyone, Brother John knows the purpose of the course profile section on GCA and why it was created. It is NOT to talk about the same old, same old but rather to convey all the different shapes and sizes and ways that courses can be presented and how diverse golf architecture really is. A problem with course rankings is that they can lead to ‘group think’ if one isn’t careful. Gnarly bunkers are clearly a current rage, perhaps not with green keeping crews but at least on social media. That’s emphatically what West Bend is not about. Rather, John long contended that it was a must see based on the special nature of the Kettle Moraine property (he should know as Erin Hills where he works is in the same Moraine) and the Langford & Moreau architecture that was layered on top. Right he was! A bunker is a bunker is a bunker to me but unique features like crazy putting greens and one-of-a-kind landforms are far more rare, and therefore more prized.
Below is a typical view at West Bend: a neat depression followed by a wicked green.
What’s not to like?! The land is the story at West Bend.
The club is in good hands with Goalby and Bonlender to see this decade old restoration through to the end. Too often, disconnects exist between a consulting architect and the green keeper. Not here. The two have a shared vision of how to meld the superstar wattage of the front nine with a second nine whose land might be even more of a roller-coaster ride. As the delta shrinks between the two nines (i.e. holes 10-18 become more Langford-isque!), West Bend has carved out a fine spot in Wisconsin golf. Not many states have had better modern courses built in them over the past several decades than Wisconsin – the list is extensive. From the ones at Kohler to The Bull at Pinehurst Farms to the two (soon to be three) at Sand Valley, Erin Hills and the renovated Sentry World, Wisconsin has transformed itself into one of the country’s hot golf destinations.
Here’s the thing: West Bend is better and more fun to play than a shockingly high percentage of those modern courses. Read the profile and see if you don’t agree!
Best,