Sentry World …..Iconic?

[DFarron]

Watching the US Senior Open and the feature “Iconic Venues” was on and they featured Sentry World and its flowers. Really?


Sentry World isn’t even the best course in Stevens Point let alone an “Iconic Venue”

[Mike Hendren]

Fantastic green at the short 11th.  Otherwise, disappointing.  Solid 5. 

[Tim Leahy]

Anybody know if the flower beds are in play for the Open? What about for the public?

[John Kavanaugh]

I couldn’t see the flowers for the crowds.

[Matthew Rose]

I've played it and I liked it, but I would not call it iconic.

It was a big deal when it opened in the 80s but maybe not so much these days.

[Adam Lawrence]

I saw Sentry with Jay Blasi after he'd renovated it for RTJ2. I liked it, but it's not outstanding. Let alone 'iconic'.

[Tom_Doak]

I don't think that anything is supposed to ascend to the level of "iconic" based entirely on marketing.


Who ever went to Sentry World and reported back how great the flowers were?

[jeffwarne]

I don't think that anything is supposed to ascend to the level of "iconic" based entirely on marketing.


Who ever went to Sentry World and reported back how great the flowers were?

I remember reading about in Golf Digest as a kid in the 80's.
It got a lot of fanfare.
But then again, I was ecstatic to play Doral(on a twilight rate)in 1983...so nervous I didn't sleep.

[Rob Marshall]

Here is a good article on it.


https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2023/06/30/u-s-senior-open-venue-sentryworld-force-in-golf-world/

[Ben Malach]

Quick reminder, something iconic isn't always a mark of quality or positive association. The Hindenburg, Titanic and the Ford Pinto all come to mind.


Not to say that Sentry World is iconic in the least. Just a reminder that icons come in all shapes and sizes.


Now on to my thoughts about Sentry World. As it's a strange one for me as I think it's the best example of how much one can do to promote a midding golf course with window dressing.


I spend a lot of time hanging around the Midwest and every time I come across someone that has played here. I have taken to asking them about it as I am curious. Once I have asked the question the talk turns to the quality/interesting snack stations, the locker rooms, and of course the immaculate landscaping.


This seems very much intentional by the owners as they are more concerned with creating an experience than having a world-class golf course. That's not wrong per se, it is just not what I look for in a golf experience. But, I am not the target market for this as it is really an amenity for Sentry Insurance for them to snag high-end clients and as a perk for their executive team. When looked at it through this lens I think it accomplishes its goals rather well. As to do that the golf doesn't need to be world-class. It merely needs to be inoffensive.


So iconic no, but maybe a curiosity at best.

[Jason Thurman]

Sentry World has a hole that can be described with two words and immediately recognized by anyone with more than a casual interest in golf courses. And those two words don't include "Sentry," "World," or "16" - in other words, no dead giveaways.


Iconic? I don't know. Semantics are boring. Use whatever word you want for it.


But how many courses in the world have a hole that you can say that about? I'm coming up with about 8 off the top of my head.


So... it's not nothing.

[Jerry Kluger]

They showed an aerial of a series of holes which surround a small lake on the property - it looked very strange and contrived - I just wonder how it plays with all of the holes in such close proximity to each other.

[Craig Sweet]

Iconic? No. Ugly? Yes.


The trickle that runs through the course in a boulder strewn gully?  Horrible. 


The set up for these old geezers?  The rough does not need to be that deep and thick

[Matt_Cohn]

IDK about iconic, but I'm enjoying watching it. It's fast and bouncy, it's difficult, and it's chaotic. Makes for pretty good viewing to me.

[Tim Leahy]

IDK about iconic, but I'm enjoying watching it. It's fast and bouncy, it's difficult, and it's chaotic. Makes for pretty good viewing to me.

+1
I usually get too bored to watch Senior tournaments except to see the course they are playing but this course seems to be challenging and reminds me of the old US Opens with penalizing rough and tough greens. First time I have ever watched the last 2 rounds of a Senior tour event. So that must say something about the course and setup along with the higher scores.

[Ken Fry]

I enjoyed watching the Senior US Open but have no interest in playing SentryWorld again.

The 16th hole is iconic because it is recognizable and well known.  As to the rest of the course, it's hard.  And can be very hard if you get off line.

I played last summer on a quick run through Wisconsin to revisit Lawsonia and make my first trip to Sand Valley.  SentryWorld was a late addition and my last stop.  SentryWorld is VERY different from the other courses.  It's much more parkland style with a lot of water in play.

Conditioning was very nice.  The rough very lush and thick.  There was a mixture of stereotypical championship holes along with some edgier design involving water hazards I didn't care for at all.

It was a jarring contrast to come from the two courses and par 3 course at Sand Valley to SentryWorld.  To compare the two properties is to compare the target customer.  One hit the right notes for me and the other didn't, but I'm not the target customer for SentryWorld.

Ken

[Matthew Rose]

I played the old version so I don't know if the changes made it harder or easier. It looks to me like some of the forced carries have been taken out; the 17th green used to be on the other side of the pond that is now behind it.

The one thing I do remember is that it was very demanding off the tee. I actually played a very good round there in part because I drove the ball very well.

[Peter Flory]

It looked like a completely different course all dried out like that.  They got really lucky that all of the rain missed to the south. 

[Mark Smolens]

Played there a long time ago with a buddy and his brother (who has a farm in Scandanavia, just outside of Stevens Point). The only memory I have was the number of maintenance workers out there during the day -- at least 50 guys spread out over different holes as we played. The restaurant was nice, and his brother's post-wedding brunch was excellent.


But the course is less than an hour from Sand Valley, and a little over that from Lawsonia. Not much chance I'd ever go back there. Stevens Point CC is a cool parkland course, nicely maintained and a fun round of golf.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I played Sentry World after I played at Lawsonia and Sand Valley. The course's overdone conditioning was jarring. I thought to myself, "Lawsonia and Sand Valley were built for golfers. Sentry World was built for people that play golf."

[Jim O’Kane]

I wonder if anyone has played it when it first opened, or within the first 5 years, and then again after the redo people speak of in the late 2010's (or whenever it was)...and what they thought about it.

Other than M Rose, it'd be interesting to hear other people's comparisons and contrasts.

I played there a couple of times in the early 80's. The AJGA used to have a tournament stop there.

Like M Rose, I remember it being very demanding off the tee with a lot of forced carries. It was brutally difficult if you weren't striping it.

I've looked at recent aerials of the course, and while I remember more than a few notably difficult holes at Sentry World, they seem to have all vanished in the redo.

Anyone able to share some light on what was taken away and what was added?

I get the impression that the changes didn't really elevate the reputation of the course.

[Matthew Rose]

Here is an article with the significant changes outlined:

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2023/06/28/u-s-senior-open-2023-sentryworld-renovation-major/

When the course opened in 1981-82, the nines were flipped. The change was made in order for the flower hole to be #16 instead of #7 as originally planned.

The recent renovation changed #10 to #1, so the course now actually starts with the (planned) original first hole. They routed it in a way that allowed the first three holes on each side to be flipped, but then cross over so the finishing holes on both sides are still the same as before.

I have not played the newer version but IMO the worst hole on the original course was #13; prior to the change it was an awkward hole. It was a 90 degree dogleg right with water on the outside of the dogleg.

The old 4th and 12th were brutal par threes (200+) over water; they made the 4th into a short par 4 and eliminated the 12th entirely. On the other side is a new water par-three 12th but it is a bit shorter.

#17 used to be about 50 yards longer and the green was on the other side of the lake.

So I guess without having played the new version, I'd say it is probably a little easier for the daily fee player just from what I can see.