This is far from a comprehensive list of all golf architects that have done work in Wisconsin. Instead, this list is limited to the architects that I believe have had the greatest impact on the golf landscape in the state. Impact is difficult to measure, but I believe it can be calculated by the number of courses they designed and/or the influence of their courses on Wisconsin golf’s image. This list is not necessarily a reflection of whether I like or dislike the designs of a particular architect, but in each case the architect in focus has enhanced the state of golf in Wisconsin.

Larry Packard (1912-2014)

Born in Massachusetts, Edward Lawrence (Larry) Packard attended Massachusetts State College and graduated with a degree in Landscape Architecture. He started off his career working as a landscape architect for the National Park Service in Maine, the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Massachusetts, and finally for the Chicago Park District. In 1946, Packard decided to venture into the world of golf course architecture and began to work under architect Robert Bruce Harris. He remained on Harris’ staff for eight years before teaming up with Brent Wadsworth to form the design firm of Packard and Wadsworth. Not too long after, the two split apart and formed their own firms, Packard’s focused on golf course design and Wadsworth’s on the construction of golf courses. Larry Packard was very influential on the design philosophies of the time. He pioneered the trend of gentler sculpting and free form shaping of course elements. Packard was known for easing golfers into the round with an easy first few holes and implemented his double dogleg design at nearly every one of his courses. He was also one of the first architects to raise environmental concerns about the profession and advocated for using wastewater to irrigate golf courses. Despite entering the field of golf course design in 1946, it took Packard until 1961 to begin working heavily in Wisconsin, however, once he got his start in the state, he rapidly transformed the golfing landscape like no other architect had done before. He went on to design or renovate over 25 courses throughout the state, more than any other architect in the history of Wisconsin golf, other than Art Johnson or perhaps Tom Bendelow. In the 1970s, his son Roger joined his side and together they worked on several projects, launching Roger’s successful career both in and out of Wisconsin.

Courses Designed: Bass Lake GC, Baraboo CC, Brown County GC, Chaska GC (with Roger Packard), Glacier Wood GC (Iola Community GC), Lincoln Hills CC, Mascoutin GC (with Roger Packard), Naga-Waukee GC, Oakwood Park GC, Peninsula State Park GC, Rib Mountain GC, River Island GC, Skyline GC (Black River Falls GC with Brent Wadsworth), Stevens Point CC, Wausau GC, Western Lakes GC (Tumblebrook GC), Westview CC.

Courses Remodeled or Added to: Bulls Eye CC, Chenequa GC, La Crosse CC, Merrill Hills CC, Minocqua CC, Muskego Lakes CC (with Roger Packard), Stevens Point CC, Watertown CC (with Brent Wadsworth).

Arthur “Art” Johnson (1927-2010)

Native of Madison, Art Johnson is one of the most unknown, yet highly influential architects in Wisconsin golf. In a profession that relies on boosting one’s image and marketing themselves, Johnson didn’t play that game. Johnson worked on the most golf courses in Wisconsin, having designed 11 percent of the state’s courses, but you would never know that by talking to him. He served the Madison community as the head of park planning for the city of Madison’s park division, where he passionately worked to preserve parkland during a time of rapid urban development by designing and building public parks and golf courses. His golf courses resembled his personality, never flashy or in-your-face, but instead very modest and low-key. Perhaps illustrated best by the fact that I couldn’t even find a photo of him. His personality was refreshing in the world of inflated egos that too often plagues the profession. Golf in the state of Wisconsin was forever changed when Johnson decided to begin designing golf courses, preserving the natural features that make the state great, as well as providing access to low-cost public golf courses throughout the state.

Courses Designed/Remodeled: Alpine Valley GC, Black River CC, Castle Rock GC, Cecelia’s GC, Clintonville Riverside GC, Devils Head Resort (Glacier & Prairie Glen Courses), Edelweiss Chalet GC, Glacier Wood GC, Koshkonong Mounds CC, Monona GC, Oaks GC at Christmas Mountain Village, Odana Hills GC, Pine Trail GC, Pleasant View GC (Lakes & Woods Courses), Portage GC, River Run GC, Saddle Ridge GC, Spring Valley GC, Telemark CC, Tumbledown Trails GC, Waushara CC (Bridges, Lakeview, and Westwoods Courses), Wild Rock GC (Woods Course), Yahara Hills GC (East & West Courses).

George Hansen (1891-1951)

George Hansen was another revolutionary figure in Wisconsin golf history. He served as the superintendent for the Milwaukee Parks Department for over thirty years. In his time with the Parks Department, Hansen single-handedly built the public golf system that exists today. He got his start by remodeling an existing nine-hole course in the area and that led to him designing and building five new courses around the city, including Brown Deer Park GC which because of his efforts hosted the 1951 USGA PubLinks Championship. Unfortunately, he passed away before the event occurred. He left behind a legacy in the city of Milwaukee, as he helped provide accessible golf courses to the city’s residents. Not only did he help grow the game in the community by building these golf courses, his best course, Brown Deer Park went on to host a PGA Tour event, the Greater Milwaukee Open, for 16 years and was the site of Tiger Woods’ first professional start in 1996.

Courses Designed: Brown Deer Park GC, Currie Park GC, Grant Park GC, Greenfield Park GC, Whitnall GC.

Pete Dye (1925-2020) & Alice Dye (1927-2019)

Paul “Pete” Dye Jr. grew up in Urbana, Ohio and went on to attend Rollins College and Stetson University in Florida. Pete met his future wife while they were both attending Rollins College. After college, the couple married and moved to Alice’s hometown of Indianapolis, where both Pete and Alice worked as a life insurance salespersons. Both were great amateur golfers, but it was Alice that had the more illustrious career. She won seven Indiana Women’s Amateur titles, three Florida Women’s Amateur titles, five Women’s Western Senior titles, and two USGA Women’s Senior Amateur Championships. These titles resulted in her induction into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame. While Alice exited the insurance business in 1952 after the birth of their first son, Perry, Pete continued until 1959, when he decided to quit and venture out into the world of golf design. The duo formed a design company and began to design and build layouts in small towns throughout Central Indiana. They expanded into other parts of the Midwest before the tandem decided to visit the historic courses of Scotland. This was an invaluable experience for Pete, as he began to incorporate many of the themes that he observed into his future designs. These characteristics included small greens, pot bunkers, railroad ties, native roughs, and undulating fairways. Though Pete tends to get the majority of the credit for the couple’s designs, the duo was inseparable in both life and golf design. In fact, in the design company’s youth, Pete was unable to read a topography map and left it up to Alice to decipher. Alice also devoted her time to determine where to place tees and hazards to provide strategy and challenge for female golfers, which she considered her most important contribution to golf architecture.

Pete got his first start in Wisconsin in 1971, when he laid out the Highlands Course at Lake Geneva Resort alongside Jack Nicklaus, originally called Americana Lake Geneva GC (Briarpatch), but he did not return for work in the state until 1987 he was contacted by Herb Kohler to build River Run GC, now known as Blackwolf Run. The course opened in 1988 with 18 holes but was expanded to 27 in 1989 and eventually to 36 in 1990. The two courses operated for nearly a decade before Herb Kohler decided to add two additional courses on a former Army airfield in the nearby town of Haven. These two courses were the Straits and Irish Courses at Whsitling Straits. Between Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits, Kohler and Dye were responsible for changing the landscape of Wisconsin golf by bringing several major championships to the state, including two US Women’s Opens (Blackwolf Run), three PGA Championships (Whistling Straits), and an upcoming Ryder Cup (Whistling Straits).

Courses Designed: Americana Lake Geneva GC (Highlands at Grand Geneva Resort), Blackwolf Run (Meadow Valleys & River), Whistling Straits (Irish & Straits).

Tom Bendelow (1872-1936)

Born in Aberdeen Scotland in 1872, Tom Bendelow learned the game early on in Scotland and made several trips to St. Andrews as a young boy. He moved to the United States in 1885 and started his career as a typesetter for the New York Herald. When he saw an advertisement in the classified section looking for a young golfer to teach a family the game in 1895, he responded and was hired by the Pratt family (founders of Standard Oil). Bendelow’s laid out a short course on the Pratt estate on Long Island. This would be the first of over 400 designs in Bendelow’s career. Shortly thereafter, he began to layout several rudimentary golf courses around New York. He was then hired by A.G. Spalding as part of Spalding’s sporting goods company and began to layout basic golf courses throughout the country. After World War I, he was transferred to Chicago and in 1920 he left the sporting goods company to take over as chief golf architect for American Park Builders, replacing William Langford. In this new position, Bendelow worked on refining and mastering his craft. He began to create more sophisticated and detailed plans and even started creating plaster models to visualize proposed green contours. Despite the evolution of Bendelow’s work, his reputation in the history of golf and golf architecture is focused on his simple and somewhat primitive design process that characterized his early years. Whatever is thought about Bendelow’s design philosophy, there is no doubt he was a pioneer of golf and golf architecture in America, which is why he was coined the nickname, “Johnny Appleseed of American Golf.”

Although Art Johnson and Larry Packard are responsible for the most courses currently in operation in the state of Wisconsin, Bendelow may have designed a similar number, if not more courses than either of them. Unfortunately, many of his designs no longer exist or bear little resemblance to what he laid out 100 years ago, so there is great debate on whether some courses are the creations of Bendelow. The most comprehensive list totals the number of his designs in Wisconsin at 38, of which only 21 still exist in some form of Bendelow’s work. Since his philosophy, especially early on, was to provide access to the game to as many people as possible, many of his designs were basic and rudimentary, so as time went on and the game grew, many golfers “outgrew” the designs of Bendelow, which led to the destruction or renovation of a large chunk of his courses, especially since many of his layouts were only nine holes.

Courses Designed: Algoma CC (Lakeshore GC)*, Beulah Lake GC*, Big Foot CC, Blue Mound G&CC*, Burr Oaks GC*, Chenequa GC, Cherry Hills Golf & Lodge, Country Club Estates, CC of Beloit*, Fond du Lac CC (South Hills CC), Fond du Lac Town & Country*, Fox River CC*, Geneva Lake Yacht & GC*, George Williams College GC*, Lake Lawn GC, Lake Park GC, Lake Wandawega GC*, Lakeside GC – Pewaukee*, Lakside CC – Manitowoc* (now Branch River), Lincoln Park GC, Manitowoc GC (Elks Club)*, Meadow Links GC, Milwaukee CC*, Nakoma CC, Northernaire CC (Three Lakes GC), Old Hickory GC, Oshkosh CC, Pine Lake CC*, Quit-Qui-Oc GC, Racine CC, Riverview CC*, Sheboygan Town & CC, Tripoli CC (Univ. Club of Milwaukee), Tuscumbia CC, Washington Park GC – Racine, Wausau CC, West Park GC*, Woodmont CC (New Berlin Hills).

William Langford (1887-1977) & Theodore Moreau (1890-1942)

Born in Illinois in 1887, William B. Langford was introduced to the game of golf as a result of a rehabilitation program after suffering from polio in his childhood years. He developed into a great amateur player and won three NCAA team national championships as a member of the Yale golf team. Langford then attended Columbia University where he earned a master’s degree in Mining Engineering. He returned to Chicago and worked as a golf architect for the American Park Builders, and then in 1918 he paired up with engineer Theodore J. Moreau to form his own design firm as the post-WWI course design boom began. Langford tended to focus on the design aspect of the business, whereas Moreau handled the construction aspect, with a few exceptions. Langford and Moreau were the most productive architects in the Midwest and South during the Golden Age of Golf Design (1920s to WWII). The tandem is known for their use of the steam shovel to produce bold and dramatic features and green sites. Their most notable design, Lawsonia Links, was completed in 1930 and marked an end to their careers together as the Great Depression hit and World War II followed shortly thereafter. They are the ultimate, “what could have been,” when it comes to golf architects as their work continued to improve throughout their partnership before it was cut short and officially ended in the early 1940s. Langford continued his career after WWII through the late 1960s, but much of his work came in the form of consulting and remodeling rather than producing original designs.

Courses Designed: Lawsonia Links, Leathem Smith Lodge GC*, North Shore Acres CC*, Our CC (Spring Valley CC), Ozaukee CC, West Bend CC (front 9).

Other Notable Architects

David Gill (1919-1991)

Courses Designed: Cherokee CC, Ives Grove GC, North Shore CC – Mequon, River Club of Mequon.

Courses Remodeled or Added to: Blue Mound Golf & CC, Brown’s Lake GC, Brynwood CC (Wisconsin Club’s CC), Meadowbrook CC, Ozaukee CC, Racine CC, West Bend CC, Westmoor CC.

Homer Fieldhouse (1928-2008)

Courses Designed: Camelot CC, Cedar Springs GC, Dodge Point GC, Eagle Bluff GC, Fox Lake CC (added 9), Golden Sands GC, Rock River Hills GC (Horicon Hills).

Rick Jacobson (1958-Present)

Courses Designed: Broadlands GC, Hunter’s Glen GC, Mascoutin GC (Blue), The Club at Strawberry Creek, Thornberry Creek GC (Championship 18 & Iroquois 9).

Note- Courses with an asterisk (*) no longer exist.