Top 10 I’ve played with my theoretical top 5 that I need to play ASAP.
Played:
Want/need to:
Whoa. I guess I need to find a way up there. My wife and I are currently in discussions about spending the month of June in the northwoods (assuming we can find a place with reasonable wifi & cell signal) and if that happens I will definitely be looking for access to MCC.
My Top 10, on the fly and subject to change:
Also receiving votes:
Blue Mound (played it too early in the season for the greens to really ‘work’ as intended), The Bull, Forest Ridges at Lakewoods (half set, barefoot, hammered only), BWR - Meadow Valley
I’m sure I missed a ton that I am forgetting after giving this all of 3 minutes of thought.
I will toss out my top ten:
Honorable Mention in no order:
Sentry World
North Shore CC Mequon Red/White (current home club)
North Hills CC
Bishops Bay CC (Shoutout @KC_Badger)
La Crosse CC
Troy Burne
West Bend CC
I called it MCC once and got chastised because “that’s the club in Milwaukee that isn’t as good”. Should you make the journey north, I would quite happily make that drive to come and play if you’d have me. Know a few members, so access is never an issue.
This sounds delightful!
We have spent several years renting a place on lake namakagon and the move was to boat over with 1 bag that my wife, bro in law, and I would all play out of, hitch a ride across the street to the course and then drink all the beers while slapping it around. Short, scrappy, slow greens, but fun as hell and tons of land movement #woke
Also, I haven’t played 5 of your top 6 and it brings me great shame. Was supposed to hit Pine Hills & West Bend this spring but, ya know, things didn’t pan out as expected.
Unrelated. It’s an absolute downpour in Verona right now. Reminds me of the day I played Ballybunion… I want to go back to Ireland so bad.
The only time we ever play is after a day that starts at Lake Placid, moves to Minocqua CC, drinks/food on the deck and somebody talking shit. The obvious answer is to leave the beautiful golf course we are on and go over to Forest Ridges to settle things all before going back to the compound (dude I spend most of my time there bough an old resort) to drink and gamble the night away.
Which of them did you play? Guessing its SV, but want to check. Pine hills and I have a love/hate relationship. It ejects me so damned hard at times while regularly being sure that I have just enough fun that I can’t wait to go back.
Same, sir, same. The shower in the clubhouse after was a top 5 life moment for me I think.
@midwestgolfbum, I 've played BM G&C & SV, so 1 of 5, not 2 of 6. I played Blue Mound in early May so the greens weren’t quite dialed fast enough to really use the slopes (although I did hit the top right of the mega-redan and watched it roll all the way across the green into the left bunker - sick!).
Well, I don’t have any of your aristocratic CC course access, so mine is quite public in nature. I think the only privates I’ve played in WI are Beloit CC, Rockford CC, Nakoma GC, and Butte Des Morts CC, and they were all fine as far as I can remember.
Anyhoo, here we go:
Honorable mention to 2 courses that are supposed to be good but I can’t remember them: Thornberry Creek (played a million year ago) and Big Fish (played several years ago with one of the biggest hangovers of my life).
Forgot to add, absolutely hate The Bull, and I haven’t been to SV yet…have to make it next year.
This is the correct take.
I’ll give my top 10 courses a go as well - definitely don’t have access to all of the CC around the state, so mainly public
Want/Need:
Throwing Reid in there really brought back some memories
Completely fair take. If you aren’t absolutely golfing your ball it’s 4 hours of getting punched in the face. But on the flipside I think it is one of the better Nicklaus courses I’ve played if you are hitting it straight off the tee. Some fun holes through the woods.
I would like to play LLB again next year to see if I like it because its a good course or just because I had a very special round there. Seemed like it lost the plot a bit in the start/middle of the back 9 but I loved the front and the 16-18 finish.
Really enjoyed the front and 16-18 at LLB as well. Shot my personal best there so my view on it is definitely skewed. Looking forward to getting back there next year after it has grown in.
Since I got this going, kind of…
Of those that I’ve played
Somehow living in Wisconsin my entire life, the only full private I’ve played is Nakoma. Also never played in Lake Geneva.
Ha. Next topic! Best clubhouse shower!
Castle Stuart
I played it a few years ago after not playing there since high school. It was a ton of fun and even had a few improvements. Would definitely play there semi-regularly if I still lived in the area. Also played High Cliff that same weekend…another nostalgia tour.
We will have to change that before the end of 2021 then, we have “Ope”-in and matchplay planning to do!
I’m game for that.
Coming from a small town that didn’t have a private golf course within at least a 45 minute drive, then moving to Madison for school where URidge was so cheap, then starting work where I was just trying to survive, to economic downturns, to a mortgage, and now kids… Private golf has always been just a bit beyond my reach and/or outside my social circles.
Definitely haven’t played Reid in a while, but was a couple of times per week track growing up. My dad is still in a league out there and is keeping me in the loop on the improvements. I’m definitely going to miss the Creeks at Ivy Acres (RIP…)