For me, the highlight of the tour was West Bend, and I've gone into some detail on a previous thread about its virtues. Part of its initial appeal to me (as I make annual pilgramages to Lawsonia and Spring Valley) was its almost mythical, cult-like status in Wisconsin -- hang around with enough old-time golf nuts in the state, and you'll eventually hear someone say "you've got to see the front nine at West Bend." The course keeps a fairly low profile, and rarely gets talked up in the way that privates such as Milwaukee CC or Blue Mound do, or the state's high-profile public courses.
But, boy, is it a wonderful nine holes -- L/M on steroids (perhaps an exaggeration, but not much of one). The volcano green of the par 4 1st, the use of the land contours on the par 5 6th and 9th, the 3rd green, and the amazing par 4 7th really do need to be seen in person to appreciate how L/M both used the land, and worked it, to produce nine truly compelling holes.
As Dan Moore is fond of saying, the sand-less Spring Valley doesn't need bunkers to extract extra strokes out of unsuspecting golfers. Played in wind gusts of 20-30 mph and the occasional rain, as we had for the first stop of the tour, and the course is that much tougher. There was much speculation among tour participants during the next few days about how SV could be "improved." Reflecting on my trips there, I hope it never does change -- a near-perfect mix of wonderful golf and wonderful architecture in a totally unpretentious setting. (What other course has a bordie collie roaming the grounds, the gravestone of a horse marking one tee, Old Style and polishes at the bar, golf hats for $9, a supply-your-own-golf-balls driving range, and owners who appreciate the course's classic-era architectural bones?)
The only regret about Lawsonia was playing it in the first weekend of September, after Wisconsin experienced record rains in August. The course from earlier summer reports was in ideal fast-and-firm conditions, and unfortunately we played it in very soft conditions. One point of debate: Ron Forse described the 239-yard par 3 10th (site of Shivas' famed brat slippage) as the second-hardest par 3 in the country behind ?? at Pine Valley. I think it's the second-hardest par 3 at Lawsonia, behind the near-Redan 203-yard 4th. Evan F. and I had a neat little debate about the two holes during our round together.
Ozaukee for me -- having never seen it before -- was a lesson in incongruity. Dan's correct about the internal greens -- lots of slopes and internal contours that make for a real test. Yet the green surfaces sat on greensites that, while holding some interest, were as a group largely unremarkable. Bunkering was routine, for the most part. I found several parts of the layout interesting, with some characteristic L/M blind or semi-blind shots (like the second shot at the par 5 2nd). The closing par 4 18th is a real brute of a hole, and a fun roller-coaster ride over the buckling land. But the course was overly treed, and featured mounding that either made little sense or simply looked ugly and out of place on a classic-era parkland course.
All of the presentations and dinners were a treat, and Ron Forse's talk really deepened an appreciation for just how engineered these courses are.
Of course, the best part was reacquainting with old friends and meeting new ones. GCA's role in all of that is something I'll always appreciate.