Mining for golf gold in Sand Valley

The Morning Nine for Monday, January 13, 2014

    Writing from Chicago
    Monday, January 13, 2014

    A trip around the world of golf on a reasonable Monday morning, one that doesn’t bring visions of polar bears on Michigan Avenue. We start, however, by looking to the northwest.

    1. Sand Valley may not be the most evocative name at first blush, but what Chicagoan Mike Keiser is planning to accomplish in west central Wisconsin will make the complex a household word among golfers who seek out the best. As he did at Bandon Dunes in Oregon and Cabot Links in Nova Scotia – and did first at the Dunes Club in New Buffalo, for those fortunate few who can play it – Keiser wants to create an unparalleled destination for golf.
    At Sand Valley, currently a Christmas tree farm on 1,500 acres of rolling land 18 miles south of Wisconsin Rapids, Keiser will have two of his three prerequisites for great golf: sandy soil and a lot of room for a golf architect to find the best holes. He will not have No. 3: an ocean, the wind the flows from it, and the views that inspire. Neither does Sand Hills in western Nebraska, and that non-Keiser club’s single course, while remote, is one of the best in the world.
    Sand Hills was designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who have worked for Keiser at Bandon Dunes and Cabot Links, and have gotten the nod for the first course at Sand Valley.
    Coore and Crenshaw think alike, but are specialists. Coore leads the search for the proper routing, with Crenshaw’s say on green sites and the shape of green complexes taking precedent as a project moves along. They’re a perfect combination, whether it’s a new course or a touch-up of an old favorite, as the world will discover this June, when their restoration of Donald Ross’ Course No. 2 at Pinehurst hosts the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open in back-to-back weeks.

    2. So where is Sand Valley, exactly? A little more than halfway to the Twin Cities, and so far off the beaten path you need to leave bread crumbs. It’s the inland version of Bandon, Ore., in that regard. But closer than Keiser’s installation in Tasmania. really. Chicago is 247 miles away – roughly the distance to Ann Arbor, Mich. – while the Twin Cities is 193 miles out. Sand Valley is 54 miles north of Wisconsin Dells and 167 miles from Milwaukee.
    What’s it near? Well, there’s the town of Nekoosa, 2,600 strong, about a mile to the west. Nobody’s heard of it except those who live there and those who stumble into – and out of – the Lure Bar and Grill, hard on the bank of Petenwell Lake, a wide spot on the Wisconsin River. There’s a bridge to Saratoga, a marina and ... the potential for growth, once Keiser’s latest oasis is up and running. He’d like to start with two courses and a clubhouse with hotel, and go from there. But as he told Rory Spears, the market for a short-season course is different from a place like Bandon, which is open year-round. Much will depend on the acceptance of the first course, which is why the selection of Coore and Crenshaw is key. They’re likely to hit a home run.

    3. Keiser has an ace in the hole with Sand Valley that doesn’t exist with his other sites. It will be just close enough to Erin Hills and Kohler’s four courses Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits for well-heeled golf junkies to consider making a week of it and playing all of them. Fly into Milwaukee (or Wausau, 67 miles away). and go from there. Maybe he should invest in a helipad.

    4. Congrats to Ismael Perez, winner of Cog Hill’s Eskimo Open low net division with a 43 on January 5. Likewise, a tip o’ the toque to low net winner Randy Iatesia, who carded a 33. Actually, congratulations to all 35 who played nine holes for just surviving it in blizzard conditions, with snow coming in sideways and the big cold snap descending upon the area.

    5. Back to Bandon for a moment, or, to be accurate, a half-hour south of Bandon, which is to say, farther off the beaten path. There one will find the Knapp Ranch, perched on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, as does Bandon Dunes.
    And there, presuming the financing is firm, by 2016, one will find on a portion of that sand-dune strewn ranch Pacific Gales, fronted by Jim Haley of Highland, Ind., and designed by Chicago-area architect David Esler. His design calls for a double green for the ninth and 18th holes on a cliff overlooking the ocean. (Haley knew the area from working as a shaper on the first course at Bandon Dunes.)
    Esler’s best-known design around here is the 27 holes of Black Sheep Golf Club, an all-male enclave in the western boondocks. Anyone will be able to play Pacific Gales.

    6. Matt Fitzpatrick left Northwestern before some people knew he was there. The Englishman won the U.S. Amateur last year, before classes started in Evanston, and as of Thursday, he’s out the door, going back to merry old England to play amateur golf and ... that’s it. No school, apparently, just amateur tournaments and appearances in the three majors he gained exemptions to by winning the U.S. Am: The Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open.
    That makes us believe he’ll be like Johnny Manziel and be turning pro as soon as his final putt drops in the British – unless he waits to defend his title in the U.S. Am. Going pro, he’ll be able to ring up some healthy endorsements, and if he does well as a pro, he’ll be able to buy a school. The University of Phoenix, say.

    7. Want to learn how to play? Put down that copy of Golf Digest and hie yourself out to the White Pines Golf Dome on Thursday, where Illinois PGA pros will be giving free lessons from 5 to 9 p.m. These guys and gals know of what they speak.

    8. Condolences to the family and friends of Lee Milligan, the longtime pro at Barrington Hills Country Club. Milligan, 81, died last Monday in San Antonio, Texas, of complications from a spinal injury. A protege of Bill Erfurth at Lincolnshire Country Club in Crete, Milligan ran the shop at Barrington Hills through 2000. But his biggest claim to fame came when he was in Madison, Wis., and worked with a young lad at Nakoma Golf Club.
    Andy North grew up, stuck with Milligan, and won two U.S. Opens.
    “I’ve taken his advice to heart since I was 12 years old ... for 50 years,” North told the San Antonio Express-News. “He was one of the special people in my life.”

    9. Finally, it’s too bad Buddy Hackett’s not around any more. Golf Channel could station him at the 16th at Waialae Country Club, site of those four palm trees tilted just right, giving him a chance to say, “It’s the Big W!” every time. You’ve got to love a golf club where the members – especially the guy who was a fan of “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” have a sense of humor.

    – Tim Cronin