July 20-22
Eagle Springs Golf Resort
Eagle, Wisc.
Make your plans today and join us for the third annual Wisconsin Gutty Challenge. The date has been strategically planned for the following gutty golf tournaments: May, All American; June, National Hickory Championship; July, Wisconsin Gutty Challenge; August, Foxburg Championship; and September, CB Macdonald Challenge and Eastern Canadian Hickory Championship.
Veteran hickory player, collector, and tournament organizer, Greg Smith, is planning another great tournament that has been a fast growing gutty event in the USA. Mike and Lynn Just attended this event last year and Mike was presented with the “Keeper of the Spirit” Award. Unique “Spirit” traveling trophies will be awarded in honor of Mike Just.
Eagle Springs has been family-owned for five generations. Current owner, Mike Bolan, is the great-great grandson of John Tuohy, an Irish immigrant who settled among the Indians and started farming the land in 1866. Tuohy’s son, William, built the resort and opened the course in 1893. Once an 18-hole layout built around a grand resort that catered to wealthy Chicagoans, Eagle Springs has retained much of its nostalgic charm. The resort is long gone, but nine cottages remain, which are rented out seasonally. As the course expanded to 18 holes, it is believed that Tom Bendelow, who worked for the AG Spalding Golf Company in Chicago, was the course architect. After the depression in 1929 the golf course was cut to 9-holes. Today, approximately 90 percent of the historic layout remains intact.
Highly respected Milwaukee Journal Sentinel golf reporter, Gary D’Amato, has written: “With a blind tee shot on No. 1, a wickedly elevated green on No. 2, bowl-shaped greens that funnel approach shots toward the hole and a practice putting green built in front of the first tee, Eagle Springs breaks most modern rules of golf course architecture. The second hole ranks in the Top Ten Best Par 3 Holes in Wisconsin, at #9. The first two holes should be preserved forever as examples of pre 1900 course architecture.”
SCHEDULE: Thursday, July 20: Registration. Welcome gift. Practice rounds, call golf shop 262-594-2462. Pay the course directly. Need to be off the course by 5 p.m. As in past years, this is the time to play your alternate-shot grudge matches.
Friday, July 21: Morning tee times. Lunch at the course prepared by Jim “The Barbecue Doc” Eike. Complimentary trade tables available for buying, selling, bartering or bragging.
Saturday, July 22: Morning tee times. Awards. On the road early afternoon.
LOCATION: Eagle Springs is in southern Wisconsin, 30 minutes from Lake Geneva, and accessible from all Midwest locations.
ACCOMMODATIONS: Because of the central location, a group hotel is difficult. A few examples: Milwaukee West hotels are a 40-minute drive; Lake Geneva, 30 minutes; Whitewater, 22; East Troy 18. Madison, Racine and Kenosha are a little over an hour. The closest hotel is in Mukwonago, 7 miles from the course.
AREA HOTEL:
The La Quinta Hotel in Brookfield has rooms blocked for July 20-22, 2017 at a rate of $85 + tax per night. However, you must reserve your room before June 30, 2017. Call the hotel at 262-782-9100 to book your room.
If you reserve your room in March you can book a few days before and after the Event dates.
AREA ATTRACTIONS: Everything is within a short drive: Old World Wisconsin, and Kettle Moraine Southern Unit are must visits, especially for families, plus several casinos and Milwaukee seasonal activities.
Click here for information and a registration form.