New North home to top public golf courses
The love of golf runs deep in the New North. The 18-county region is home to six golf courses ranked in the top 100 of the Top Public Golf Courses in America by Golf Digest. The magazine also named Wisconsin as the top state for public golf in its February 2024 edition.
It’s rare to find so many exceptional public golf courses so close together. Five are in Sheboygan County while the sixth is located less than 90 minutes away. That close proximity makes the New North an ideal getaway for golf enthusiasts.
The six golf courses earning honors include the Straits Course at Whistling Straits in northern Sheboygan County, which came in at No. 4. Other regional courses making the list include the River course at Blackwolf Run in Kohler (No. 18), the Irish Course at Whistling Straits (No. 56), the Links course at Lawsonia in Green Lake (No. 62), the Meadow Valleys course at Blackwolf Run (No. 74) and The Bull at Pinehurst Farms in Sheboygan Falls (No. 88).
“Wisconsin — named here as the best state for public golf — prioritizes excellent public-access courses but lack as many elite private clubs of many other states,” Drew Powell wrote in Golf Digest.
An avid golfer, Robyn Buss, a retired executive at Ahlstrom-Munksjo in Kaukauna, has played on several public golf courses in the region and is impressed with their quality.
“We have so many great courses in the region. We have some larger courses that get a lot of attention, but our smaller public courses are good quality, too,” she said. “Golf is a great activity. It’s not just the physical activity but it’s also about getting outside and spending time connecting with other people.”
The Straits course gained international attention when it hosted the 2021 Ryder Cup, which was watched by millions across the globe. The course also hosted three PGA Championships and the 2007 U.S. Senior Open.
People from around the world now come to play at The Straits course. Golf Digest wrote “Pete Dye transformed a dead flat abandoned army air base along a two-mile stretch of Lake Michigan into an imitation Ballybunion at Whistling Straits, peppering his rugged fairways and windswept greens with 1,012 (at last count) bunkers. There are no rakes at Whistling Straits, in keeping with the notion that this is a transplanted Irish links.”
Buss has played the Kohler courses and praised their accessibility to everyone.
“You must be organized and plan ahead, but you can get a tee time. They are beautiful courses to play on, and to have the opportunity to play on these world-class courses is just amazing,” she said.
That accessibility, along with the quality of other public golf courses, makes the region a great place to live for those who golf.
“Golf can be a healthy social activity that you can do with friends or people from work. There are a lot of golf outings and opportunities to get out and enjoy the region’s courses,” Buss said.
One of these outings in particular helps raise millions of dollars in a single day to fight poverty in the region each year.
The U.S. Venture Open takes places at six golf courses in the New North from Green Bay to Oshkosh. This year’s event is being held Aug. 14 and includes 950 golfers and 1,200 dinner attendees who will hear from former University of Wisconsin and Houston Texans football player J.J. Watt.
All the money raised goes to the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, a nonprofit organization that supports organizations advancing equity and economic well-being for everyone in the region. Last year, $4.8 million was raised at the event.
“You won’t find many communities able to do that,” said Dawn Ruchala, who manages the U.S. Venture Open for U.S. Venture. “There’s not another golf outing like this out there. It’s unique not only in Wisconsin, but we think nationwide. If you attend, it’s an event you will never forget.”
Mary Beth Matzek
Owner, 1BizzyWriter
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