9 minute read
Wisconsin offers stunning links-style golf
Watch out for TRAVEL SHOTS
WISCONSIN!
by ken macleod
Whistling Straits, Sand Valley, Erin Hills bring links to life
The treacherous par-3 7th hole at Whistling Straits.
We would be the last to discourage any trip to Ireland, Scotland, Wales or England for authentic links golf.
For those who want a similar experience without crossing the pond, there are finally several really good options open to the public right here in the United States. Bandon Dunes on the Pacific Coast in Oregon has been a personal favorite since it opened.
Wisconsin obviously lacks an ocean. But a few golf writers and friends put together an itinerary late last summer that, minus the ocean views and breezes, was the equal of any links adventure we’ve had, with better food.
You’ve likely heard for years about Whistling Straits and the collection of three other Pete Dye gems at Kohler on the windy shores of Lake Michigan. The magnificent 80-foot dunes on the Straits course look like they’ve been around for centuries, even if in reality it was an abandoned airstrip not 50 years ago.
Whistling Straits hosted the PGA Championship in 2010 and 2015 and the merchandise is all over the pro shop for the 2020 Ryder Cup. Along with The Irish and the nearby inland Blackwolf Run courses, all designed by Pete and Alice Dye, it’s been a bucket list destination for U.S. golfers since it opened in 1998.
Although there are many excellent courses to choose from on a Wisconsin
Aptly named Sand Valley Golf Course opened May 2, 2017. Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.
golf trip, the state’s cachet went up a few notches when Erin Hills opened in 2006 and in 2010 was awarded the 2017 U.S. Open. Erin Hills is a massive, walkingonly brute of a course that looks very much like a course that could be discovered on a windy coast in Ireland, but plays a bit slower than most links courses despite having fine fescue fairways bordered by waves of tall fescue rough.
The capper for our group was the opening two years ago of Sand Valley Golf Resort in Nekoosa. Another project of Mike Keiser, who did both Bandon Dunes and Cabot Links in Nova Scotia. Sand Valley currently consists of two 18-hole courses, Sand Valley designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and Mammoth Dunes designed by David McLay Kidd, the architect of Bandon Dunes. It also has a wonderful par-3 course dubbed The Sandbox and a third 18-hole course by Tom Doak is the next step. There are many ways to approach this trip. We flew to Milwaukee, rented a car, drove three hours to Sand Valley for two days of bliss, then another three hours up to Kohler for two more memorable days of golf. The next morning a 72-mile shot to Erin Hills, which is in the tiny town of Hartford. From there, it’s just an hour or so back to the Milwaukee airport.
You won’t find golf carts and you will want to take or at least share a caddie at all three of these destinations. Be prepared for firm fescue fairways that roll out, a good deal of wind, sand and water, and to be faced with choices of what type of shot to play on nearly every hole.
Golf as it should be. Let’s take a closer look at each.
SAND VALLEY GOLF RESORT
The distance from our back door at the lodge at Sand Valley to the first tee at Mammoth Dunes was less than 50 yards. It was an equally short distance to the pub, the patio and the lighted putting green. That’s pretty sweet.
Since the early days at Bandon Dunes, Mike Keiser has been rewarded that his vision of what a golf resort should be – ba
sically a links golf trip brought home to America – has been embraced by so many thousands of U.S. golfers who previously were thought to care more about target golf while riding in carts.
“There’s no way my dad could have imagined it playing out like this,” said Chris Keiser, who along with his brother Michael, are s p e a r he ad i n g the Sand Valley development. “He had a strong inkling and intuition that he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed that style of golf, the bumpand-run, the sand dunes and the firm and fast conditions. But luckily for all of us and everyone who enjoys it, he’s a great entrepreneur and he pulled it off.”
Chris was referring to Bandon Dunes, which has been an overwhelming success. Sand Valley is more of the same. It will continue to expand in both number of courses and rooms available. It does have basically a mid-May through October season due to the weather. Only bite off as much as you can chew at Erin Hills. The sandy soil so crucial to firm and fast conditions is no issue at Sand Valley. It was built on the site of a prehistoric glacial lake. When an ice dam burst and the water flooded out, it left a massive deposit of sand sometimes hundreds of feet deep. The pictures on these pages are a better description than I can muster of what you’ll face at both Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes. Mammoth Dunes has more elevation with its routing along and through an 80-foot sand dune. Enjoy the challenge.
For tennis lovers, the resort offers 15 grass courts. Fishing, biking and walking trails are also part of the experience. And don’t leave without sampling the Buffalo cheese curds.
WHISTLING STRAITS
The back story of Whistling Straits and the immense success of the Kohler family and what the plumbing fixture company has meant to the state is fascinating. By all means take time to explore the Kohler Design Center and museum, where you can stroll through a history of Kohler Co. from its humble beginnings to out-of-thisworld current and future designs.
As you can imagine, the showers in
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Erin Hills, number four. With a shallow green and wetlands beyond the green, the approach is the a demanding hole.
The American Club, the five-star resort and centerpiece for Destination Kohler, are spectacular. You reluctantly have to turn off the jets and leave the historic building with its five dining options and the Winery Bar, where you can order a vintage 1.5-ounce glass of Balvenie for just $3,295, and board a shuttle for Whistling Straits.
Dye had more than 7,000 truckloads of sand shipped in to construct the mounds and bunkers on what was a flat piece of land farmland later used by the U.S. Army as an antiaircraft training facility. There are close to 1,000 bunkers on Whistling Straits alone, hundreds more on The Irish. Eight of the holes on Whistling Straits hug the shoreline with varying degrees of peril and Lake Michigan is in view throughout. We played The Straits at around 6,400 yards of a course that can now be stretched to 7,790 yards for the pros. Our caddies laughed about the adventures of many high handicappers who visit and insist on playing the back tees so they can experience all of Whistling Straits. It’s a wonder some of them ever finish. There are two approaches when playing a bucket-list course to which you may or may not return. Have a chance to experience a great
challenge matching your skill set or shoot 120 and say you played the tips.
The bunker where Dustin Johnson incurred his two-stroke penalty in the 2010 PGA Championship was covered by grandstands for the PGA Championship in 2015 and likely will be again for the Ryder Cup. But your caddy should be able to point it out to you on the right on the 18th hole. You may have had your fill of bunkers by then.
The Irish Course is beautiful as well, though not as penal or dramatic. Only four holes have lake views. You can take a caddy here or just get a push cart, it’s not a hard walk, unlike Whistling Straits. ERIN HILLS
Brooks Koepka overpowered Erin Hills, shooting 16-under in the 2017 U.S. Open as 31 golfers in all shot under par. Yes, it was a relatively calm week, but having looked at the nearly 8,000-yard rolling course up close this fall, I can see how the USGA thought this would never happen. Yes, it is firm enough that the distance doesn’t overwhelm the top players, though the fairways don’t run like they do at Sand Valley or Whistling Straits. And yes, when you can hit 340-yard drives, a 500-yard par-5 is still a driver-wedge.
For us mortals, however, Erin Hills is four hours of rolling fun, a great challenge but not so severe from the proper tees that it gets painful. Mammoth Dunes, no ocean or even Great Lake, but everything else that makes links golf fun.
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