Best golf courses near Milwaukee, WI

With much of the course hard against the Milwaukee River and several holes subject to flooding (the green of the 12th and the entire 13th are located across the river), one might think Milwaukee Country Club is a flat layout. But many of its holes are surprisingly hilly. Its classic design is still tree-lined, but one of the crucial improvements recently made by consulting architect Tom Doak and his associate Don Placek was to remove many trees to open up views of the river from upland holes.

Blue Mound Golf & Country Club is a hidden gem among the more talked-about Seth Raynor original designs, but one of his rare Midwest layouts with great history, having hosted the 1933 PGA Championship won by Gene Sarazen. The routing starts with a unique par-4 Redan then is followed by a number of other great templates: a Double Plateau, a Biarritz, an Alps then a Road hole. Other notables include a Punchbowl at the par-4 eighth hole, the difficult par-4 10th, one of Raynor's best Prized Dogleg templates with a fabulous putting surface, a terrific 14th dubbed Garden City and two great par 3s on the back—another Redan (the par-3 13th) and a terrific Eden hole for the 17th. Blue Mound continues to earn recognition and deserves to be in the conversation with the Midwest's best classic courses.