Road Trip Wisconsin

[Tim Rooney]

Travelled the great state of Wisconsin the last week of June experiencing nothing but wonderful golf.
The Sand Valley Sandbox short game course provided most holes (75-95)yds with the finale an elevated well bunkered green site.Enjoyed the collage of holes and would compare with the Pinehurst Cradle.
  The Sand Valley(C&C) course was my favorite regarding flow, difficulty and variety; however, Mammoth Dunes though a benign front, unfolded a back of impressive, challenging elevation holes.The courses provide great diversity of challenge and overall enjoyment.Doak's 6,200 yard third course is on Covid hold.Aldo's restaurant signature dish---The Pork Shank,is worthy of a future order.
  Lawsonia Links was our next visit, providing much more than expected.What an 'old gem' with elevated, well bunkered greens and an overall charm that made a challenging 36 hole day.The course fairways, greens were in perfect condition worthy of a private club though tee sheet full.
  Sentry World was our next endeavor, but Covid cancelled 3/weeks prior and kindly arranged Stevens Point CC.The course was solid with a  hoky #8 par 5,#1 handicap hole which should be excavated; however,the back had a few excellent holes ,i.e.#17,a beautiful 150+ par 3 and an interesting #18 tee shot.The local Hilltop Bar & Grille served well above average pub food.
  Erin Hills was definitely the best of the trip, starting with 'Drumlin' putting course---featuring continuous hills & dales,2/3 times slower than the big course greens, but a lota' fun. Erin Hills surprised me with it's playability but continuous, demanding elevation golf shots, by far the most demanding of the trip.
  The above was December arranged for this July 22 week excursion.

[Chris_Blakely]

Wisconsin has a lot of great golf: I played old Hickory, Lac La Belle and Eagle Springs early this year.


Chris

[Tim Rooney]

Chris,know the state reasonable,but don’t know the courses or locations—-
are they special and cities?

[Chris_Blakely]

Chris,know the state reasonable,but don’t know the courses or locations—-
are they special and cities?

Eagle Springs is purported to have been designed by A.G. Spaulding.  I have not found anything to confirm this.  What it has is some wild greens and the most severe volcano green I have ever played.  The first two greens alone are worth the trip.


Lac La Belle was completely redone by Craig Haltom (he found the land that became Sand Valley).  The course is on quite rolling terrain.  The greens and the Himalayas putting course are worth the trip alone.


Chris

[Tim Rooney]

Chris,these courses appear quite unique!

[Peter Flory]

Craig did a fantastic job with Lac La Belle.  It wasn't a complete renovation as several holes were preserved- but only a handful.  He kept a few of the best holes out there.  Some are completely invented from scratch.  And some of the best holes are combination holes where he used corridors from prior holes and made new ones, like #16 and #18, which are great. 

Fixing the drainage out there was quite an accomplishment in itself.   It is definitely worthy of a stop on the WI golf trail. 

[Pete_Pittock]

timely thread. I start a long road trip to Forest Dunes and Sand Valley in a couple of days. There is a hole in my schedule between the two and from this thread decided to stay near Madison and play Lac La Belle.

[Peter Flory]

[Tim Rooney]

WOW,Impressive!!

[Brock Lynch]

timely thread. I start a long road trip to Forest Dunes and Sand Valley in a couple of days. There is a hole in my schedule between the two and from this thread decided to stay near Madison and play Lac La Belle.

Pete,


would love to hear more details on your trip. My Dad lives is NW Wisconsin and my wife and I have an outline for a similar road trip. Enjoy!

[Pete_Pittock]

Peter Flory,
captions on the pictures?

[Chris_Blakely]

Craig did a fantastic job with Lac La Belle.  It wasn't a complete renovation as several holes were preserved- but only a handful.  He kept a few of the best holes out there.  Some are completely invented from scratch.  And some of the best holes are combination holes where he used corridors from prior holes and made new ones, like #16 and #18, which are great. 

Fixing the drainage out there was quite an accomplishment in itself.   It is definitely worthy of a stop on the WI golf trail.

Based on the description of the original courses greens and numerous articles I have read, they all said the course was completely redone.  Furthermore, juxtaposing the current routing to the original Rolling Hills course, it doesn’t appear many hole corridors align.


Chris

[Chris_Blakely]

timely thread. I start a long road trip to Forest Dunes and Sand Valley in a couple of days. There is a hole in my schedule between the two and from this thread decided to stay near Madison and play Lac La Belle.

You will not be disappointed.  Make sure you take time to play the Himalayas putting course that flows into the 18th green . . . It’s a great touch.


Course is easily in the top 5!that I have played this year.


Chris

[Peter Flory]

Peter Flory,
captions on the pictures?

I put them out of order.  The uphill shot is of the 9th.  That was a hole that was there before, but it is greatly spruced up now. 

The lovely little par 3 is the newly designed 8th hole.  It is my favorite hole on the course overall.  The environment there just doesn't feel like the US. 

Here is a great view of the 18th green site.  The green connects to the himalayas if you keep going back and right. 


17th green site.  It is a nice par 3 with a downhill tee shot.


View of the 16th (par 5) from where my tee shot landed. 


This is just a pic that I thought was neat.  It is from the right of the 15th green.  These trees don't really come into play, but it is a unique cluster.

[Peter Flory]

Based on the description of the original courses greens and numerous articles I have read, they all said the course was completely redone.  Furthermore, juxtaposing the current routing to the original Rolling Hills course, it doesn’t appear many hole corridors align.

I've probably played the old version 100 times or more.  My uncle was a member and I'd spend the summers in the Oconomowoc area growing up. 

Here is my summary of the renovation:
1-4 are brand new and are on newly acquired land to the west.  That allowed CH to use the previous 18 hole footprint to fit the remaining 14 holes- so it gave him space. 

#5 is an old hole (with greatly improved bunkering)
#6 uses an old tee and green location, but the fairway is shifted north of the creek.  It's definitely a new hole b/c of that.  The change gets the course away from the line of houses on the lake.  I am sure they are thankful that they no longer border the right side of a par 4 anymore. 
#7 is an old hole and one of the best.
#8 is a new hole.  It is in a similar area as an old par 3, but CH moved the green to the East (and it is a beaut!)
#9 is an old hole- this is the uphill approach that I show in a pic. 

#10 is the old #1.
#11 is a new hole.  Old one was also a par 3, but he moved the green way south (away from hwy 16) and made a very nice Redan out of it.
#12 is a new hole that steals the corridor from 2 prior holes.  This and 13 are in a part of the property that I'm guessing was problematic with drainage.  He didn't use a lot of the old land around these and there are ponds and 2 branches of creek meandering around. 
#13 is totally new. 
#14 I would classify as new.  It uses the corridor from the 2nd half of the old 7 and moves the tee to have a nice down hill shot over water.  Hugely improved. 
#15 is the old 9, just with a much wider fairway and an expanded green. 
#16 is new and would be my favorite hole on the property if it weren't for the 8th.  It steals the corridors from 2 prior holes and it is a really creative solution.  It's probably the signature hole. 
#17 is a new hole.
#18 is a new hole that combines the corridors of 2 prior holes.  This is a relatively tight uphill hole that plays as a true par 4.5. 

[Pete_Pittock]

I might take issue with the tall (thick?) grass around the bunkers.