This Top 100 steal (and late-night silliness) was my favorite course of 2022

At GOLF.com, our interest can also be our job. That means, identical to you, we spend a lot of the yr teeing it up excessive, swinging onerous and making an attempt to keep away from double bogeys. But some programs we bump into are merely extra memorable than others. Here, in a breakdown of the very best public programs our workers performed over the previous 12 months, are these spots.

ICYMI: Why this rural 9-hole course was my favorite I performed in 2022
ICYMI: Why this straightforward Scottish course was my favorite I performed in 2022
ICYMI: In the Vermont mountains, an island-green par-3?! Yep, and rattling good pizza, too

***

We had golf equipment. We had golf balls. We had a course a couple of par-5 away. We had a couple of half-hour of daylight. We had chilly beer. We had a thought. 

But let’s again up a sec. We’ll want to do that in components. The headline is promising you a “favorite course played in 2022,” and we have to ship the golf. Give us a couple of paragraphs, and we’ll get again to the frivolity. There’s some extent to it, promise. 

In a phrase, the golf at (*100*) is nice. GOLF’s fantastic course raters have deemed it as such — the Links at (*100*) sit at No. 79 on the listing of the Top 100 Courses within the U.S., and a formidable No. 2 (!!) within the rankings of the Top 100 Value Courses within the U.S. (it’s lower than $100 with a cart) — and I wished to see for myself this yr. My Milwaukee golf gang — Matt, Matt, Ethan and Todd — have been in too. We would play the Links on Wednesday proper after the 90-minute drive north; play Tuscumbia Country Club, additionally in Green Lake, on Thursday, and end issues with one other 18 on the Links. [Lawsonia has two 18-hole tracks — the Woodlands is the other — but one of the Matts couldn’t make day one, Todd was in only for the first day, and Ethan, the other Matt and I had no problem with the Links double up. We’re nice. Let’s continue.] 

From tee one on the Links, you’ll be able to spot the enchantment. Dogleg proper. Longer — 407 from the whites. Green that sits atop a mound. Deep bunker to the best. All of that’s protection, but, for those who hit your golf ball, you’ll be able to rating, and that was the theme all through. Two and three are additionally doglegs proper, and each play with an previous barn within the background. Seven is one of the cooler par-3s you’ll see — the phrase is, to create the mound that that inexperienced is positioned atop there, an previous boxcar was buried and lined up. Or put one other manner, you don’t wish to miss on the 146-yarder. No. 8’s a brief par-4 that I really loved greater than the signature 7 — the tee shot is blind, the inexperienced is on one other mound, simple birdie is in play and so is simple double. The again 9 begins par-3, 5, 3, 5, 3, then ends right into a skyline that stretches for miles. (*100*) is fantastically fairly too. 

And scrumptious. I do know my golf considerably, however I’ve little doubt on my capacity to guage a burger — my dad was a meat cutter for longer than I’ve been alive — and the grill at each the clubhouse and in a shack on the flip was A1. [A quick word on the turn grill: If you want to be noted in this space by me in the future, get yourself one — it speeds up play, and the smell alone on 9 green drives business; win, win. Also the griller on our second go-around at the Links was kind enough to make one of the Matts a double burger; our guy was hungry.] 

And that could be a good segue into the “thought” of paragraph one. 

We have been staying at an four-bedroom AirBNB in Green Lake, and we ate, drank and fire-pitted each night time. Wonderful. (*100*) was a couple of mile or so away. Tuscumbia was a block. And yeah, we had golf equipment. We had golf balls. We had a course down the road. We had a couple of half-hour of daylight. We had chilly beer. We had the thought. 

“Chipping contest?”

“Chipping contest!”

“Bring some beers?”

“Bring some beers!”

And at about 8:15 at night time on a late July Thursday, me and a few of my finest buds chipped balls from loopy angles and lies to at least one of the Tuscumbia greens. We performed music. We drank these beers. We trash-talked. We performed till we couldn’t see. [Yes, yes, I know this is technically not nice, but everything was properly repaired, and everything was properly picked up.]

So yeah. You get the place I’m going right here. 

Great golf — actually nice golf — is greater than a course, proper? And whereas I might wax poetic right here about friendship and shared experiences and vibes and bratwurst, I can really describe all that’s (*100*) fairly rapidly in that regard.

Damn, it was enjoyable. 

And we’ll be again in 2023.  

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his function, he’s chargeable for enhancing, writing and creating tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be taking part in the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and quick, and ingesting a chilly beer to scrub away his rating. You can attain out to him about any of these subjects — his tales, his recreation or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.