Golfweek’s Best Wisconsin: The top golf courses in a surprising state

Wisconsin offers some of the best public-access golf in the U.S., with elite courses that match up well with more well-known destinations.

Wisconsin has cheese, beer, snow and the Packers – everyone knows those. Perhaps surprising to those who don’t follow the sport closely, it also has more than a handful of the greatest golf courses in the United States.

Most people think of year-round sunny spots for good golf. Florida. California. Arizona. But by one significant metric for judging elite public-access golf, as compiled by Golfweek’s Best national panel of raters, the Badger State tops all those solar-drenched hot spots.

Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses, including the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as courses accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.

By averaging the scores of the top five public-access courses in each state, Golfweek has compiled a list of the top states for ultra-elite golf. Wisconsin ranks second in the U.S., behind what might be another surprise for some: Oregon. But while Oregon tops the list based mostly on the strength of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s four ranked courses, Wisconsin offers a much broader swath of great golf.

Wisconsin’s courses average a whopping 7.56 on the 2020 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list, behind Oregon’s 8.00. That puts Wisconsin ahead of California (7.55), Florida (7.34) and North Carolina (7.17). The median score among the 50 states is 6.28. For those with regional rivalries, Michigan is ranked No. 7 on the list with a 6.94 average for its top five courses, Minnesota is No. 16 at 6.47 and Illinois is No. 28 at 6.21. Take that, Bears fans.

Not surprising to golf aficionados is that Whistling Straits tops the state’s list of best public-access courses. The Straits course in Mosel, along the bluffs above Lake Michigan, has hosted three PGA Championships and will be the site of the 2021 Ryder Cup, the typically biennial matches between the top men tour pros from the U.S. and Europe that was pushed back from 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Pete Dye-designed supergiant founded by Herb Kohler has become the face of Wisconsin golf on television since it opened in 1997.

Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley in Wisconsin (Courtesy of Sand Valley/Evan Schiller)

But the Straits is hardly alone in excellence. In the past 15 years three other stalwarts have gained a large chunk of the national spotlight. Sand Valley, No. 2 in the state on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play, opened to great acclaim in 2016 with a Ben Crenshaw/Bill Coore routing that focused on classical design among massive sand dunes. Sand Valley’s Mammoth Dunes by David McLay Kidd followed in 2018 and has moved to No. 3 in the state. Lawsonia Links, at No. 4 the only top-ranked public-access course in the state built before 1960, still draws a crowd, and No. 5 Erin Hills opened in 2006 and hosted the 2017 U.S. Open.

It’s been quite the public-golf boom for a state with a relatively short golf season.

Badger state, be proud.

Still photos from the first drone session at Erin Hills, a daily fee destination golf course and resort in Erin, Wisconsin and site of the 2017 US Open Championship. The course was designed by Hurdzan/Fry and Ron Whitten and built by Landscapes Unlimited, LLC. It opened for play in 2006 and has already hosted the 2011 US Amateur Chanpionship and the 2008 Women's Amateur Public Links. Photograph and copyright by Paul Hundley, September, 2015. Drone piloted by Travis Waibel.
Erin Hills in Wisconsin (Courtesy of Erin Hills/Paul Hundley and Travis Waibel)

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020 in Wisconsin

1. Whistling Straits (Straits)

Mosel, (No. 7 on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses in the U.S.)

2. Sand Valley (Mammoth Dunes)

Nekoosa (No. 30 Modern)

3. Sand Valley (Sand Valley)

Nekoosa (No. 32 Modern)

4. Lawsonia (Links)

Green Lake (No. 66 Classic)

5. Erin Hills

Hartford (No. 80 Modern)

6. Blackwolf Run (River)

Kohler (No. 93 Modern)

7. Whistling Straits (Irish)

Mosel (No. 167 Modern)

8. Sentry World

Stevens Point (m)

9. Troy Burne

Hudson (m)

10. Blackwolf Run (Meadow Valleys)

Kohler (m)

11. University Ridge

Madison (m)

12. Wild Rock

Wisconsin Dells (m)

13. Geneva National (Gary Player)

Lake Geneva (m)

14. Big Fish

Hayward (m)

15.* The Bog

Saukville (m)

* New or returning to the list; c: Classic, built before 1960. m: Modern, built in 1960 or after

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses 2020 in Wisconsin

1. Milwaukee CC

Milwaukee (No. 45 Classic)

2. Blue Mound

Wauwatosa (c)

3. Oneida

Green Bay (c)

4. *Minocqua CC

Minocqua (m)

5. West Bend CC

West Bend (c)

* New or returning to the list; c: Classic, built before 1960. m: Modern, built in 1960 or after

Golfweek’s Best 2020

How we rate them

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.