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Several Wisconsin golf courses, such as The
American Club Kohler's River Course at Blackwolf
Run (above), had to close due to flooding.
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I hope you weren’t taking a golf vacation in the Midwest over the last two weeks. I recently spent four days in and around Milwaukee, Wisc., and I witnessed first hand the damage left by the record storms that ripped through the area.
While all golf courses were affected to some degree, those located in low lying areas or routed along the state’s many rivers were hardest hit. For example, during my midweek visit, The American Club Kohler’s two golf courses at Blackwolf Run (the River Course and the Meadows Valley course) were outright closed (nine holes on each have since reopened as of early this week), as was Milwaukee Country Club. Kohler’s golf courses at Whistling Straits (the Straits Course and The Irish Course) were open.
Brown Deer Golf Course, home to the PGA Tour’s US Bank Championship (formerly known as the Greater Milwaukee Open), was open for play, but with lots of standing water in the bunkers and, to a lesser extent, on the golf course. Use of carts was prohibited.
The Bull at Pinehurst Farms in Sheboygan had 16 holes open with cart path only rules in effect. In better shape was Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, which not only had all 19 holes (yes, 19!) open for play, but offered a discounted green fee because of some modest standing water, primarily on the 12th and 17th holes. Regularly 8,266 yards from the back black tees, it probably would have been playing over 10,000 yards given the lack of roll if one was crazy enough to play from the tippy tips.
Somewhat surprisingly, the golf course that seemed best able to handle the rainfall was the one named, The Bog, a very good Arnold Palmer design located midway between Milwaukee and The American Club Kohler. Not only were all 18 holes open for play, but carts were permitted on the fairways (90 degree rule). We only saw minimal water damage, primarily in some of the bunkers.
A brief check of other Midwest golf resorts revealed that most weathered the storms reasonably well; soggy but little permanent damage. Having said that, given what we witnessed, you should not expect great golf course conditions if a Midwest golf vacation is in your immediate plans. The Midwest had a terrible winter with extremely cold temperatures interspersed with periods of heavy snow, so many golf courses were behind the eight ball from a conditioning standpoint even before the record rainfall.
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Speaking of course conditions, readers of our flagship newsletter know that it is a big deal to us. Bumpy, aerated greens can kill a golf vacation, which is why we include maintenance schedules as part of the golf course reviews we publish in Golf Odyssey. If valuable information and advice like this is important to you, too, I suggest that you try Golf Odyssey for free. In addition to the next two issues, you'll get instant access to our entire online archive, an invaluable tool for researching your next trip.
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