With the USGA again honoring public golf by hosting the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black this month, I thought it worthwhile to take a tour of one of southern Wisconsin’s better municipal courses. It’s Janesville Riverside, designed by Robert Bruce Harris.
Harris has his share of detractors as a golf architect; his work has often been described as bland and formulaic. In particular, Harris has been criticized for his bunkering – often relying on simple round sand traps placed one width of a gang mower from greens, so that maintenance workers could easily (and less expensively) mow around the traps, as well as between the bunkers and greens. His courses, it’s been said, are better known for their emphasis on cheap maintenance practices than architectural virtue. He was a busy architect, particularly in the Midwest, and is credited with 150-some course designs or renovations, most of those from the 1950s into the early 1970s.
His best-known work in Wisconsin is The Brute, at the former Playboy resort near Lake Geneva, which when it opened in the late 1960s could be stretched to 7,300 yards, virtually unheard of at the time. Riverside, built early in Harris’ career, stands in stark contrast. It’s short and compact, set on a wooded parcel of land near the Rock River in the city of Janesville, 30 miles south of Madison.
Riverside opened in 1924 with nine holes, but the course today is largely the version that Harris renovated and expanded in 1946 to 18 holes. Interestingly, one of the best features of the course is its bunkering – many of the course’s sand traps are deep and irregularly shaped, and are placed nearer greens than the traditional Harris gang-mower width. Working on a tight and somewhat bland piece of property, Harris created an interesting routing, one notable for the closeness of tees and greens. The course annually hosts the Ray Fisher Invitational , a popular summer tournament won in the past by such notables as PGA pro Steve Stricker.
Course details: Riverside plays to a par of 72, at 6,508 yards from the tips (rating 70.1/slope 123). It plays to a par of 71 at 6,193 yards (69.3/120) from the whites. A notable feature is a still-in-use set of railroad tracks that runs through a section of the course. (Holes 1-7 and 15-18 are from the expansion overseen by Harris in 1946. Holes 8-14 are from the original 9-hole course; two original holes were redone by Harris as part of the 1946 expansion.)
Holes and features of note:
Welcome to Riverside.
A neat feature of the course – the internal driving range is most easily reached by a short walk along the railroad tracks.
The tight opening drive at Riverside, a par 4 of 366 yards. Like many courses of its era, Riverside plays much shorter than it used to, and trees planted 50-some years ago now serve as the course’s primary defense. Half of the course’s 10 par 4s are under 400 yards, and the longest par 5 is 510 yards.
Yank one too far left at either of the first two holes, and your ball could end up on the railroad tracks. Sadly, the tracks are staked OB, or golfers might feel the need to dig up an old cleek.
This well-placed fairway bunker, 35 yards long, sits on the left side of the 368-yard par 4 2nd hole. One nice feature of Riverside is that the rough, appropriately for a muni, is kept fairly short – allowing the wayward shot to not get hung up in the rough before finding a trap.
Riverside puts demands on accuracy off the tee. Not more than 10-15 yards left of the 2nd fairway sits this forest.
This greenside bunker at the 2nd, like all of the greenside bunkering on the course, features crisp edging. Notice also how the bunker provides a range of lies; you’re not guaranteed a flat lie in these traps.
The proximity of holes to each other is a refreshing change from the design of many modern courses, which have often emphasized a “separate-ness” of the hole routing. Here’s a player teeing off on the par 3 3rd hole, right next to the 16th tee.
The 3rd, a 157-yard par 3, is a very good hole. The play is through a small ravine to a green located just steps in front of the railroad tracks, guarded by a large bunker front left that wraps around the entire left side of the green. The shot looks downhill…
…but in reality is slightly uphill. A nice piece of visual deception by Harris.
The left-side bunker at the 3rd, which is deep and plays deeper because of the mound fronting it. A really well-designed bunker, as players tend to shy away from the deeply wooded right side of this hole.
The journey from the 3rd green to the 4th tee.
This long and deep bunker juts out into the fairway of the 505-yard par 5 4th hole.
The 4th and 5th holes are squeezed into between the railroad tracks and the road that leads to the course. This is the view from the tee of the 437-yard par 4 5th.
A very nice bunkering scheme can be found on the dogleg par 5 6th hole (474 yards). On a hole in which even the high handicapper is tempted to try and reach in two, Harris placed a meandering bunker 50 yards short of the green left, and another bunker fronted by a large mound right of the green. From 200+ yards out, the shot into this green is blind, as Harris used the terrain to hide the green and these two bunkers.
The mound that fronts the greenside bunker on the 6th hides a good portion of the green, causing uncertainty for a short pitch. The green extends all the way to below the crest of the mound.
This is a view of the 17th green (foreground), which sits right next to the 6th green (back), again giving the course an intimate feel.
A fun hole that dates to the original 9-hole course, the 197-yard par 3 8th plays over level ground to a wide green surrounded by a large, semi-circular mound. Although the course can’t be lengthened much, the 8th is one spot where the tee could be moved back another 15-20 yards. I think it would make this good hole even better, forcing most players to take out a fairway wood.
A closer look at the mound that surrounds the hole; the opening to the hole is cut off on the right by a deep bunker.
The right fronting bunker plays deeper because of the mound between it and the green.
The back nine starts off with what I think are the course’s two best holes; they are part of the original 9-hole course, and have the feel of holes simply laid out on the land without benefit of heavy machinery. The terrain here is rambunctious, always a good sign of interesting golf to follow. Here’s the tee shot of the 10th hole – from the tips, the hole plays as a 491-yard par 5; from the whites (the white tees are to the right of this photo), as a tough 445-yard par 4. From either tee, it’s a fun and challenging hole.
The canted fairway dives into a deep ravine, with the green tucked into an opening in the woods distant. Originally, the green sat at the top of the hill in the distance. Harris moved the green back into the woods, about 100 yards back from the top of the plateau, making an already solid and fun hole that much better.
The decision for those laying up on this short par 5 is difficult – play to the base of the ravine, or try to carry a long shot to the top of the hill coming out of the ravine?
Nearing the 200-yard mark, the flag on the green can be seen, but not the green surface itself. There is not a lot of room for error upon the high shelf where the green sits -- deep woods squeeze the landing area on the plateau where the green is located.
Here’s the view from 160 yards – a totally blind shot over a steep hill. This is wonderful, old-fashioned golf.
This large, grassed-in bunker used to sit at the front-right of the old green. Players who try to carry the hill and land here will be faced with a blind approach to the green.
The bunkerless green is one of the better ones on the course, with some significant slope on the right side. Trouble lurks left, right and back of the green with falloffs and deep woods. Although not as grand in style, the 10th at Riverside reminds me of Lawsonia’s famed par 5 13th, which incorporates a similar steep ravine that must be negotiated in the latter half of the hole. The best hole at Riverside.
The par 4 11th (403 yards) runs parallel to the 10th, and is noted for its severely canted fairway. The hole from tee to green is straight, although the fairway swings left a bit.
A level lie for the approach shot is unlikely at the 11th. The red flag on the green can be seen near the fairway/rough line, in between the two groups of people (middle-right of photo).
Depending on the outcome of the drive, the player can be left with a downhill shot to the green, or an uphill shot. For a course with some solid bunkering, these two solid holes don’t have any sand traps to test the players, but they really don’t need them.
A fun little par 3, the 12th (108 yards from the tips, 96 yards from the whites) is a classic up-and-over tee shot – a wedge over an enormous oak tree to a large green. Interestingly, the shot is more intimidating from the whites (second photo) than the blues (first photo).
The intimidating tee shot of the par 5 14th (510 yards). The only forced carry on the course, the hole actually opens up quite a bit once past the forest near the tee.
A look back at the tee, tucked in front of the road (middle of photo).
The 17th is the shortest par 4 on the course at 348 yards, but Harris again uses bunkering to hide the approach shot. Those playing safely on this sharply doglegging hole will be left with a pitch to a green where the flag is visible, but not the green surface.
The greenside bunker at the 17th.
Janesville Riverside gets a lot of play; after all, it’s a muni with affordable rates. But the staff maintain it in good shape; sitting above the Rock River, it drains well and holds up even with all of the traffic it gets. Although a muni that’s hardly in the league of Bethpage Black, it still rates as a solid test of golf, with some good bunkering and a few old-fashioned holes that are a treat to play.