Golf Where the Pros Play: Wisconsin's Tournament Courses

Anyone can live the tournament dream on a Wisconsin golf course. Since the 1930s, both men and women golf professionals have been teeing it up across the state for their shot at glory.

Testing yourself on tournament courses is easy in Wisconsin – just put a tee in the ground, hit it hard, and go get it. Whether you’re in a tournament draw or on your own, you’ll be walking with legends on these Wisconsin golf courses.

Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run - Kohler

No Wisconsin golfing bucket list can be complete without a trip to Kohler's Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run which have hosted six golf majors so far with one more scheduled.

Blackwolf Run landed the Women’s US Open in 1998 and 2012. The Opens used the best holes from both Blackwolf courses so you can claim a US Open experience by playing either one.

The men teed it up in the 2004 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. The Mens Senior US Open was there in 2007, a second PGA in 2010 and a third was played at Straits in 2015. Kohler’s crowning golf event will be the Ryder Cup competition between the US and Europe in 2021.

Erin Hills - Hartford

It’s hard to compare Kohler to the natural beauty of Erin Hills, home of the 2017 US Open. Whistling Straits was created from the ground up as Pete Dye painted his canvas. Erin Hills was molded from a landscape left behind by the glaciers. Straits is a miracle of engineering and vision. Erin Hills is defined as much by what was done as what was left to nature.

Erin Hills already has a unique chapter in its history having hosted the 2011 US Amateur and 2017 Open, where tees stretched to a challenging 7,812 yards. And there’s more on the way – both the 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur and 2025 U.S. Women’s Open will be played at Erin Hills.

Brown Deer Park - Milwaukee

Men’s professional golf tournaments were largely played at country clubs until the Greater Milwaukee Open moved to Brown Deer Park in 1994. Best remembered as the course where Tiger Woods made his professional debut in 1996, (finishing 60th and winning $2,554, with a Sunday hole-in-one on #14) many of the game’s top PGA Tour pros found their way to Milwaukee.

Riverside Golf Course - Janesville

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Wisconsin native Tony Romo has been known to tee it up in a Janesville amateur tournament held annually at Riverside Golf Course. The Ray Fischer Tournament at Riverside is open to everyone and counts PGA Tour veterans Steve Stricker and Skip Kendall as past champions.

LPGA

For close to a decade, the LPGA Futures Tour made Wisconsin a regular tour stop. Naga-Waukee Golf Course in Delafield was the original location in the 1990s, and Ironwood Golf Course in Sussex was the longest host for five years. For three years, the Arnold Palmer golf course at Geneva National was the place to be for up-and-coming LPGA professionals, and since 2017, Thornberry Creek in Oneida has played host to the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. 

Ready to hit the links? Browse our golf directory and check out these courses with unique clubhouses!