Kenosha Country Club

Kenosha County Club

The House That Donald Built

By Brian Weis

Mention the name Donald and the game of golf in the same sentence and the real estate mogul Donald Trump normally will come to mind. The original Donald to the game was legendary course designer Donald Ross.

In the early 1900's, Ross predominately built courses along the East Coast primarily because cross country transportation was limited to steam engine train. Fortunately, for Wisconsinites Ross built two classic masterpieces in the Badger state - Kenosha CC and Oconomowoc CC.

Built in 1922, Kenosha CC has stood the test of time. The 6511 yard, par 70 course features classic holes with small elevated greens, tree line fairways and elegantly shaped bunkering.

The heart of the course lies between holes 13 through 15 where golfers will be tested in an uphill downhill bout with two long testy par 4s sandwich between a monster 218 yard par 3.

Head Pro Eric Malone shared immediately that hands down the signature hole was 15. Named Waterloo, the hole drops to the riverbed floor requiring a long precise drive to carry the gently flowing creek. A long iron second shot will be needed to reach the elevated green 430 yards into the distance. I can only image how many matches have swayed on this challenging hole.

Donald Ross trades a few brawny uphill par 3's in exchange for a beautiful collection of downhill par 4's including the underrated 16th dubbed the "willows," and parallel finishing holes 9 and 18.

Bottom line, the design features are classic but like all Donald Ross designed courses the conditioning is first rate. Case in point, the Autumn day we played two crews were trimming back the towering mature hardwoods lining fairways 8 and 9. This pruning goes along way in rejuvenating a course as opposed to looking like a tired 100 year old course.

If Donald Ross was alive today he would still be proud of Kenosha Country Club.

The Skinny
4 Tees - 6511, 6277, 5982, 5705 yards
Par - 70
Back Slope/Rating - 132/71.6

Kenosha Country Club

500 13th Avenue
Kenosha, WI 53141
262-552-8488
www.kenoshacountryclub.com

Revised: 11/17/2012 - Article Viewed 33,255 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a 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). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers.

All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level.

On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them.