For more information contact:  Jerry Huffman, 608/261-8195

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WISCONSIN FILLED WITH UNIQUE AND HISTORIC COURSES

MADISON, Wis. (April 1, 2004) - Since the late 19th century, Wisconsinites have been in love with the game of golf. Today, the state ranks among the nation's leaders with nearly 500 courses, 432 of which are open to public play. From the windswept shores of Lake Michigan to the bluffs of the Mississippi River valley, Wisconsin's golf courses are as varied as its terrain. Here are few of the state's most unique golf courses, memorable holes and unforgettable events.

Courses you won't find anywhere else - Whether it's because of their topography, history or unusual layouts, these courses are among the State's most unforgettable.

• At Apostle Highlands in Bayfield, putts tend to break toward Lake Superior. On several holes, that means they actually break uphill. (Yes, really.)

• Train tracks run across the first and 18th fairways at Forest Hills in La Crosse and it's against the rules to hit the train or to try to hit over it.

• Eagle Springs in Eagle is known for its clubhouse, which has a century-old apple tree growing through it. Chicago's A.G. Spaulding, the founder of Spaulding sporting goods, also designed its first two holes.

• Each of the nine holes at the Madeline Island Golf Club has separate back-nine tees, fairways and pins, located on opposite sides of double greens. Thus, all holes on this Robert Trent Jones, Sr. course have two different layouts - creating a de facto "back nine."

• The Baraboo Country Club in Baraboo, Blackhawk Country Club in Madison and Koshkonong Mounds Country Club in Fort Atkinson all have holes with Native American effigy mounds running through them.

• Teal Wing Golf Course, outside of Hayward, has a family burial ground on the course.

• The New Richmond Country Club in New Richmond offers a nine-hole links course that can be played in either direction.

• Dr. James Naismith, who invented the game of basketball, laid out George Williams Golf Course on the Aurora University Campus in Lake Geneva.

• Grand Geneva Resort was originally built as one of Hugh Heffner's Playboy Clubs. Heffner's influence can still be felt next to the 16th green of the resort's The Brute course, where a massive modern art stone sculpture he commissioned (known as "Golfer's Lament") still stands.

Wisconsin's quirkiest golf holes - While Wisconsin's courses are known for their beauty and uniqueness, in many cases, those courses are truly defined by one or two particularly memorable holes. Here are a few of the State's most difficult and/or unusual. · The opening hole at Bayfield's Apostle Highlands plays over a pond shaped like Lake Superior. Golfers playing from the blue tees hit off of the Bayfield peninsula, across the lake to a fairway that represents Canada.

• Lawsonia Links, in Green Lake, features a 161-yard seventh hole that plays to a green perched atop a buried boxcar. This 40-foot "island" target features a two-tiered putting surface.

• SentryWorld Golf Course in Stevens Point is famous for its "Flower Hole" (No. 16), a 173-yard par-3 surrounded by flowerbeds filled with 45,000 annuals. Shots landing in the flowers are played as if they'd gone into a water hazard.

• Christmas Mountain Golf Course in Wisconsin Dells boasts a green shaped like the state of Wisconsin and another in the shape of Illinois. Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne also has a green shaped like Wisconsin.

• The 134-yard par-3 second hole at Eagle Springs Golf Resort has been dubbed the "volcano hole" because it features a tee shot from an elevated tee to a glacial drumlin shaped like a volcano.

• The second green at Woodlands Course in Crivitz is separated from the fairway by a 90-year-old stone quarry. It also holds Judson Tower, a historical landmark.

• Tee shots at Peninsula Park's bluff top, 69-yard eighth hole travel almost as far downward as they do forward.

• The third tee at Land O' Lakes' Gateway Golf Course is in Wisconsin, but the third fairway is in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

• Timber Terrace golf course in Chippewa Falls features a sawdust trap on the third hole. The century-old wood shavings are all that remain of an old riverside sawmill.

• The sixth hole on The Irish Course at Whistling Straits is a 160-yard par-3 whose "island" green is surrounded by 360 degrees of dunes and bunkers.

• After playing the ninth hole at Hallie Golf Club near Eau Claire, golfers can take a cable car to the clubhouse instead of walking the hill.

• The first hole on the par-3 back nine at Clifton Highlands in Prescott is reached via an elevator from the clubhouse area.

Animals everywhere - Wisconsin is famous for farms and forests. Not surprisingly, golfers on many Wisconsin courses may see farm animals nearby, or catch a glimpse of a deer, pheasant or wild turkey ambling across a fairway. However, at some courses they'll encounter wildlife they might not expect.

• At Whistling Straits near Kohler, Scottish black-faced sheep are allowed to wander freely. (The sheep are outfitted with bells to warn golfers of their presence.)

• White Lake Golf Resort, in Montello, is home to more than 20 peacocks. These friendly, tropical birds will eat out of the hands of golfers and have been known to follow them around as they play. The peacocks are housed indoors during the winter months.

• While cattle can no longer be found at The Bull at Pinehurst Farms, their presence is felt throughout the course. Built on the former cattle ranch site, every hole at the new, Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in Sheboygan Falls is named after a bull that was bred there.

Famous tournaments and players - Wisconsin's courses have been hosting top-level tournaments and players for almost a century. We're willing to bet you didn't know that…

• The PGA received more than 8,000 applications for the 3,600 volunteer positions needed at the 2004 PGA Championship. Approximately 2,400 of the volunteers are coming from a 50-mile radius of Whistling Straits. In all, there are volunteers coming from 38 states and three different countries.

• The last time the PGA Championship was held in Wisconsin was in 1933, when Brookfield's Blue Mound Golf & Country Club hosted the event. The winner, Gene Sarazen, pocketed a first-place check of $1,000.

• Tiger Woods not only began his professional career at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open (now known as the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee) at Brown Deer Park, he also had his first pro hole-in-one at that event, using a six-iron to ace the 202-yard, par-3 14th hole.

• Andy North, a Madison native, golf writer and analyst for ESPN and two-time U.S. Open Champion, helped create Trappers Turn in Wisconsin Dells.

• As part of an exhibition at the La Crosse Country Club (now called Forest Hills GC) Sam Snead reportedly tried to hit a shot from Granddad Bluff to the seventh green.

• The original course at Tagalong Golf Resort in Birchwood was opened in 1927 with a match between the reigning U.S. Open champion, Willie McFarland, and the reigning British Open champion, "Long" John Barnes. (McFarlane won, shooting a 71 to Barnes' 78.)

• Played at Brown Deer Park Golf Course, the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (formerly the Greater Milwaukee Open) is one of only three PGA tournaments played on municipal courses.

• The U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (formerly the Greater Milwaukee Open) has had three African-American Champions in its history. Cal Peete in 1979 and '82, Lee Elder in 1978 and Jim Thorpe in 1985. It has also had a number of golfers win multiple championships, but no one has ever done it back-to-back.

For information about golf in Wisconsin, the public can visit travelwisconsin.com or call the Wisconsin Department of Tourism's 24-hour, live-operated toll-free number, 1-800-432-TRIP/8747, to request a free copy of the 2004 Wisconsin Golf Course Directory . Travelers can also obtain guides and information at the Wisconsin Travel Information Centers, located in select state-border cities.

Editors Note: This list was compiled with the help of the Golf Course Owners of Wisconsin and "Wisconsin Golf Getaways" by Jeff Mayers and Jerry Poling.

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