Evergreen in December - Playable Conditions With Ice on the Ponds

Late Season, December Golf At Evergreen Golf Club

Q&A With Bill Rogers, General manager

By Brian Weis

Are you a die-hard December Wisconsin golfer? Or are you looking at becoming a card carrying member the of frozen fraternity? In either case, if you are looking for a place to golf, in what most consider the off-season, there is no better home than Evergreen Golf Club in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The property is notoriously known as "the golf course that is always open".

After playing a round of golf on a mild December day, I had a chance to catch up with Bill Rogers, General Manager of Evergreen GC.

How are you able to stay open longer and open sooner?
We have a supportive ownership group that is willing to spend some maintenance dollars even in the off-season. We always have a year round clubhouse staff due to the fact that we operate numerous charity outings and need to be in contact with them throughout the off season.
The property was originally purchased and developed by a sand and gravel company so that our soils are very light and drain extremely well.

Finally we have the infrastructure, sand based greens, a good drainage system throughout the course and continuous blacktop cart paths on the course.

Q:What type of comments do you receive from golfers for staying open longer than most courses?
All are very happy to be playing. They always are very complimentary of the conditions we provide. They thank us for being open.

Lots of winter golfers keep track of the number of consecutive months they have been able to play and just want to stretch the streak.

Any great stories from players bouncing balls off ponds, etc. in the freezing cold?
How about the guy with a cordless DeWalt Drill on his belt loop to drill a hole to get his tee into the ground.

How many golfers do you typically have on the first warmer day of spring?
150 -250.... If it is a weekend, after there has been snow on the ground in January, February or March we can sell out with 250+

What other things should golfers know about your course?
We are the home of the 27 hole scratch scramble. We host 5 in the spring weekends mid April to mid May and 5 in October on weekends. Play all 27 holes, steak dinner afterwards and cash prizes paid for 1st, 4th, 8th and 12th. Staggering the prize money takes care of the handicapping

How do you let golfers know they are open?
After doing it for 30+ years, we have the reputation as always being open, so people call are constantly call us. In addition, we do an e-blast to our mailing list. Want to be in the know? sign up for the mailing list at www.evergreengolf.com.

Are you open when temps are below 32 or when snow is on the ground? What needs to happen or not happen to be open? Or how do you determine to be open?
We let snow be our guide. If there is snow, we are not open. However, we routinely shovel snow off of a shaded green so that we can open.

More Information
Evergreen Golf Club
N6246 US Highway 12
Elkhorn, WI 53121
262-723-5722
www.evergreengolf.com

Revised: 12/16/2011 - Article Viewed 34,303 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.