Awesome tracks and a chill vibe combine to make Wisconsin’s Sand Valley resort a great golf getaway.

Golf Digest has made various attempts to identify fun golf courses, as if some common thread could be gleaned. We once polled panelists for their fun favorites. The top three were Cypress Point, Fishers Island and National Golf Links. There were common threads, of course: panoramic scenery along the surf, golf’s most precious real estate, exclusivity.

Edward Stimpson, the state amateur golf champion of Massachusetts, invented the measuring device that bears his name after watching the 1935 US Open at Oakmont, seeing Gene Sarazen putt off a green, and wondering how fast the greens were rolling.

Craig Haltom has completed another phase of a bunker restoration project he is leading on the Lawsonia Links course in Green Lake, Wisconsin.

Already known to Wisconsin golf fans, at the recent 2023 Chicago Golf Show, Illinois golfers got a first hand look at a portion of what created all the excitement over last year’s opening of the 27-hole putting course at Geneva National Resort, called The Dance Floor.

The Glen Golf Park is a nine-hole muni in Madison, Wisconsin.

It is also a picnic ground; a fresh-air yoga studio; a venue for live music and movie screenings; an outdoor classroom and — you get the picture. There are things to pursue here beyond par.

As audacious as Sand Valley’s growth is, so are the plans for its putting course. It’s set to be around five acres, or well over 200,000 square feet. That’s over twice as big as any other putting course currently in use, including the game’s old-school original: the Himalayas course at St. Andrews in Scotland. For further context, the average green size on the PGA Tour is about 6,000 square feet, so this would be approximately 35 times bigger.

Keiser is the benefactor behind the transformation, and salvation, of a 9-hole municipal course in his hometown of Madison, Wis., that just might be a blueprint for a public golf facility focused on playability, ecology, and perhaps most importantly, community. The nearly 100-year-old Glenway Golf Course has given way to The Glen Golf Park, a muni modeled after the vision of the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, with golf coexisting with other community activities.

Restorations and redesigns are all the rage in modern American golf architecture. Classic courses built in the golf boom of the early 20th century have started reaching their shelf lives. Over time, these properties have succumbed to numerous pressures, including crowding by trees, environmental changes and an inability of these mostly shorter tracks to remain challenging for elite players who have taken advantage of advances in modern technology. Fueled by increasing demand in the industry and growing interest in golf architecture, restoration projects and outright redesigns are sprouting up across the country, with acclaimed architects attempting to rekindle the magic of these historic American treasures.

Representatives from Geneva National Resort & Club, 1221 Geneva National Ave. South, have opened The Dance Floor putting golf course next to the Geneva National Clubhouse, overlooking the Arnold Palmer Golf Course. An opening event was held at the putting course, June 27, which included famed professional golfer Paige Spiranac playing a round with course designer Craig Haltom and four sweepstakes winners.