Eagle Springs Golf Resort - Wisconsin - USA

Eagle Springs is one of the oldest golf courses in Wisconsin, and certainly has one of the most interesting histories. It began as an 18-hole club for visitors from Chicago, and its second iteration featured two opening holes designed by Chicago Cubs pitcher A.G. Spaulding, with the rest “designed by the land,” in owner William Tuohy’s words. The Great Depression led to the closure of half those holes, and what remains has become one of the nine-hole courses increasingly gathering attention as a gem in the golf community.

As you may have guessed from Tuohy’s description of the course’s natural design, there is certainly quirk to go around. No hole better demonstrates the course’s old-world approach than the No. 2, a volcano hole so devious than even Donald Ross would blush at its difficulty. Although that green is at least flat atop its earthen traffic cone, others roll like Lake Michigan during a storm.

The course is now in its fifth generation of family ownership, and they don’t aspire to change it a lick.