Overhyped or overrated? I think they are two different things and in my opinion I think Lawsonia is neither. I'm thrilled they are getting the attention I have long felt Langford and the course deserve.
I have played Lawsonia 100's of times since the 1980's back to when you couldn't even get a beer after your round. It simply keeps getting better. Thanks to Peter Flory I've now had the pleasure of a dozen or so rounds with hickories. If we rank a course on the basis of it is always interesting, challenging and fun, then Lawsonia is underrated as I am always excited to play it under any conditions.
Ron Forse deserves credit for getting the restoration ball rolling 15-20 years ago by identifying what had been lost over the years and encouraging a long term plan for tree removal, integration of native ares and perhaps most significantly recapturing the original fairway lines and green sizes. Twenty years ago the fairways were narrow tree lined ribbons and the green pads had up to 15 yards of fringe!!
In recent years the Oliphant Haltom team led by Craig Haltom and superintendent Mike Lyons have done a wonderful job carrying out many of Ron's recommendations and improving overall playing conditions. Convincing the owners to allow alcohol and upgrading Langford's Pub have made a big impact as well. Following a tough drought year around 2014 Craig made the bold decision to take out almost all of the remaining trees on the the rest of the course particularly those surrounding the 13th and 14th greens which has had a dramatic effect on the quality of those two greens but also opened up expansive long views of the entire back nine. I was excited to hear last week at the annual Langford Shield Event that Craig plans to start a bunker improvement program on the Links course this winter. Last winter he greatly improved the woodlands course with a complete redo of all of their bunkers. Hopefully he'll restore the bunker left of the box car 7th green all the way to the back of the green and get rid of the paved cul-de-sac that has no business being in play left of the green.
I've played all the better named Wisconsin courses and personally always put Lawsonia as the course I enjoy playing the most. Why? I think its because there isn't a weak hole on the course and the undulating green complexes are as good as it gets anywhere. Every hole fits the overall scheme of providing a well-balanced, strategic challenge to all aspects of one's game regardless of skill level or how far you hit the ball. The Sr. hickory golfers who hit it 180 yards at most love playing Lawsonia as much as the scratch players who hit it 300+.
Where can you find 5 more varied and interesting par 3's (4-203, 7-161, 10-239, 12-183,14-154)? The ebb and flow of the course is really great tacking between the varied par 3's, challenging par 4's and gettable par 5's. Where else can you play a sequence of holes from 9-14 that go 535, 239, 510, 183, 568, 154? Then you follow these up with three fighting par 4's just when the match is on the line, then finish with a par 5 where anything from 3-7 is possible. Add to this one of the best inside the dogleg bunkers on the 386 yard 3rd hole where the fairway bunker, left to right slope of the fairway and angle of the green all work in concert, the great uphill 203 yard 4th, the reachable 486 yard par 5 5th hole with its massive undulating green and the All-World 6th hole with its diagonal tiered green and you have the complete package in my opinion.
From designing, building, owning and operating the year round Mid-City Golf Links from the 1920's to the 1950's to serving on the USGA Public Links Committee, Langford was huge supporter of public golf. In fact Langford's granddaughter told me while I was promoting his induction into the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame that he was most proud of the role he had played in his life as a promoter of the everyday working public links golfer. Lawsonia seems to me hits the sweet spot as a fitting tribute to Langford the man, golfer and architect by providing quality, affordable public golf.