I’d like to start by addressing the headline on which many have focused: This week’s 25 and 24 match play loss to my friend Stephen Watson of Bally Sports Wisconsin.
Those numbers are jarring and I make no excuses for them – although you can’t get beaten that badly unless you sign up for a match of historic proportions. That’s what we did this week – attempting to (and succeeding in!) playing the top 10 public golf courses in Wisconsin over a stretch of just under 40 hours.
You may be asking yourself how this came together and what on earth the point of this feat was, which are both great questions. This golf marathon started as the brainchild of Rob Jansen, the Executive Director of the fantastic Wisconsin State Golf Association. Rob tries to one-up himself each year by using his tourism budget to perform different feats that show the rest of the world what a fantastic golf state we have here in Wisconsin. In fact, the golf is so good that the state contains 10 of the country’s top 100 public golf courses, a perfect framework for this challenge.
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In the past, the WSGA has done a lot to show off the breadth and depth of Wisconsin public golf, but one thing Rob and the crew wanted to focus on this year was just how accessible they are in a short amount of time. With high concentrations of great golf around Kohler and Sand Valley, he wondered how quickly we could cross off the top 10 and started to build out an itinerary. Stephen and I were happy to be the guinea pigs.
I actually laughed out loud the first time I saw the itinerary spelled out. While it was all technically possible, any small speed bump (a slow group in front of us, a road construction delay, a long Culver’s wait, etc.) would cause a domino effect that could derail an entire day.
Somehow, thanks to Rob disarming various landmines along the way, we avoided any of those and finished with daylight to spare at Erin Hills.
For those interested in the blow-by-blow, Stephen and I ran through the whole trip on his local golf radio show, which you can listen to here.
For the visually-inclined: We were so lucky to be joined on the trip by the uber-talented duo of Jason Jahnke and Dylan Bloch, who not only captured all the stills contained here but will also be producing a short film for the WSGA, chronicling the journey and showing off each course in much more detail. Look for that sometime in the next few months.
ITINERARY
After meeting in Kohler on Saturday night and having exactly two (2) Old Fashioneds, this was the itinerary Rob had put together (with plenty of help from all the participating courses). Stephen and I decided the best competition would be a 180-hole match for a cold beer. I was disappointed to not get the match to the final course, but credit to my opponent for some excellent golf.
Sunday, July 9
3:45 a.m.: Wake up at The American Club.
4:50 a.m.: Balls in the air at Whistling Straits (Irish Course). We needed to be off the Straits Course before the first public tee time at 7 a.m., so we played in carts for 1 hour, 46 minutes.
6:50 a.m.: First off at Whistling Straits (Straits Course). Walked in 2:46 and finished No. 18 as the first public group of the day was walking off 9 green.
9:45 a.m.: 15-minute drive to Blackwolf Run for a 10 a.m. tee time at The River Course. This was our longest round of the trip as we ran into a full golf course of public play after about 3 holes. Rode in 3:46.
2:20 p.m.: Tee time on Blackwolf Run’s Meadow Valleys course. Rode in 3:28. (FWIW, Stephen shot even par and put me 18 down with 108 to play. High-level golf is being played by him at this point.)
5:50 p.m.: 10-minute drive to The Bull at Pinehurst Farms. Public play had mostly cleared out by this point and we were able to fly around in carts in 2 hours.
8:00 p.m.: Pack up the van, stop at Culver’s and KwikTrip, and eventually make our way toward Sand Valley.
12:10 a.m.: Arrive at Sand Valley, shower, unpack, lay out clothes and fall asleep by 12:40 a.m.
Monday, July 10
3:50 a.m.: Wake up, stretch, drive to Mammoth Dunes. This was the low point for me. Pure anxiety about the lack of sleep and the 6-mile run/walk ahead of us.
4:40 a.m.: On the tee at Mammoth Dunes (walking only), teeing off with glow balls to buy extra time and doing a good bit of running between shots. Like Whistling Straits, we needed to be done with Mammoth and off Sand Valley before the first public tee time at 6:50 a.m. Our caddies Rose and Sawyer knew what they were signing up for and embraced the assignment. We ran/walked around Mammoth Dunes in an hour and 43 minutes. Somehow I shot 76. Mammoth is so fun.
6:30 a.m.: Off Sand Valley with Rose and Sawyer for a leisurely 2:23 stroll.
9 a.m.: 50-minute drive to SentryWorld in Stevens Point. The golf course is closed on Mondays, so we had the place to ourselves. Because they just got done hosting the U.S. Senior Open, it still took an hour and 45 minutes. Unbelievable rough.
11:52 a.m.: Rob decides we have built in an extra “8 minutes” to take a shower, which may have been what made the rest of the day possible.
12:00 p.m.: 1:15 minute drive to Lawsonia for a 1:30 p.m. tee time on the Links Course. Even at this point of the day, I can’t stress to you how much fun Lawsonia was. It was blowing 20 and the place was completely burned out and firm. It looked like the freaking “Duel in the Sun” out there. Hitting pitching wedges from 160 and watching the ball bounce around all over the place. What a golf course. We whipped around in carts in 2:12. Stephen closed me out with an excellent up and down from the bunker on 12.
3:45 p.m.: Coffees and a 90-minute drive to Erin Hills.
5:30 p.m.: On the tee at Erin with our guy Dominic Cotroneo (from Episode 1 of Strapped: Spring Training) on the bag. The hands had totally disappeared at this point. I made doubles from 55 yards and 105 yards respectively on Nos. 2 and 4. But a gallery of friendlies (and some double Fescue Rescues) began showing up at the turn and I somehow made three birdies and shot 35 on the final nine. Insanity.
Final putts hit the hole just before 8:30 p.m.
COURSE RANKINGS
As you can imagine, we didn’t have much time to look around at each place, so please take these for what you will.
1. Erin Hills: Such a phenomenal collection of golf holes, 1 to 18. One of the biggest hikes around (and a tough place to finish), but it’s one of those places where golf really feels like a “sport” in the best way. Great facility, great people, great cocktails. The 2025 U.S. Women’s Open is going to rule.
Score: 82
Favorite hole: No. 15. (Honorable mention: No. 12).
2. Whistling Straits (Straits): Every time you walk around there, it somehow feels like you’re simultaneously in quintessential rural Wisconsin and on a different planet. Snobs will happily remind you that it doesn’t play like a true links, which is true. But there are also few cooler places to spend a gorgeous day chasing your golf ball. Par 3s quickly suss out who is up for the task.
Score: Source: https://nolayingup.com/blog/my-wisconsin-golf-marathon