Golf Wisconsin: The Official Guide to the State's Top 25 Public Courses

Book Review: Golf Wisconsin: The Official Guide to the State's Top 25 Public Courses Plus 50 More Fun Places to Play

Golf, Wisconsin -- the two words just go together.

You'll feel it when you ....

Stand on a tee at the Straits Course, Whistling Straits, staring at the changing hues of blue in Lake Michigan.

Spy sailboats skipping past Lake Superior's Madeline Island as you play a Robert Trent Jones Sr. course like no other.

Walk past Erin Hills' wind-blown "sea of fescue' to that emerald green atop the far hill, knowing you just hit the 7-iron of your life.

Roll your first morning putt on the massive greens of the historic Lawsonia Links, the dew droplets spinning off your ball as it tracks over the undulating surface toward the hole and your first par of the day.

Those are among the state's 25 top public golf courses we've picked in this new golf guide book to Wisconsin. Determining what's best when it comes to golf courses is a very subjective thing. But after writing about and playing golf courses around the state for many years, we've come to agree on what we like about our favorite courses.

We like courses that take us to pretty places, that provide a respite from a hectic world, that have some interesting history, that are designed by an architect who knows how to use the land not just bulldoze it, that give us a variety of challenges, that accept walkers, that pay attention to the details of greenskeeping, and that know how to serve customers.

Wisconsin golfers are blessed because the state has all of that.

Wisconsin public courses owe their unique feel to Mother Nature and architects including Pete Dye, Robert Trent Jones, Robert Trent Jones Jr., Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry, Tom Bendelow, Lawrence and Roger Packard, Art Johnson, Joel Goldstrand, Rick Jacobson, Bob Lohmann, Jerry Matthews, Robert Bruce Harris, Bob Cupp, David and Garrett Gill, Ken Killian and Dick
Nugent as well as playing greats like Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Andy North.

Some of you may wonder why your choice for a Wisconsin "best" isn't included. In some cases, it had to do with geography -- with our quest to have courses in the major tourist areas of the state. There were indeed some close calls, but those things had to be done to get to the magic 25. To help remedy any omissions, we've gathered 50 more fun places to play in our
final chapter.

So join us on this most excellent golf adventure, and may your drives always find the fairway.


For the record, the top 25 public golf courses featured in the book are:

• Big Fish, Hayward
  
• The Bog, Saukville
  
• Brown County, Oneida
  
• Brown Deer Park, Milwaukee
  
• The Brute, Lake Geneva
  
• The Bull, Sheboygan Falls
  
• Erin Hills, Hartford
  
• Geneval National's Palmer Course, Lake Geneva
  
• House on the Rock, Spring Green
  
• Lake Arrowhead, Nekoosa
  
• Lawsonia Links, Green Lake
  
• Madeline Island, La Pointe
  
• Mascoutin, New Berlin
  
• Northern Bay, Arkdale
  
• Northwood, Rhinelander
  
• The Orchards at Egg Harbor, Egg Harbor
  
• SentryWorld, Stevens Point
  
• Trappers Turn, Wisconsin Dells
  
• Troy Burne, Hudson
  
• Turtleback, Rice Lake
  
• University Ridge, Verona
  
• Washington County, Hartford
  
• Whistling Straits, Haven
  
• Wild Rock, Wisconsin Dells