Golf Destinations

Looking to schedule golf in a new-to-you region? Check out WiscoGolfAddict.com’s reviews and recommendations for some of the top golf destinations across the country.

Tobacco Road: The Most Magnificent Mike Strantz Mayhem

While this Mike Strantz charmer in the Carolina sandhills may have taken some time to grow in stature and notoriety, it’s arrived. Very few, if any, courses in the country possess the cache it is so thickly steeped in these days, and the playing experience more than backs it up.

West Bend Country Club: The Best Front Nine in Wisconsin

Langford & Moreau’s front nine masterpiece at @westbendcc is an awe-inspiring trek across stunning post-glacial land with some of the best, most wonderfully constructed greens south of @lawsoniagolf, and is one of the #Milwaukee area’s finest golf experiences.

Strawberry Creek: Kenosha’s Modern Private Club Experience

Along with SentryWorld, Green Bay and Horseshoe Bay, Strawberry Creek provides one of the state’s premier modern golf experiences with an excellent new-age track and incredible amenities. The course is chocked full of challenge and intrigue, has superb conditioning and would be a delight to play on a regular basis.

The Wisconsin Dream 18: The State’s Best Golf Holes

While the idea behind this post is not original, it’s a fun practice and one I’ve tried a dozen or so times in the past but got too frustrated to finish. I decided to give it a go again, especially as I reflect on what was a great season of golf in Wisconsin and look…

The Lido: America’s Next Great Golf Course, Again

The most highly anticipated course development of our time just might be The Lido, a private club adjacent to Sand Valley Golf Resort that’s being built as a carbon copy of the world’s greatest ever NLE golf course.

Kiva Dunes: Links-Style Golf in Gulf Shores

Kiva Dunes’ challenging layout, awesome green complexes, windswept topography and beachside property lend it a memorable coastal vibe that’s everything I dream of when visiting down south, and its links-like design makes it truly unique to the region.

The Pond Might Be Good for You

Written by Gregg Thompson Ever dreamt of building your own backyard par 3 golf course? That’s exactly what Gregg Thompson is doing at his home in Kenosha.

The Gulf Coast Road Trip, Part 2: Coastal Mississippi

If the Secret Coast is still a secret to you, give this deep south destination a deeper look. It’s a charming area that leaves visitors feeling welcomed and like they’re getting terrific value, and would make for a fun and unique vacation experience as a buddies’ golf trip, couples getaway or family vacation.

Gulf Shores & Coastal MS: The “Gulf Coast Road Trip”

Whether in Gulf Shores or Coastal Mississippi, vacation-goers can expect incredible food in this part of our great country. Shrimps, fish, scallops, oysters and lobster all come from the same shores you’re dining along, and the pricing for such ridiculously fresh and well-prepared cuisine – especially in Mississippi – provides Midwesterners a wonderful sense of…

Seabrook Island Club (Crooked Oaks)

Seabrook Island is a charming, low-key vacation spot down the road from more world-famous courses. Its own 36 holes are worth checking out, including the beautiful Robert Trent Jones-designed Crooked Oaks.

Pioneer Pointe: Madison’s New Par 3 Experience

The newest golf course in the Madison area, Pioneer Pointe in Verona is an awesome 13-hole par three track designed by Lohmann Quitno that features great Golden Age designs. This is not your average executive course!

Glen Erin Golf Club: Wisconsin’s Best Hidden Gem?

One of what I consider to be the state’s top hidden gems, the Greg Martin designed Glen Erin Golf Club in Janesville is a fantastic daily fee course with incredibly upscale design elements at an affordable price tag, and one of my top 25 public courses in Wisconsin.

Streamsong Resort Expanding With 18-Hole Coore & Crenshaw Short Course

With three 18-hole championship courses already open and thriving, and the resort’s 10-year anniversary underway, the time is right for expansion, and this investment in the facility’s infrastructure is a smart, strategic one that will allow guests to play more golf on-site in less time for a more affordable price tag.

The Baths at Blackwolf Run: Kohler’s Newest Golf Experience

The newest golf amenity at Destination Kohler, The Baths at Blackwolf Run is the perfect way to spend an hour or four before, between or following rounds on their championship courses. Designed in partnership between former Pete Dye protege Chris Lutzke and Herb Kohler, Jr., The Baths is an incredibly fun golf experience featuring Golden…

Blackwolf Run, Meadow Valleys: Wisconsin’s Best Back 9

As I wrote in my recent stream-of-consciousness entry “The State of the Game of Golf in Wisconsin,” destination golf in the Badger State began in earnest at Blackwolf Run. Development of its Original Championship course marked the start of a long and successful partnership between Herb Kohler and Pete Dye, and proved to be the…

Sand Valley: The Course that Put Rome on the Map

The original Sand Valley Course is my favorite at this world-class Wisconsin golf resort that in just 5 short years has made a significant impact on golf in the state of Wisconsin. And this is just the beginning.

Erin Hills Golf Course: A Legend at 15

When on-site, it’s almost impossible to comprehend that it’s just 15 years old. It’s got all the looks and feels of a historic property that’s been played and refined for centuries. Certainly, no course in America has changed and accomplished more in as short a period of time as Erin Hills, going under the knife…

Quintero Golf Club (AZ)

A deserving top 100 public golf course in the country, and top 3 in the state of Arizona, Quintero Golf Club in Peoria features desert golf at its finest: Challenging and strategic target golf with impeccable conditions, beautiful scenery and some of the most memorable par threes anywhere.

Medinah Country Club, Course 1 (IL): Medinah’s Best Golf Course?

My favorite of the three courses at Medinah Country Club, Course 1 features great design, terrific routing and the best of all worlds: A lot of wide, forgiving fairways with strategic playability, great par 3’s and 5’s and a little bit of tree-lined parkland style thrown in for good measure.

The Club at Lac La Belle: An August Morning Photo Shoot

Last month I had a 9 am tee time with my cousin, Frank, at The Club at Lac La Belle. I’d been there earlier in the season, and several other times for preview play and had a good idea of the shots – especially drone shots – I most wanted to get…. Here are some…

Bullseye Golf Club: A Fun Add-On to Your Sand Valley Vacation

Bullseye Golf Club is a terrific course to add to the itinerary of a trip to Sand Valley Golf Resort, but as a “Pro tip” I highly recommend playing it before playing Mammoth Dunes. It would be hard to find two more diametrically opposed golf courses… If you’re a fan of classic parkland courses, Bullseye…

Sand Valley, Mammoth Dunes: McLay Kidd’s Midwest Masterpiece

David McLay Kidd has designed some of the most vast, fun-filled golf courses of the 21st Century. Beginning with the break-through of all break-throughs, Bandon Dunes in 1999, Kidd has led developments at Nanea Golf Club in Hawaii (2003), the Castle Course at St Andrews (2008), Tetherow in his now home town of Bend, Oregon…

The Club at Lac La Belle: A Preview of What’s to Come

A top 3-rated golf course design project in the world in 2020, June 20, 2020’s grand opening of The Club at Lac La Belle is sure to be a momentous occasion for the Oconomowoc course with roots to the 1890’s and some of the game’s greatest competitive players. Course architect Craig Haltom’s work is sure…

Black Sheep Golf Club (IL): A Slice of Heaven in Sugar Grove

One of the top 100 overall golf courses in the country, Black Sheep Golf Club outside of Chicago, Illinois, is a men’s only private club with a fantastic logo and an even better golf course. Boasting 27 holes of linksy David Esler designed golf, owner Vince Solano has successfully developed an out-of-this-world-good golf experience with…

Blue Mound Golf and Country Club: A Raynor Classic

One of the top private club experiences in the state of Wisconsin, Blue Mound Golf & Country Club boasts a top 200 golf course designed by one of the industry’s true legends, Seth Raynor. Blue Mound’s 93-year-old course is highlighted by some fantastic Raynor/Macdonald template holes and especially by the area’s biggest and best green…

Updated Golf Course Review: The Bog (linked)

It had been since March 2012 since I last played The Bog in Saukville, Wisconsin, and every year at the Milwaukee Golf Expo I’d see Andy and the guys and tell them I’ll find my way back to re-photograph and play the course in more ideal conditions. It’s been one of those reviews that bothered…

Mistwood Golf Club (IL)

The journey of Mistwood Golf Club over the past 20 years has been well documented and for good reason: This is a fantastic public golf destination and an incredibly well run operation. The first thing you’ll notice at Mistwood is its facilities. The bag drop is just outside the pro shop, downstairs from their Scottish-style…

Grand Geneva, The Brute

My updated review of the Brute course at Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. A classic Midwest golf course with tons of history, Brute-ishly large design features and a new transportation option unique in Wisconsin: GolfBoarding.

Kiawah Island, Cougar Point (SC)

My review of the beautiful Gary Player designed (and recently redesigned) Cougar Point golf course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island, SC.

The Sandbox at Sand Valley Golf Resort: 17 Holes of Coore/Crenshaw Fun

The perfect complement to the championship golf experience at Sand Valley Golf Resort in Rome, Wisconsin, the Sandbox is a beautiful 17-hole par 3 course designed by golf design legends Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. I briefly discuss the Sandbox here, documenting and photographing it during its opening day on May 1, 2018.

Golf Course Review: The Oconee at Reynolds Lake Oconee (GA)

My review of The Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, GA. I’m told the best time to visit Reynolds is paired with a trip to The Masters – I hope to do that someday! The Oconee and Great Waters courses are truly travel-worthy tracks at this Georgia gem.

Medinah CC Course 2: The Unveiling (IL)

An introduction to Rees Jones’s newly renovated Course 2 at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago, IL. A wonderful media day experience with Rees Jones and the accommodating staff of Medinah CC on May 24, 2017. This trend-setting new course is set to debut in Summer, 2017.

Great Waters at Reynolds Lake Oconee (GA)

My review of Jack Nicklaus’s beautiful Great Waters course at Reynolds Plantation Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia. The back nine features some of the most picturesque holes in the Southeast. @reynoldsgolf

RTJ Golf Trail at Ross Bridge (AL)

After staying at the Marriott Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort in Birmingham/Hoover, AL this week, I took the opportunity to stay an extra day to check out my first Robert Trent Jones golf course: RTJ at Ross Bridge. This is a phenomenal golf course – long, too, at 8,191 yards from the tips! It’s actually…

Kiawah Island, Osprey Point (SC)

My wife, Kelly, and I got married at North Hills Country Club in Menomonee Falls on September 24 and left Wisconsin the following Monday for South Carolina for a much needed and enjoyable honeymoon. The deal was that I would get to play two rounds of golf on our honeymoon. I took full advantage with rounds at the…

Kiawah Island, Ocean Course (SC)

Kiawah Island, Ocean Course Rankings: Golf Digest: #3 US public, #1 South Carolina, #20 US top 100, #44 worldGolfWeek: #1 South Carolina, #8 resort, #15 US modernGolf.com: #1 South Carolina, #6 US public, #50 world, #25 US top 100 Designer: Pete Dye (1991) The Ocean course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort has always been a…

Sand Valley Golf Course

A full 18-hole review of the brand new Sand Valley Golf Resort in Rome, Wisconsin – site of the 2016 Illinois vs. Wisconsin Writer’s Cup and set to open in Spring, 2017 to coincide with the US Open at Erin Hills

2016 Wisconsin vs. Illinois Writers Cup at Sand Valley Golf Resort

Following a tour of the front nine at last year’s Sand Valley media day, a reference to the Wisconsin vs. Illinois Writers Cup was made to which Mike Keiser, Jr. immediately replied: “Can we host next year’s event here!?” The Writers Cup alternates between Wisconsin and Illinois courses each year, with last year’s event played at…

Milwaukee Country Club Takes Back #1 Spot

Even though I was very impressed with the course the first time I played Milwaukee Country Club, I then played Pine Hills a handful of times since then and in my mind moved Pine Hills ahead of Milwaukee. It had been a few years since the last time I played Wisconsin’s most prestigious private golf…

Sand Valley: Preview Play Now Open!

Interest in the Sand Valley project in Rome, Wisconsin is palpable. The article I wrote on America’s next great golf destination following their August, 2015 media day has now become the most popular course review I have ever written, and I literally get asked several times a week about the resort’s progress. That progress has been rolling along smoothly, and…

Streamsong Resort: Hanse’s Black Course is on Track

Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive” did a nine-minute feature on the progress of Gil Hanse’s Black course at Streamsong Resort in Streamsong, Florida last week: Golf Channel Morning Drive: Streamsong Black Feature (12/9/15) The Black course will be the third 18-hole course at Streamsong, which burst on to the national/international golf scene in 2012 with the Red…

Sand Valley Golf Resort: In Case You’ve Been Living in a Cave

By this time, I’m pretty certain the majority of golf enthusiasts in and around the state of Wisconsin have heard a few things about Mike Keiser’s ongoing project in Rome, Wisconsin, named Sand Valley. The first course, being designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, is scheduled to open to founding members in 2016 and…

Lawsonia’s Links Course: The Langford Shield and William Langford’s Contributions to Golf Course Design

The Langford Shield Golf Tournament: The Langford Shield golf tournament on the Links course at Lawsonia in Green Lake, Wisconsin, was created last year to honor the significant contributions made to golf course architecture by the legendary golf course design team of William Langford and Theodore Moreau. The Links course at Lawsonia is perhaps the…

Golf Course Review: Pumpkin Ridge, Witch Hollow (OR)

Pumpkin Ridge, Witch Hollow Rankings: Golf Digest: #8 OregonGolfWeek: #151 US Modern Courses Designer: Bob Cupp (1992) Most golf enthusiasts are familiar with the Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge for a number of reasons: It opened in 1992 as one of the top two new courses in the country; it still hosts an annual…

Great Golf Holes: Streamsong, Red Course #18 (FL)

Streamsong’s Red course, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, was named by Golf Digest as the number one new course in the country in 2013, and Streamsong’s resort has thrived over the past two years to become the country’s hottest golf destination. The Red course ends in fantastic fashion, with a sensational par three sixteenth over…

Golf Course Review: The Chicago Highlands Club (IL)

Packers vs. Bears. Brewers vs. Cubs. Badgers vs. Fighting Illini. Tollways and terrible traffic vs. free highways and backroads. Wisconsin and Illinois folks don’t always get along, but we do all love golf. For the past twenty years, golf writers from Wisconsin have contested golf writers from Illinois in the annual “Writer’s Cup,” a 27-hole…

Great Golf Holes: Lawsonia, Links #7

One of my favorite golf holes in all of Wisconsin is the par three seventh on the Links course at The Golf Courses of Lawsonia. Lawsonia has earned high acclaim from the media for decades, and in the past year has held steady as one of Wisconsin’s very best, including: Golf Digest # 12 in…

Sand Valley: The Next Big Thing is [Almost] Here

In 2013, Oliphant Vice President of Golf Management and Project Development, Craig Haltom, contacted Mike Keiser about a piece of land in remote Central Wisconsin that he just had to check out. Keiser, the prolific developer behind Bandon Dunes, Cabot Cliffs and other ongoing international golf resort projects, works closely with the Wisconsin-based Haltom and trusted his…

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