Foreword:

Thank you to my friend, Patrick Koenig, for allowing me to feature some of his photos in this article along with mine. Our round together last September was the final tee time of the day, so we had to take full advantage of the daylight by shooting in-round. The result was some incredibly memorable yet poorly played golf, and without Patrick’s help I would not have been able to provide images of every hole. Thank you, Patrick, and congrats again on the world-record setting 580 unique courses played in 2023!

If you are not already, be sure to follow Patrick on Instagram as @pjkoenig and Twitter as @patrickjkoenig, and check out his website, PJKoenig Golf Photography.

The Lido: An American Masterpiece, Once More

The long-awaited rebirth of The Lido has finally come, and while this rendition of CB Macdonald’s great course is far from the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean in New York, it is making waves across the golf world.

Debuting in its first official year of play as GOLF’s #68 overall course in the world, Sand Valley Golf Resort along with Tom Doak, Brian Schneider and the team at Renaissance Golf have a smash hit on their hands.

The course, part of a massive 850- to 880-acre “Lido Conservancy” across from the resort’s front entrance (the original Lido course was roughly 115 acres of “sea swamp and quagmire,” per CB Macdonald), is expansive and rugged.

From high above it looks flat and benign, but to the player on the ground it is anything but.

Is The Lido the Toughest course in Wisconsin?

I will begin by stating that, even at a tipped out yardage under 6,700, I think this is the most challenging golf course in the entire state of Wisconsin.

I wrote much more about The Lido in my preview of the great course back in September of 2022, so this article will be more about the actual playing experience and its 18-hole layout rather than the history and monumental work that went into bringing it back to life.

Arriving at The Lido

First things first, if you’re one of the fortunate few to book a tee time on The Lido in 2024 then chances are you’ll want to get there early. You might not even sleep much the night before because you’ll be so excited.

While you should arrive with time to peruse the pro shop’s shelves and buy all your favorite merch, don’t get to The Lido and expect to warm up as there is no range onsite. Instead, get started on the resort’s practice facilities and then take the shuttle to The Lido prior to meeting your caddie(s) and teeing off.

The course does have a practice putting green that was still growing in during our September round, by the way, and my assumption is it should be open early in 2024.

Caddies at The Lido

If you are new to employing caddies, Kiawah Island Ocean Course looper Henry McGannon recently wrote for WiscoGolfAddict.com about what to expect and how to make the most of your caddied experience. You can find that material linked below:

Do you have to take a caddie at The Lido? The short answer is no, but I highly recommend it. There were at least a dozen instances during our round when I would have had no idea where to hit had it not been for ours. Especially if it is your first round at the Lido, I would consider caddie services to be a necessity.

I arrived at The Lido way too early for my round having left Menomonee Falls at 5 am to get to SentryWorld in Stevens Point with enough time to photograph the world-famous Flower Hole for several hours before players made it through 15. From there, I made the 45-minute drive southwest to Lake Arrowhead for an afternoon photo shoot, then trekked down the road to Sand Valley where I had almost two hours to kill before our 3:00 tee time.

I found plenty of great Lido-branded gear, of course, and got my drone batteries recharging following the morning’s extensive use. I wish they’d been plugged in for another hour or two, of course, as they were running on empty by the 16th hole.

What we got for photo content was pretty spectacular, though, especially as the sun dipped on the back nine and the property line’s shadows were cast across the playing surfaces.

We teed off shortly after Brandon, Patrick and Matt arrived, and I was quickly introduced to the sensational world of Macdonald architecture on The Lido.

Interesting nuances

One of the little things I love on The Lido is the sound of the greens. I bet you’ve never heard/read that before. I hadn’t either, but do me a favor when you’re on a putting surface there and hit the bottom of your putter against the short grass. The resounding echo is unique and satisfying as it reverberates through the depths of sand below.

The Lido golf course, Hole-by-Hole

Hole 1: First

Par 4 (hcp 11, 384/361/335)

The thing about playing The Lido is that it doesn’t always look that difficult. Case in point, the first hole. When you’re on the tee box it just looks like a massive, wide fairway with tons of room to miss.

With no warmups (the way I like it), I swung away and striped a perfect opening tee shot down the middle.

Walking down the fairway, everything I couldn’t see from the tee began appearing, and it was all bad… very bad.

The Lido has at least 135 sand traps in play, plus all the wasteland and massive sand blowouts that feel like another hundred (I kept being told there are ~ 260 total bunkers on the course but have since been informed the official number is 140). They’re mostly hidden from the tee, and what’s even crazier is that a lot of them are hidden on the look back (similar to the Links course at Lawsonia, where you never want to drive a cart backwards down a fairway – tough to get around following shotgun starts).

I was lucky on this one, though, as my ball was safely between several bunkers. A wedge later I was on the fringe, and following a haphazard pitch shot and two putts I was in for bogey.

“So, there are 14 bunkers on the first hole, who cares? I’m a great sand player!”

The traps on The Lido are different.

The sand at Sand Valley Golf Resort, in general, is different from what you’re used to playing out of.

It’s the sand that was buried beneath thick jack pine-laden terrain for centuries. Literally hundreds of feet of sand had been left behind by glacial movement millenniums ago, and it’s precisely this that Mike Keiser loved about the site Craig Haltom introduced him to in Nekoosa, Wisconsin.

You can develop anything with a sand foundation, and The Lido is all the proof needed.

That this golf course was developed to such exact standards (supposedly within less than an inch of the original Long Island layout) is an incredible feat in and of itself, and it was made possible because of that amazing sand foundation, GPS-led shaping equipment and a computer-generated layout provided by Peter Flory.

Flory, who can be followed on X as @nle_golf (“No Longer Existing”), is fanatical about long lost golf courses, is one of the country’s best hickory players and, as a hobby, recreates NLE sites to scale using gaming systems like PGA Tour 2K.

“You can’t swing with your arms,” I remember the caddies at Bandon Dunes telling me during my 2015 visit. I remember that confounding me. Afterall, I only know one way to hit green-side bunker shots.

Well, the other way – getting more of your body into it – is the same way you’ll need to hit them from the heavier sand at The Lido.

No practice swings (again, I usually don’t), no practice putts and I hit a great opening drive. I’ll take it!

This was my first exposure to the greens on The Lido, by the way, and I was really impressed with how well they ran. The greens here have a lot of contouring, so putting well at The Lido is tantamount to carding a low number.

Me? I was one-over through one and on my way to giving up on keeping score within the next few holes… and I couldn’t have cared less.

The Lido provides such an exemplary experience on its relic golf course that all I cared about was taking in the scenery, appreciating its architecture, getting some cool shots along the way and enjoying time with wonderful people who enjoy the game and content creation as much as I do.

For that, I was in the perfect company. Matt owns Eagle Springs Golf Resort, Brandon works full-time at Sand Valley / Dream Golf Resorts and Patrick was playing his 410th different course of the season (on his way to a record-breaking 580 for the year).

So, yeah, I was in exactly the kind of company I like to keep.

Hit a bunch of errant tee shots into waste areas? Oh well. There was no chance of ruining my day.

Hole 2: Plateau
Par 4 (hcp 7, 421/398/364)

While the first hole gives you all kinds of happy feelings from the tee box – it appears to be a wide-open fairway with all the room you can imagine to miss – the second will take your mind and warp it.

We had fantastic caddies during our round who were able to straighten us out (and Brandon’s played the course enough to know it well), but warping my head first on two was the tee shot: The target area was literally 75 yards right of where I expected.

Then, we got to our second shots. My caddie let me know I was 142 out, but it looked like 165. I grabbed my 8-iron and was going to hit something knocked down – hopefully 142 yards.

“Paul, it’s over there,” I was told. I’d been lined up at the wrong green, thinking we were playing to the 11th that runs parallel to two.

The sheer expanse of The Lido, and its lack of landmarks on the horizon, can be disorienting. There is nothing but stunningly beautiful, long views, and if you haven’t played it before then you’re bound to have a moment or two when you think to yourself, “What the hell am I doing?” It’s [probably] not a senior moment, though I’m no spring chicken anymore. It’s the setting.

One of my favorite features on the second hole is the Principle’s Nose bunker in the approach area. Patrick got some great shots of it:

The double-plateau green on two is one of the most undulating on the entire property, and behind it is the lagoon that defines the playing lines of the fourth and 12th holes on The Lido.

Hole 3: Eden
Par 3 (hcp 15, 175/160/142)

The course’s first par three, the third is a shortish one-shot hole on the far northeast corner of the property.

This is a beautiful little section of the course, utilizing the edge of the lake and a pond beyond it to help photos pop and put a little extra fear in players’ minds as they strike their tee shots.

The greens complex is well elevated, and trust me you do not want to miss it right as you’ll face a slippery recovery back towards sand and water.

The Eden is based on the famous 11th hole at the Old Course and the only miss is short. Errant shots left are likely to catch the Hill bunker, while to the right even worse demises can be found in the Strath (right-side pot bunker), Eden (the water behind the green) and Cockleshell or “Shelly” bunkers (short-right).

Hole 4: Channel
Par 5 (hcp 1, 555/505/448)

Since its announcement and original renderings were released, the hole I was always most excited to experience at The Lido was the fourth.

The original layout, played along Reynolds Channel to the right of the hole, provides split fairways to force players to choose their line off the tee. The most accessible fairway is to the left along the lake, but there’s a second option to the right that, if managed, will make it a short par five and allow players the opportunity to get home under regulation.

Surrounded by sand and wasteland, it’s a heavy risk/reward proposition as anything missing the small right-side target will likely require a difficult recovery attempt.

Macdonald’s original design, based on the 16th at Littlestone Golf Club in the UK, was once named one of the “18 Greatest Holes in America” by Time Magazine (per Peter Flory in GolfWeek), and it’s easy to see why.

As a caveat, I love the new floating bridge installed to help players get from the fairway toward the approach and green area, and especially love the shot Patrick got of Matt, Brandon and me crossing it (below).

Hole 5: Cape
Par 4 (hcp 13, 378/354/327)

A mid-length par four, the fifth is where my golf game started coming unhinged. After a poor drive left me in the sand left of the fairway, I tried hitting a big iron toward the green, leaving myself in more sand. That next shot didn’t cover, either, and I then opted to play the kicker slope short-right of the green to avoid the green-side bunkers. That ball stayed atop the hill, somehow not rolling down as planned. I’d end up carding a big number here, recognized my issue was playing timidly and vowed to stop that. I didn’t and soon stopped keeping score so I could just enjoy the day.

This course can seriously beat you up and I can’t wait to see what scores will look like at the 2025 Wisconsin State Amateur. I can’t imagine anyone taking this layout low.

Based on the Cape template, the par four fifth at The Lido runs right to left with an almost Redan-like fairway toward the end. The result is a green that’s peninsular in appearance, isolated to the left with sand surrounding it on three sides.

This is a gorgeous hole, and if played properly I’d imagine would be a ton of fun.

Hole 6: Dog’s Leg
Par 5 (hcp 3, 493/477/458)

A short par five, “Raynor’s Prized Dogleg” would go on to be a template used at many Seth Raynor designs (it was originally a Lido contest entry by JC Walsham of the Harrogate Club in England, per Flory on GolfWeek).

The hole features a hard dogleg right, creating an expansive hazard to cover for anyone trying to hit this green in two.

Hole 7: Hog’s Back
Par 5 (hcp 5, 469/455/438)

A short par five, Hog’s Back is a challenging 3-shot hole featuring a diagonally canted cross-bunker leading onward.

Played along the property’s western border, the fairway on seven is heavily sloped from right-to-left, requiring precision off the tee and leading to long approach shots from awkward lies.

Hole 8: Ocean
Par 3 (hcp 9, 234/175/168)

Close your eyes and imagine the original eighth hole at The Lido, placed snug against the beach as it was on Long Island. With the wind howling off the Atlantic, the tide dictated whether the right side was a water hazard or sand bunker while 10 feet above towered a world-class biarritz green 235 yards in the distance.

With the day’s equipment, this hole would play more as a short four, and even from 175 yards and modern clubs today it’s a beast.

The putting surface on eight falls off on all sides, and there’s a long cross bunker before the front portion of the biarritz green complex, which is mowed to first-cut along with the center swale.

Only the back part of the putting surface is cut to green height on eight, which is something I’ve always found interesting on MacRaynor courses (layouts designed by CB Macdonald and his protege, Seth Raynor). Blue Mound, for example, also cuts only the back section to green height. Shoreacres and others cut and roll all three levels to create tremendously long and endlessly pinnable greens complexes that include hole-in-one locations in the swale.

I personally prefer the full biarritz being mowed to putting length as it’s exhilarating watching tee shots come in and hit the front, roll through the swale and find their way back. While the original biarritz on the Old Course was not mowed in front, it is possible Macdonald and Raynor may have designed some of their courses the alternate way.

When I played Shoreacres, for example, I was told original planking was unearthed below the front section, leading them to mow the entire complex. The Superintendent at Blue Mound, on the other hand, said this did not exist at their site.

Hole 9: Leven
Par 4 (hcp 17, 357/334/307)

The ninth is a fantastic finishing hole for the front nine with a welcoming tee shot and one of the course’s most challenging greens. Elevated as most are here, it’s narrow from front-to-back and is best approached from the right side of the fairway.

This green more than any other at The Lido made me think about the differences between today’s game and golf played during the times of the original Lido.

Given modern green speeds in excess of 10 on the stimp meter, it would have been almost impossible for 1920’s and 30’s players to hold a green like this with rubber core golf balls and low-lofted hickory clubs. While it’s a challenge with modern equipment, as well, it needs to be considered that putting surfaces were cut to roll at 3-4 during that period.

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Hole 10: Alps
Par 4 (hcp 6, 414/389/360)

The Alps 10th, based on the famous 17th at Prestwick as designed by Old Tom Morris, is my personal favorite hole on The Lido.

Playing toward the fairway on the right side, an approach shot is set up to a well-shrouded green that’s hidden behind large mounding and surrounded by bunkers.

Running parallel to the course’s opening hole, the tenth fairway is similar in structure to the first with deep bunkers interspersed across its width, but also with tall mounding running its left perimeter.

The Alps setup allows long hitters to go for glory off the tee by playing directly over the mounding to a downward ramp meant to propel balls greenward. A cadre of bunkers will catch anything hit short, but they’re still leaving a fairly straightforward recovery from there.

One of the things I found most interesting about this version of the Alps hole is that players are given a look at the green if they play to the right side of the fairway. Anything left or middle, however, will be completely blind on approach.

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Hole 11: Lagoon
Par 4 (hcp 8, 408/393/376)

Named for the water feature past the green complex, the “Lagoon” 11th is an original CB Macdonald design (not a template) that’s meant to demand two long shots.

A system of bunkering inhabits the center of the fairway, requiring players to aim well left or right of what they’d normally consider their target from the tee. A laterally running spine then crosses before the green complex, creating a depression that must be carried to get home to this massive greens complex in regulation.

The green, one of the largest on the property, has a spine running left to right through its middle and a front-centered knoll that’s sure to catch any approach shots being run on.

Hole 12: Punch Bowl
Par 4 (hcp 2, 433/412/386)

Another of my favorite holes on the course, the par four 12th features one of the most grand greens complexes I’ve ever seen.

The tee shot is played like a road hole over water and runs left to right forcing players to choose a line they can carry to leave as little yardage in as possible to this raised target.

Elevated about 15 feet above the fairway and fronted by two monstrously depressed bunkers, take enough club to carry the traps by 10-20 yards, then let the punch bowl do the rest.

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Hole 13: Knoll
Par 4 (hcp 16, 316/300/283)

Under 300 yards, players would expect the “Knoll” 13th to be almost drivable, but with a crowned green and no way to run shots onward it’s more of fool’s gold.

The tiny pot bunkers short of the green are devilish, and the narrow target zone implores golfers to play smart as missing this putting surface will lead to an incredibly challenging recovery.

Hole 14: Short
Par 3 (hcp 18, 148/129/107)

I love a good short three, and the 14th at The Lido is phenomenal.

Played off elevated tees to another raised green, a wedge should be in most players’ hands. With the way this putting surface is shaped, I would take dead aim at the center every time. Anything missing the short grass will result in a delicate wedge recovery to get up and down from such lowered traps and run-offs.

The signature characteristic on this “Short” (based on the fourth (originally the fifth) at Royal West Norfolk in Brancaster) is the massive thumbprint in the front-middle. If the 14th is pinned there, expect low numbers. If it’s not, par will likely be a great score.

Hole 15: Strategy
Par 4 (hcp 10, 404/387/367)

“Strategy” is based off a design contest entry by golf course architect Tom Simpson who created the par four as a choose-your-own-adventure proposition.

A difficult par four, there is sand and contouring everywhere on this layout, forcing players to develop their strategy from the tee and see how it plays out.

Simpson’s original design was flipped by Macdonald to play right-to-left in order to fit within The Lido’s routing.

We were on the 15th as the sun started setting, and the shadows across its fairway mounds were breathtaking. I had to run ahead of the group to do some additional drone work (eg: Instagram video, posted below the photos by Patrick and me).

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Hole 16: Redan
Par 3 (hcp 12, 206/189/169)

I have always loved Redan holes, and The Lido’s might be the best I’ve played.

A long par three stretching to 206 from the tips, the 16th is based on the famous 15th at North Berwick and features a deep bunker front-left, is well-elevated and boasts the Redan’s characteristic high-right to low-left sloping with water well past the back of the green’s runoff area.

Hole 17: Long
Par 5 (hcp 4, 563/548/528)

Played into the prevailing wind, the 17th is based on the 14th hole at St. Andrews and features some of the most undulating terrain on the entire course (Patrick’s shots of the fairway mounding are incredible!).

I love the diagonal system of pot bunkers that must be avoided from the tee – or at least I love the way they look from the air.

This is the longest hole on The Lido, and it plays as a true three-shot hole.

Hole 18: Home
Par 4 (hcp 14, 424/405/384)

A big par four to finish things off, the 18th on The Lido was originally the brain-child of Dr. Alister MacKenzie. MacKenzie, of course, would then go on to design Augusta National, Cypress Point and many other legendary courses around the world.

Dr. MacKenzie’s design of the 18th won a 1914 Lido design competition (link to the Ray Haddock Lido Prize website) sponsored by Britain’s “Country Life” with his drawing of a two-shot hole that would be developed as part of Macdonald’s masterpiece:

The tee shot on 18 is slightly uphill and to a wide, forgiving fairway scattered by bunkering and rogue waste areas. Upon doing research for this article, I found an interesting quote from Macdonald as posted by John Challenger on GolfClubAtlas.com:

“I adopted as the eighteenth hole Dr. Mackenzie’s plan, which had been awarded first prize, but I altered it because it took up too much room. He was making a separate fairway for men who could drive 160 yards and then for the men who could carry 180 yards on a direct line. This made three distinct fairways, which in breadth was something like 200-odd yards. Of course it was quite easy to do away with the fairway for the 120-yard men simply by building a short tee, which I did.”

CB Macdonald on the 18th at The Lido

25,000 square feet in size, the green on 18 is the course’s largest and provides three distinct plateaus. The back-right is the highest, followed by the back-left and then the front section.

The other Macdonald quote I enjoyed about this hole was mentioned by Peter Flory in GolfWeek’s hole-by-hole guide to the course:

“There is no hole in the world that would give a player who is one back in a match a better chance to catch his opponent than this one.”

CB Macdonald (via Peter Flory)

It’s easy to see all the incredible strategic elements built into this design that would allow players to make up or lose a stroke (or two) against the field.

America’s Next Must-Play Destination Courses

Along with the newly redesigned Karoo course at Cabot Citrus Farms, there are few courses in America golf enthusiasts are more excited to play than The Lido.

With its elite heritage and design elements, flawless execution of the construction plans and world-class playing experience, it delivers on all levels.

In just eight short years, Sand Valley Golf Resort has become one of the true capitals of American golf and one of the hottest golf destinations in the world.

The addition of The Lido to its existing stalwarts including the original Coore/Crenshaw-designed Sand Valley course, David McLay Kidd’s Mammoth Dunes, the 17-hole Sandbox (par three designed by Coore/Crenshaw) and soon-to-be-unveiled Sedge Valley (designed by Tom Doak) positions it favorably alongside other Mecca-like locations including Pinehurst, Pebble Beach, Kohler, Kiawah Island and Bandon Dunes.

Wisconsin golf enthusiasts are spoiled by the wealth of courses in the Dairy State, and Central Wisconsin has emerged as one of its brightest stars with ever-growing world-class golf at Sand Valley, SentryWorld and Stevens Point Country Club in Stevens Point, Wild Rock in Wisconsin Dells, Lawsonia in Green Lake and other great local courses like Bullseye and Lake Arrowhead just down the road from Sand Valley.

While The Lido will likely require considerable effort to get on, trust me that it’s worth it and do whatever you must to secure a tee time in 2024. It will be a round you’re sure to remember forever.

What do you think is America’s best golf resort?

The Eagle’s Nest Guest House

If your trip to Sand Valley and/or Lake Arrowhead will be with a large group of friends, I can’t recommend the Eagle’s Nest Guest Houses enough for the ultimate Nekoosa-area lodging.

Located just down the block from Sand Valley and Lake Arrowhead, the Eagle’s Nest boasts three beautiful homes that sleep 16 apiece in queen-sized beds and feature incredible amenities including full game rooms, beautifully updated furnishings and fixtures, fire pits and everything else you can imagine.

My family and I stayed at the Eagle’s Nest Guest House III during our last visit and it was the ultimate in luxury. For more on Eagle’s Nest, check out my recent destination overview for Lake Arrowhead, as well as their website, both linked below.

Eagle’s Nest Guest House website