Wisconsin’s Walworth County, just north of the Illinois border and equidistant between Madison and Milwaukee, has a rich golf history. Much of it is centered near the numerous lakes that dot the countryside, and particularly the resort town of Lake Geneva, a summer retreat for the moneyed set from Milwaukee and Chicago. The area is home to one of the state’s oldest courses, Lake Geneva Country Club, a rare Wisconsin club that dates its founding to pre-1900 (1897).
Many of the best-known courses are based at resorts – like the old Playboy resort (now called Grand Geneva), and the high-profile Geneva National GC (with courses by Palmer, Player and Trevino). Venerable courses like Big Foot CC (Bendelow) and Lake Geneva CC maintain active golf memberships.
One public resort course that falls well below the Lake Geneva-area golfing radar is Nippersink Golf Club, near Genoa City on the border of Walworth and Kenosha counties, near the shores of Benedict Lake. The course dates to 1922, and was designed by James Foulis, of the famed Foulis brothers, who emigrated from Scotland and made their mark as both golfers (James Foulis won the U.S. Open in 1896) and golf designers (Robert Foulis designed the first nine holes at Lake Geneva CC, and James and Robert had their hand in courses such as Hinsdale, Glen Echo, and Onwentsia). Two very good articles on the Foulis family can be read here:
http://chicagolandgolf.com/foulislegacychicago.htmland here:
http://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/jim-healey-july-2003.html(Jim Healey’s review of James Foulis’ Glen Echo can be found in GCA’s In My Opinion section.)
The Nippersink Golf Course was part of a larger resort that saw its heyday in the post-World War II boom times, when it attracted big-name entertainers and Chicago day-trippers looking for a rural, lakeside retreat. But its stature fell as more of the resort money and vacationers settled 20 miles up the road near Lake Geneva proper. Thankfully, the course owners have had neither the inclination nor (perhaps) the money to radically alter the course. With the exception of a few new back tees, the course remains virtually the same as Foulis designed it nearly 90 years ago. It features plenty of fairway width, but small, circular greens that either tilt from back to front, toward one side, or are crowned.
I had previously reviewed James Foulis’ Bonnie Brook in Waukegan, IL, here:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,30036.0.htmlAfter discovering that James Foulis had also designed Nippersink, I sought out the course, camera in hand. Course details: The course plays to 6,637 from the tips (rating 71.1, slope 122). From the white tees, it plays at 6,299 yards (70/120). The terrain of the course is fairly flat, with a few exceptions, and most of the holes are straight or feature only slight doglegs. The greens and greensites are what make the course worth playing; seemingly every green sits up from the fairway, and thus the greens repel shots not precisely hit. The greens were also in immaculate condition – not necessarily fast, but with few of the pockmarks or odd dents you find in courses in this price range.
Holes of note (yardages from both the tips and white tees):
No. 1 (par 4, 444/436)
Nippersink starts off stoutly, with three par 4s over 400 yards and a long par 3. The opener doglegs gently to the left; OB in the form of a road runs along the entire right side of the hole, but plenty of fairway width and right-side pine trees make it easily avoidable.
A typical Foulis green at Nippersink – perched up from the fairway, on the small side, bracketed by bunkers, and tilted from back to front.
No. 2 (par 3, 201/188)
A solid par 3 framed by large oak trees.
No. 3 (par 4, 421/390)
A long-ish par 4 that often plays back into the prevailing wind, with an uphill approach shot. Here’s a look at the 3rd green from the right side; Foulis’ greens don’t have many significant internal contours, but they often have a pronounced tilt. Slightly faster green speeds would make a putt above the flag here quite slick.
No. 4 (par 4, 419/389)
Another solid par 4 with a tee shot into a shallow valley and a green that Foulis placed on top of a ridge line. The uphill approach shot here is one the most difficult at Nippersink, because the green is quite small and crowned.
A look at the hard-to-hold green of the 4th.
No. 6 (par 4, 412/406)
The strong run of par 4s continues with the 6th; on this hole, Foulis used the terrain to create some uncertainty for the golfer. This is the approach from 150 yards; the yellow flagstick can be seen against the background of trees, but not the green itself.
The green at the 6th, one of the few that doesn’t sit up noticeably from the fairway. Bunkers grab errant shots left or right, and there is a sharp fall-off on the backside.
No. 7 (par 3, 152/141)
The second par 3 on the course is a good one, with a tee shot over a pond to a very small target fronted by two deep bunkers, including one on the left entrance that has a D.A.’s look to it.
No. 8 (par 5, 527/473)
The first par 5 of the course is a solid hole that turns left off the tee and moves gradually uphill.
Those wanting to get home in two should be prepared for a tough second shot, as the green is quite small and the fairway rises sharply in the last 30 yards to the green.
No. 10 (par 4, 410/403)
A solid par 4 that could be terrific, but is marred by an inexplicably placed water hazard. The tee shot is over a ridge to a slight dogleg left that features a wonderful turbo boost down into the valley. But here’s what awaits the golfer who catches a good drive and the boost downhill – a marshy pond (full of chirping frogs).
As you can see in this photo, the pond (a good 25 yards from front to back) lies at the 150-yard mark (white stake at left) to the green –exactly where a solid drive getting the benefit of the downhill boost would end up. There is plenty of room to the right of this pond (if you combine the fairway and rough that’s available for a bailout right), but doing so to avoid the pond totally alters the point of routing the hole over the large, downhill ridge. It might work as a centerline bunker, but the penal nature of the red-staked pond (you can’t even see your ball going in it off the tee) makes it a truly bad feature. Can’t someone sneak in here at night and fill it in, and just not tell the DNR?
The pond is a black mark on an otherwise excellent hole that features an uphill approach to one of the largest and most sharply tilted greens on the course.
No. 12 (par 3, 159/150)
This par 3 plays over the same pond in the opposite direction of the 7th hole, and is more difficult. The green, with a long bunker running along its entire left side, sits on top of the rise coming out of the pond. One gets the impression that Foulis went around and first found his greensites at the course, and then routed holes from there.
No. 13 (par 5, 550/515)
The second of what I thought were a solid trio of par 5s at Nippersink. It’s nothing spectacular, but the bold player wanting to get home in two has to carry his shot uphill to one of the highest points on the course, with a small, crowned green awaiting him.
No. 14 (par 4, 343/330)
A slight dogleg left to a well-trapped green. For me, Foulis’ three short par 4s under 350 yards on the course don’t hold as much interest as the longer par 4s, in part because he routed them over less interesting terrain and gave them somewhat bland greensites.
No. 16 (par 3, 211/192)
The beginning of Nippersink’s tough closing run of holes. The 16th completes a very fine set of par 3s on the course. The play is uphill past a marsh to a green tucked near a grove of trees to the right. Get out that high fade.
No. 17 (par 5, 532/498)
The final par 5 plays back into the prevailing wind; from a slightly elevated tee, the play is straight toward a ridge line some 300 yards away.
This is a neat bunker, with two internal grass mounds, that sits to the right of the 17th fairway.
The view from where a solid tee shot ends up. The hole continues straightaway, with the green below the two tall pine trees middle of picture.
Those taking a conventional three-shot approach to the hole will find themselves with this short approach shot through a small valley to a green whose front half tilts significantly from back to front . The unseen back portion of the green causes uncertainty for the golfer on this shot, and – like I did – may force him into swinging too easy and leaving the approach short.
No. 18 (par 4, 415/403)
Foulis closes with the strongest hole on the course – a rollicking, doglegging par 4 over the best terrain at Nippersink. Here’s the tee shot.
From 200 yards away, the green remains unseen. It sits on a line beyond where the fairway ends and rough begins, middle-right of photo. Uneven, sidehill lies are the norm for the approach shot.
Here’s the deepest part of the ravine, 170 yards from the green, not an uncommon spot for a drive to end up on a 415-yard hole. An aiming pole can be seen just peaking above the fairway, middle of photo.
Here’s the approach from 120 yards – the green, one of the smallest on the course, is trapped left and right, and features a steep fall-off on the backside.
Nippersink will never challenge its Lake Geneva-area brethren as a top-tier golfing destination. But it remains an interesting period piece, little changed since Foulis first laid it out. Downsides: The fairways are a bit ragged and could use a tighter mow. There is a same-ness to many of the par 4s – lots of straightaway tee shots and approaches into greens. And the greens, like nearly every course I find in this price range ($20/$25 walking for 18), are slow and could be notched up a degree or so. I found Nippersink to be less challenging than Foulis’ Bonnie Brook, where he had a much better piece of property with which to work. However, the greens themselves at Nippersink are in pristine shape, some of the best conditioned I’ve seen in the area. The course has a very good mix of par 3s, and three solid par 5s. And the constant task of hitting the course’s small, pushed-up greens can make for a decent challenge. As more and more Golden-era courses are dramatically altered to accommodate today’s game, it’s nice to visit a public course hardly changed after nearly a century of play.