With Erin Hills, Grand Geneva, The Bog and more, Milwaukee-area golf is a winner
By: David R. Holland
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Sure it was beer that made Milwaukee famous and rockabilly singer Jerry Lee Lewis a loser, but it has a golf history, and its future seems unlimited. Milwaukee-area golf is a winner.
The 2017 U.S. Open is scheduled at nearby Erin Hills, a brawny, 7,800-yard minimalist beast designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten.
Make the 55-mile drive to Grand Geneva Resort & Spa for The Brute and The Highlands, 36 holes of beautiful golf, and relive the days of Hugh Hefner when in 1968 this resort opened as the Lake Geneva Playboy Club Hotel.
Daily-fee beauty The Bog — in nearby Saukville — is a 7,221-yard par 72 that is home to the Marquette University golf team.
Tee it up at Brown Deer Golf Course, home of the Greater Milwaukee Open from 1994-2009. Tiger Woods made his PGA Tour debut here in 1996 as a 21-year-old and aced no. 14. He finished 60th and won $2,544.
And some time next year Wisconsin will open another much-anticipated golf experience named Sand Valley Golf Resort, certain to be another award-winner. The minimalist Bill Coore-and-Ben Crenshaw course is set on 1,700 acres of tumbling sand dunes, 167 miles from Milwaukee near Nekoosa. A second 18 is planned to be designed by David McLay Kidd of Bandon Dunes fame.
So, a travel golf trip to Milwaukee? You bet.
Combine it with a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game, a visit to the world-famous Harley-Davidson museum, a tour of the Lakefront Brewery and countless superb dining options and you have a great Midwest vacation.
Here’s a look at the golf options:
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
The Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired hotel is an easy drive from Milwaukee or Chicago and even includes a ski area chalet that Hefner designed in the shape of two interlocking snowflakes. Two prominent lakes on the golf courses were built in the shape of a heart and a bunny head.
The Brute Golf Course lives up to its name with 7,085 yards, par 72 and huge greens (they average 8,000 square feet) and 68 bunkers. The rolling woodlands of southern Wisconsin are beautifully displayed on this 1968 Robert Bruce Harris design with elevation changes and lots of water and woods. The finale, 17 and 18, are tough with demanding tee shots. Even par on these holes should be celebrated.
Grand Geneva’s Highlands Golf Course, a 6,659-yard par 71, was originally designed by Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye. This Scottish-style Wisconsin golf course was transformed in 1996 by Bob Cupp and was recently updated in 2006 by Bob Lohmann, with major renovations completed on holes 9, 12 and 15. It is beautiful and more playable than The Brute.
See more here.
