Erin Hills
September 2023 – Erin Hills was the middle course in our five-day, five-course Wisconsin guys’ golf smorgasbord. We started at the Sand Valley courses and ended in Whistling. Great trip if you’re so inclined. I will not go into a hole-by-hole score because I played what had to be my worst round in five years here. I also didn’t let that level of golf crappiness take away from my enjoyment of this course. This is a great course and certainly deserving of the high praise it is getting from the golf mags: #48 in Golf Digest US courses, #65 in Golfweek’s Top 100 Modern courses, though shunned by Golf Mag. I ranked it as #60 in my personal rankings.
The experience is very cool. We stayed at the cottages here which rank right up there with any on-course lodging options I’ve experienced. The clubhouse is right out of the Irish countryside and there are two main buildings here with a neat little Irish Pub in the one pictured above. The meal we had was top notch as well. They have a great lighted putting green that features 18 holes with crazy hobs and knolls and is great for post-dinner wagering.
I think we played the green/white combos which measure over 6,500 yards. The whites are 6,100 so I am using the tee shaming excuse as to why I played so bad but didn’t mark it down. Just checked GHIN and I can confirm I played the green/white combos and that rates/slopes to a 72.0/132 so it is tough. Here’s a lesson, don’t get tee shamed. If you’re a bogey golfer like me, don’t allow the good golfers to force you back to the blues or tougher tees. You should play from where you will best enjoy the course and let them heckle and belittle you but you’ll enjoy the course more.
One is a 512-yard-par-5 measuring 512 yards from the greens. You see your landing area is pinched by sand and the green juts out into a marshy area. Very tough opener (#3 handicap) with the marsh haunting you all along the left.
From the landing area on two. A short par four playing 316 yards from the whites.
Three is a 404-yard-par-four from the greens. Love how each hole is framed by the fescue dunes. There is a great history on Erin Hills and its origination and design changes it made to get the US Open in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Four measures 385 yards from the whites with nasty fairway bunkers toying with your long drive or approach.
Five is another 400+ yarder in what seems to be an unrelenting number of longish holes to open your round. People throw around the word “gauntlet” too often but for the first five holes here it really fits.
Finally six is your first par three and from the whites is only 176 yards. Only. Uphill. To a well-protected green.
Not sure why I called the first five holes a gauntlet, it really could be the first 18 holes. Seven is the number one handicap, a 487-yard-par-five from the whites so you know it has to be tough at that length to be the #1 handicap.
Eight gives you a huge break from the whites. 365 yards versus 415 yards from the greens. But look at that approach. This is a tough, tough course.
Yay – nine is a downhill short par three with the halfway house beckoning on the right for you to grab some cocktails to try and forget your score.
Ten starts another gauntlet, 421 yards. Uphill. Nasty fescue abounds. The theme at this point for me was…It Ain’t Easy. When you climb to the top of the mountain, Look out over the sea, Think about the places perhaps Where a young man could be…
Eleven. Just 353 yards from the greens. While this is finally a break, by this point you’re so punch drunk you can’t even take advantage of a relatively easy golf hole.
Number 12 zig zags 370 yards to the green. At this point in the round I was soaking in the course and actually happy as hell with bogeys.
Thirteen is a great par three with water that looks more menacing than it really is. It is the 18 handicap playing 162 yards from the whites.
The green tees on 14 push this par five to over 500 yards and it is the #2 handicap. Again by now I was very happy with bogeys.
Fifteen is just 346 from the whites but you see the fairway bunkers messing with your drive. Then a huge uphill green that repels your approach.
Sixteen is an uphill 140-yard par three.
Seventeen is a blind drive unless you push it right where you are then contending with some fescue and an uneven lie. 385 yards.
Eighteen. OK so I got kicked in the nuts for 17 holes so how do we wrap up the round? Let’s try a 622-yard par five from the greens. A tough closer for a tough course.
A picture of our group from nine including Erik who was wearing his best Vikings garb.
Golf Scrapbook 