Layout is fun, but course needs work
One such course is MorningStar Golfers Club in Waukesha, bordered by highways ES and XX. The opening was much anticipated for another reason: 63 inches of rain in 2000 washed out the course’s scheduled fall opening. After another wet spring, it finally opened on June 8.
Making the endeavor a further challenge for architect Rick Jacobson and the man responsible for executing his vision, director of club operations Jim Frutchey, is its location on a former quarry site. While it makes playing the course fun, the 125-foot elevation change was a study in the power of erosion during the monsoons of 2000 and early 2001.
In fact, when I played the course with SBT sales associate Justin Abbott on July 5, the upper half of the Par 5 seventh hole was off limits because of reseeding work. (The course had an interesting fix: Those playing No. 7 teed off from the parallel 18th hole and counted it as a Par 4 instead of the normal Par 5.) Frutchey said No. 7 was built and rebuilt six different times over the last two years. The 16th hole was also in dire straits, but more on that later.
The course features bent-grass tees, greens and fairways with bluegrass in the primary rough and fescue as the second cut of rough. The upside of all the rain is that the fescue has flourished, defining most of the edges of the course and separating some of the parallel holes from each other. The fescue also gives parts of the course a links feel. (Jacobson also designed the nearby Broadlands course in North Prairie, which is also described as a links-style course.)
The course also features — for beach lovers — several huge transition, or waste, bunkers that have things like fescue, rocks and eventually, boulders, to contend with if shots stray off the fairway.
It’s also a nice change of pace from the familiar flat-lie courses throughout southeastern Wisconsin — we both had some pretty interesting sidehill and downhill lies in the rough. So it can be a thinking golfers’ course from that aspect, but we never felt like we had to lay up on any holes (like the Meadow Valley at Blackwolf Run or the Bog).
So the course has tremendous potential. And as proof of that, the PGA of America held its District 7 qualifying for the Wisconsin State Open there July 30. [CHEK to make sure they played on 7/30]
That being said, I had some reservations about the course as it played in early July. Seed washout is inevitable. Weeds invade bare areas faster than Hitler marching on Poland.
But when I pay $60 to play golf (our rounds were complimentary to look the course over, but our tee time was during primetime hours) I expect a course with watered tee boxes, fairways and greens. There were far too many fairways that were burned out in the July sun and a few tee boxes that were almost impossible to put tees into, although Frutchey said the course pumps 300,000 gallons of water a day onto the playing surfaces.
I specifically mentioned No. 16, a Par 4 that’s uphill on the tee shot and downhill on the second shot. I had hit a perfect tee shot to the middle of the fairway on the top of the hill. I was disappointed to find my ball resting on hardpan in front of a clump of weeds. But the odds were that my ball would have landed on either hardpan or weeds. It seemed like there was more of that than actual grass.
I asked Frutchey if he had crews working on the weed problem, which was especially prevalent on No. 16.
“Sure, but you’re between a rock and a hard place there because if you go out and spray herbicide and kill all the weeds in this dry, hot weather, you also stunt the growth of the bent grass,” Frutchey said. “So you’re better off to leave the weeds and bring the bent grass in as good as you can bring it in and then deal with the weeds as we get to cooler weather.”
Course rates include an early-bird special of $45 (tee off before 8:20 a.m., Monday-Thursday) and a twilight special of $35 (daily after 4 p.m.). Regular rates are $60. (All greens fees include cart and range balls.) Under the conditions we played in, I would have a hard time recommending the course to anyone during regular hours.
Here are some of the hole highlights of Morningstar:
No. 1 – This Par 5 starts your round off with a two-tiered fairway. Hit it to the edge of the top fairway and then pound your next shot following the fairway as it bends to the right.
No. 6 – A Par 4 that will make you pay for an errant approach shot. Go left or long and you have a knee-knocking 45-degree downhill chip shot to the green. Short right leaves you in a huge, deep pot bunker.
No. 8 – One of four ponds on the course runs up the right side of this Par 4. If you manage to avoid the water there is still the matter of the transition bunker that runs along most of the right side of the fairway.
No. 9 – Now I know why this Par 4 is named “Braveheart.” The same pond that borders the right side of the eighth hole guards the right side here, but complicating matters is an extremely narrow, undulating fairway that filters toward the water. And if you aren’t a “Braveheart,” there’s a trap on the left waiting for bailout shots.
No. 11 – This is one of those short Par 3s that can drive you crazy. It’s the 18th handicap hole, but don’t let that lull you into thinking a three is automatic. The left and backside of the green drop down at least 20 feet, so if you miss it there, you’ll be scrambling for a par or perhaps a bogey. If you miss short, this green is perfect for a bump-and-run shot.
No. 12 – This Par 5 has a large walnut tree hindering second shots if your tee shot lands on the right side of the narrow fairway. There’s a large waste area on the left side of the fairway for those trying to avoid the “tree shot.”
No. 18 – A finishing Par 5 that has elevated tees hitting to a somewhat narrow landing area. There’s room on the left to miss, but hit it right and you’re searching for your ball in the fescue covering the remnants of the quarry wall.
Make no mistake: This is a fun track, but it needs a lot of work to attain Frutchey’s goal of being the best public course in Waukesha County.
Morningstar Golfers Club, N77 W26285 Prairieside Dr., Waukesha, 262-662-1600, www.golfmorningstar.com
Aug. 3, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
