Lawsonia Links course profile...

[Ran Morrissett]

...is posted under Courses by Country, complete with 26 photographs.

What a great honor and treat it was to finally see what is considered Langford & Moreau's finest design and despite super high expectations, the course exceeded them.

If golf architecture needed to be boiled down to two words, "strategic" and "fun" would likely top my list for what's important. Langford & Moreau must have had a similar take as between the well placed bunkers (which are genuine hazards but where recovery always remains possible) and their wild greens, the golfer is guaranteed to be thrilled by the continual options that he is given and the decisions that he must make.

Doesn't someone want to start a Langford & Moreau society? Or pen a book? If their talent was better recognized as being right near the top with any of the Golden Age architects, perhaps more of their 200 plus courses would see their features restored, such as what Lawsonia and Skokie have so successfully done in recent times.

Apart from Skokie, Harrison Hills, Wakonda, and Culver Academy, what are some of their finest works? Lawsonia highlights that they had a truly unique talent/gift and I wish more was known about them.

We will definitely work with Dick Daley to coordinate a GCA.com gathering here next year. Apart from the excellence of the design, at $60 per round, this public access course has to be far and away one of the two or three best values in the United States.

Cheers,

[RJ_Daley]

I would be very thrilled to help Ran put together a gathering whenever it might be most convenient to those who would like to attend.  There are plenty of side trip courses within an hour of Lawsonia that would thrill our old fossil hunter participants.  And Lawsonia does have a second 18 called The Woodland course that isn't exactly chopped liver.  

Two Bendelow courses are nearby.  One, Tescumbia, is reputed to be the oldest in Wisconsin circa 1903.  Another (Quit Qui Oc-Elkhart Lake) has 9 holes by Bende circa 1909, and a second 9 circa late 30s that really isn't properly attributed to an archie, but bears VERY strong traits of Langford & Moreau.  You better hurry on that one however, as Lohmann had added a third 9 in 2000 and I heard rumor he is going to 'remodel' the old Bende stuff which would potentially be a travesty.

There is plenty of lodging for all tastes and budgets, and I would encourage a fall gathering around the last week of sept to second week of Oct, to catch the fescue at Lawsonia after a freeze or two when it lays down and looks very neat and becomes more playable.  The fall color is always something to come see.   And, I have heard others comment on the fall light at Lawsonia as seeming unique and tranquil.  It might have something to do with humidity haze from Green Lake.  Some of the best moments I have had on a course are at Lawsonia at dusk in the fall.

[A_Clay_Man]

Having been fortunate enough to golf Lawsonia several times over 11 yrs ago. I can honestly say that the old course there is truely remarkable. My first impression, after learning that Mr. Lawson was not a golfer, was that he had the course built to piss off his golfing buddies. Or at least test their games to the limit. Some of the possible recovery shots are from 20-40 feet below the putting surface from a bunker. Talk about explosion shot extraordinaire! Did they even have sandwedges in 1929? I also remember the fairways as being compared to british golf. They seemed ten yards wide and had little in the way of the modern lie potential. The other visual motiff that defines Lawsonia are the ridges that act as cross carries and if succesfully negotiated, kickplates, to both hinder and assist some tee shots. The par 3's are extremely strong with the tenth hole being one of the most difficult holes I've ever played and it's a par 3.

Wisconsin in the fall can be a sureal experience as Dick describes beautifully.

One interesting dycotomy is the obvious creation of the greens and surrounds. Yet, they don't seem like some of the modern monsterous manufacturing seen elsewhere.

[Brad Swanson]

  While in graduate school at UW-Madison, my department chairman would ask me nearly every year to go up to Green Lake and play Lawsonia.  I never took him up on his invitations (being an overworked and underpaid graduate student didn't help).  I've always regretted not making the trip up there, and after seeing the course profile, I regret it even more.     Having sampled Wakonda a few times while in high school, I should've known better.

Dick:
   You host a gathering there, and you can pencil me in.

Brad Swanson
  

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

One of the great pleasures of my golfing year last year was playing Lawsonia with Dick and Will.

It is easy to understand why Dick is so proud of his course and equally wonderful to play it.

For all the talk of Dye and Raynor, the course certainly had some wonderful features that those architects get credit for. The falloff left of the first gives the indication of what is to come.

Such unique holes as six and seven make the course truly memorable. An easy trip on its own, I drove across from Kohler for the day and would happily sacrifice a day on the Irish or Meadows course for a round here.

[RJ_Daley]

Brad, I have to chuckle at the notion of having you and Will Ellender (Shooter) paired at Lawsonia.  Will is a great long iron player, and yet not as long as you off the tee.  Will (I hope I am not out of line here) shot 38 on the front side of Lawsonia only because he lost it OB on the right on #5 as Ran's article details the most demanding driving hole there.  He shot 32 if I remember correctly on the back nine which has 3 par 5s.  FRankly, for you long hitters that can reach the par 5s in two, and bust it out on the long par 4s, Lawsonia may fall a bit in difficulty, if you are putting well.  Another good player I have played Lawsonia with is John VanderBorght who immediately noted (which I hadn't) that all the doglegs are right turns.  I think that the method that M&L used to balance the dogleg rights are the speed ramps on the far side of some fairway diagonal gullwing bunkers that can be taken with a right to left drawing ball, that doesn't necessarily only reward the high fading shot due to the way the ground is laid out.

As Ben mentions #6, Will had a bit of a bout getting up the steep apron there dropping another shot, and he said that it reminded him of a hole on NGL that maybe Ben can recall and cite.  Again, you can imagine how good Will played considering miscues on 5 and 6.

Basically, Lawsonia has many back tees that are together, half blue half white painted rocks.  Other regular and back tees are not more than 10-15 yards separated.  I'd rather you be back about 50!

[A_Clay_Man]

On my visit in 89' I remember being impressed with the attention to this small detail. Since most of the greens are constructed, every one of them that is, has a ramp feeding off the rear towards the next tee. I see many a modern course which asks the golfer to traverse unsuitable topography just to get off the back green surrounds. Pete Dye failed to leave a rear exit on Nature's course (BWR MV#14). But somehow I felt it was purposeful because of the serenity of themeandering creek. But other modern courses seem to have been built without thought as to an exit strategy of built up greens.

[ed_getka]

I'm looking forward to seeing Lawsonia this August when I'm travelling in the area. David Kelly went out that way last year and played some really good courses, but Lawsonia is the one he said was a MUST play, so off I go this summer.  

[David Kelly]

I'm not one who usually gripes about course rankings but to me it is a joke that both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine do not have Lawsonia Links in their Top 100 public courses.  Golfweek does have it as #70 on their Classic list.

If it got on the GD and GM lists maybe more people would go out of their way to play it, especially those who are going to Kohler. Those who made the 2 hour trip west to Lawsonia from Kohler would then be rewarded with golf course that has more fun and strategy built into it than 95% of the courses that they will encounter in their golfing life.

[Chris_Clouser]

Lawsonia looks so much like a nine hole course here in my town.  One of the things I am going to do is start researching the design of the course and see who the original architect was.  I am wondering it is a Langford & Moreau course.  I know they did at least a few courses in Indiana, so this may be another one as well.  Unfortunately, the routing has been changed and many of the original bunkers no longer are in play.  But some old aerials the club have the original routing in them so perhaps we can piece it together.  I'm surprised Bob Crosby hasn't chimed in on his time up at Culver.

[Scott_Burroughs]

David,

Sometimes it's a good thing for a course like Lawsonia to be 'under the radar' in terms of rankings.  1) it keeps it less crowded and 2) it keeps the owners from the jacking up the green fees into the stratosphere (see Pasa/Pebble/P#2,etc. and dare I say it, Bandon, which hits $200 this summer)

[Brad Swanson]

Ditto what Scott said.  Keep the hidden treasures hidden.

Brad Swanson

[Mitch Hantman]

Nobody's mentioned the terrific Redan hole, #4 I think, at the Links course.  It is one of the longer Redans, and uphill, so it preserves the original concept of Redans, to bounce the shot in to the green from right to left.

[Rick Shefchik]

Dick -- If you've got the pencil out, write my name down for fall 2004. I've been meaning to get to Lawsonia for years now. This sounds like the perfect occasion.

[RJ_Daley]

Bringing this to top for DOG at Lawsonia to find.

[Will E]

What a wonderful place Lawsonia is. Ran's right, Langford and
Moreau are curiously ignored as wonderful craftsmen. My experience with their work is limited, but the evidence of their talent at Lawsonia, West Bend, some leftover work at Ozaukee, and Skokie is among the best I've seen.
The "detail of the design" at all of the courses I listed is almost overwhleming, and while these course may not be ready to host an Open, they will provide a test for most that  read this post. I don't think we have to worry about Lawsonia changing into a CFAD, or ritzy resort, I worry more that too many people don't understand what they're missing here.

[A_Clay_Man]

mitchgolf- No one mentioned it because they didnt want to piss off Pat Mucci. That green is totally blind from the tee and Pat hates that.
Kidding aside, I did mention it in the course profile comments and your right it is one very cool hole. I always wondered how the newer golfer back in the day felt about this hole.