Chicago Area and More Great Wisconsin Gems

Our latest  golf trip began with an outstanding Chicago area course, Cog Hill Dubsdread (#51 on Current Rankings).  Dubsdread is just one of the four courses available for the public to enjoy at this Jemsek family golf facility.  It has hosted a U. S. Amateur, The BMW Championship and was the home of the PGA Tour’s Western Open for many years.  It was originally built by Joe Lee and Dick Wilson in 1964 and then had a comprehensive renovation in 2008 by Rees Jones.  This is a course that was built to host championships so it is a stout challenge for the locals and visitors that come to experience this wonderful design.  My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge despite the 135 slope ratings from our respective tees.  I feel that it is one of a small group of courses I have played that are difficult but fair.  You are given ample room for your tee shots and there are no tricked up holes or blind shots to deal with.  There are only four water hazards to avoid including the long and stylish 18th hole.  There are many bunkers protecting the greens and many fairways.  The bunkers are deep and most of them are built with two to three large loabs projecting that adds to the beauty of the hole but are also quite menacing  when attacking a pin tucked behind them.  Dubsdread has nice hole variety which keeps the round quite interesting and it is also very walkable.  The conditioning of the course was magnificent.  From the fairways, greens, tees and rough, to the bunkers it was one of the best groomed public facilities that we have played on our quest to play all of the Top 100 courses of the present and past.  For a course that is over 50 years old, I was very impressed with the clubhouse facilities.  Even the on-course restrooms were well kept which is always an indicator of the pride which the management has in its facility. Dubsdread is certainly worthy of its current Top 100 Public Ranking and I would recommend it to any golfer in the area.  Since the Top 100 Public Ratings began in Golf Digest in 2003 there has been 202 different courses that have made this list.  Only 42 courses have made each of the eight biennial lists and Cog Hill Dubsdread is one of this select group.

The second Chicago area course that we played is north of the city in a wooded serene location, hence its name, Pine Meadow Golf Club (#51 Last Ranked 2005).  Since it has not made the Top 100 list for the last 13 years, I was curious to see what type of course we would be experiencing.  This course was originally built in 1929 by famed architect William Flynn but was completely rebuilt in 1984 by Joe Lee and Rocky Roquemore.  There were some similarities in the bunkering of this course and the Lee designed Cog Hill Dubsdread that we just played, but Pine Meadow is a much gentler version and more player friendly for the average golfer.  The course received six inches of rain the week before we arrived, and another 1/2 inch an hour before our tee time, but the conditions were very good despite being quite wet.  The fairways were generous in width but miss them and you were in rough that was probably thicker and more lush than normal because of the abundance of rain.  It was not overly bunkered but the large lobed hazards were enough of a presence to provide a stern test when approaching the greens.  The greens were very large which made them easier to hit but with their size and undulations, they were an interesting challenge.  Pine Meadow is a walkable course and with no homes in sight, a very relaxing round of golf.  I felt that the course conditions were excellent other than the bunkers do not drain well.  The turf was healthy and it is a well cared for facility.  The clubhouse is very adequate for its pro shop and snack bar needs and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful.  Marilyn was very impressed with the variety and styles of the ladies apparel in the shop.  Pine Meadow was named the best New Public Course by Golf Digest when it reopened in 1986.  It no longer carries the status of a Top 100 Public course in the United States but it is certainly one of the best public courses in the Chicago area.  I really liked the setting, the laid back ambiance and the layout of the course.  Holes 10, 13 and 18 were three of my favorites.  Give this course a try and see what you think.

This blog is about our travels to play the current and past Top 100 Public courses, but since we were traveling thru Wisconsin, it was really not a difficult decision to stop for a couple of days to play two of the newest Mike Keiser creations at Sand Valley.  From everything I have read, I am sure that both of these special creations will be included in the 2019 Golf Digest list of Top 100 Public courses.  We could not wait to check them out.  Our first day was spent on David McLay Kidd’s latest design called Mammoth Dunes.  After a period of creating some very fine, but difficult courses like Tetherow, Kidd went back to his Bandon Dunes philosophy of making golf courses fun again.  We played his outstanding design in Washington, Gamble Sands, last summer and were much impressed.  Mammoth Dunes was even more impressive!  Very wide fairways, beautiful contours, huge greens and stunning visuals made this one of my favorite days on a golf course.  This rolling and sandy site is amazing and Kidd pieced together a course that simply flows from one hole to another providing golfers of all levels a memorable experience.  Mammoth Dunes had only been open for full play for 30 days when we played but other than greens that may have been slower than what they will in the future, the course was in terrific condition.  Firm fast fescue fairways make you feel that you are a longer driver of the golf ball than normal but that is a very good thing.  The tightly mowed areas around the greens give you several choices of attacking the hole which brings more strategy into play.  We were fortunate to be paired with Leanna and Dan from Madison who were not only good golfers but very enjoyable to play with.  Pairings and weather can greatly affect how you feel about a course and we were fortunate to have a good pairing, good weather and Sam, a very good caddie.  Mammoth Dunes has many outstanding holes and Number 6, with the boomerang half pipe green is amazing.  With a couple of drivable par 4’s and some reachable in two shot par 5’s mixed in, Kidd provides a great deal of variety and fun in this outstanding design.  A few special courses have the “WOW” factor and some have the “FUN”  factor.  Mammoth Dunes has plenty of both.  I look forward to playing this masterpiece again very soon.

Day two at the Sand Valley Golf Resort was spent playing its original course and namesake, Sand Valley, which is now just one year old.  Mike Keiser hired one of his favorite architecture firms, Coore and Crenshaw to build the first course that certainly made some noise with the golf publications and media.  They were quite successful in building a dynamic course that has frequent elevation changes, a lot of hole variety and visuals full of contrasts thanks to the many greenside and waste bunkers next to the flowing green fairways.  Despite the amount of sand on this course, the fairways are wide and give you a lot of room for your tee ball to find the firm fast fescue.  One small difference between the two courses is that when a ball is running off the fairway at Sand Valley, it has a good chance of rolling into a waste bunker whereas at Mammoth Dunes, the fairway turns up a little to help keep slow rolling tee shots out of the waste bunker.  The fairways on Sand Valley are not as wide as Mammoth Dunes, so you definitely need to think about the best line with your driver.  This is where a good caddie is a must and Sand Valley Golf Resort has many available since it is a walking only facility.  Once the courses are open for a few more months, all the caddies will get even better with their reads.  Our caddies at Sand Valley, Bryson and Joel, did a fine job for teenagers and were a pleasure to work with.  I think caddieing is one of the best jobs for youngsters in that it not only allows them to make some money, but interacting with so many different adult age levels and personalities will help them immensely in the years ahead.  At Sand Valley I could see some similarities with two other outstanding Coore and Crenshaw designs, Streamsong Red and Bandon Trails.  This course has many interesting features such as a punch bowl green, the split fairway on Number 6 and wonderful undulating green complexes.  You will never get bored playing Sand Valley and once finished, you will know that you have experienced one of the best golf courses in the United States.  I am very curious to see where it is placed in the next Golf Digest Top 100 Public Rankings.

Full disclosure is necessary before I comment on our round at Troy Burne (#69 on current Ranking).  When we started our round, the temperature was 97 and the heat index was 110.  In addition, the wind was 15 to 20 MPH which made play a little more difficult.  With that said, I will attempt to be as fair as possible in my review of this very fine golf course.  Troy Burne was built in 1999 by a collaboration between Tom Lehman and the design team of Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry.  When I saw that this course was added to the Golf Digest Top 100 Public Ranking in 2017/18, I was wondering how a course 18 years old with very little national recognition could all of a sudden make a very solid entrance onto this special list.  I still do not know how it happened, but it did so we made the trip over to Hudson, Wisconsin from the Sand Valley Resort to see it for ourselves.  This course is certainly a tale of two nines as after playing the front nine, I was still very puzzled about its lofty ranking.  It is a solid nine and challenging with its many, many bunkers but not necessarily outstanding.  It is relatively flat and open with a links like flair.  A good test but I think most of the course’s 120 bunkers are located on the front side.  Also, I do not care for the type of sand they use in their bunkers as it is very soft and quite different than what you find on most courses.  This also adds to the difficulty of the course as there is very little margin of error when playing from the sand bunkers.  The back nine is a completely different story as it is full of elevation changes, strategically placed water hazards, trees and undulating greens.  There is also some bunkering on the back side but not to the excess of the front.  Although somewhat difficult, this nine is quite interesting and beautiful.  As we played the back side, I starting making notes about what hole I liked the best and I found myself including every hole as we played them.  If the entire course was like the back nine, I could agree that it belongs in the Top 100 but unfortunately, I feel that you need to judge the entire course.  Therefore, I would not place it in my Top 100 favorites but I am glad I played it and would like to experience it again on a day more suited for an enjoyable round of golf rather than one in which you are just trying to survive the extreme heat.

I think the best way to describe Sentry World (#34 on Current Ranking) is peaceful and serene.  This 1982 Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design was renovated in 2013 by Jay Blasi.  I did not play it before the renovation, but I certainly love this course now.  This is a wonderful parkland course that is in terrific condition, is beautifully bunkered, lined with mature trees and has several water hazards that add to the beauty of the course but do not overwhelm you.  The famous Par 3 sixteenth hole, or the “Flower Hole”, lives up to its reputation.  With 33,000 flowers surrounding just this one hole, it is difficult to keep the pace of play because of all the pictures you take that capture this fantastic hole.  All of the par 3’s and par 5’s are outstanding holes.  Sentry World is one of the special courses that offer a challenge to golfers of all skill levels and at the same time is a joy to play.  The staff was very friendly and helpful.  The clubhouse is amazing with a large proshop and a unique restaurant and bar area that is popular with the locals as well as the golfers.  Sentry World has a large practice area and everything about this facility is first class.  This course is owned by the Sentry Insurance Company whose corporate office is just across the road and it is great that they are putting the money into this course to keep it in pristine condition.  This course is certainly worthy of its Top 100 Ranking and it has moved into my Top 50 Most Enjoyable Courses that I have played.  They are fortunate to be in close proximity of Whistling Straits, Erin Hills and Sand Valley.  Anyone making the trip to these highly rated facilities should make the short drive to Sentry World and experience this gem.

The last course on this golf adventure was Lawsonia Links (#59 on Current Ranking).  In a word, Lawsonia Links is unique.  This course is links-like and built very similar to the many courses in Scotland.  It is not a true links as it does not sit on the shores of an ocean and there are a few trees on the course as well as surrounding the entire perimeter.  This should hardly matter as I think it is a real architectural masterpiece.  There are a few blind tee shots, a very rolling terrain, undulating elevated greens, very steep rolloffs and extremely deep bunkers.  This course is not for the faint of heart or for those who only like the familiar parkland courses of America.  It would have been more enjoyable for us if they would have provided a forecaddie to direct us off the tee, give us tips regarding our approach shots and to help us read the greens.  Since they do not offer this service, you need to play Lawsonia Links a few times to truly understand it and enjoy it.  A nice touch would have been to offer a hole by hole map with tips on where to hit the ball for best results.  The course was in excellent condition.  It has nice turf in all areas including the tall fescue beyond the rough that you DO NOT want to find.  Unfortunately, I found it twice and neither time could locate my ball.  The course was built in 1930 by William Langford and Theodore Moreau.  They were sent to Scotland three times during the construction process by the owners, supposedly the Chicago Mafia, to be sure they were building this course to Scottish standards.  Ron Forse was brought in over the past few years to restore this special design to its original intent.  Number 7, a par 3, is its signature hole as it was built by mounding dirt over a railroad boxcar.  If you miss this hole on the right, there is a 20 foot drop off that presents quite a challenge for a successful recovery.  I left this course somewhat bewildered as I admired its design and its challenge but was somewhat baffled by how to play it the first time around.  For true golf lovers and those who love golf course design, it is certainly worth the effort to include Lawsonia Links in your Wisconsin journey.  You will not soon forget your trek around this layout.