Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Wisconsin: The Brute and Highlands golf courses
By: Kiel Christianson
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — In 1968, Hugh Hefner opened the Lake Geneva Playboy Club Hotel to great fanfare. Celebrities from the TV, Hollywood, sports, and music worlds flocked to this one-time hideaway of Chicago’s ultra-wealthy.
A major component of undefinedthe rabbit-eared resort’s extensive amenities was golf, with two courses and extensive practice facilities also opening for play in 1968: The Brute, designed by Robert Bruce Harris, and The Briar Patch, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye.
Fast forward to today’s Grand Geneva Resort and Spa, and you find a family friendly and far more diverse resort than the original. Along with horseback riding, zip-lining, mountain biking, tennis, swimming, skiing, snowmobiling, fine dining, and the luxuriousness of the WELL spa, golf remains central to the resort’s amenities.
The Brute Course measures 7,085 yards from the tips, and remains today much as Harris laid it out in the 1960s. From the back tees, most of the par 4s are over 400 yards, and demand both precision and power to find the tree-lined fairways over substantial forced carries. Approach shots into the large greens are no picnic either, as many putting surfaces are domed and difficult to hold with longer clubs. On the back nine, the routing leads you up toward the highest point of the property, with inspiring views of the surrounding rolling woodlands and daunting wind conditions.
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